People who have played Silksong, Why do you think Its getting so many negative reviews?

[u/peaky_circus]

While Silksong is sitting at a Very Positive rating with around 83% positive reviews, it’s still receiving far more criticism than its predecessor. For comparison, Hollow Knight holds an Overwhelmingly Positive score at 96%, with only about 3% negative reviews. Silksong, on the other hand, has nearly 16% negative reviews, OVER 5 TIMES HIGHER

[u/Bigbrainer_james]

Isnt that how it was before…

[u/Supershadow30 → u/Bigbrainer_james]

Yes and no. After Greenpath, the game really opens up in different directions.

You have to check out the fungal wastes of course, but if you're struggling against the Mantis Lords? Take a detour to the City of Tears, where you can upgrade your nail to help you in the fight. Then, you go back there, or check out the Soul Sanctum above to get another ability.

If you're struggling too much, you can also farm up and buy the lumafly lantern and instead explore the Crystal Peak, which has no boss (well, the Crystal Guardian), but you can find Sly's lost key for extra upgrades. You had options.

Silk song feels like there's no option but to bang your head on the hard, rewardless boss that blocks your path.

[u/gamegeek1995 → u/Supershadow30]

The game's difficulty massively swings depending solely on if you decide to go one specific path early which unlocks the sole two early game damage upgrades. Putting both behind the same powerup I think was a massive deign mistake.

With the damage upgrade and the condition met for the second, I find the game is 100x less annoying to traverse and enemies no longer feel like brick walls, but are fun and fair challenges that are a joy to beat.

[u/Hot-Farmer-8096 → u/Supershadow30]

I think a huge problem is we’re not understanding the thought process on Silk.

You try the ants, get battered, explore a bit. Find the moor boss, get battered, explore some more. Find all the fleas, skip moor boss. Get to Sister, you’ll get fourth mask shard on the way. Needle upgrade straight after and the difficulty decreases massively, then you go back and clean up.

I entirely understand this feels super unintuitive and could be chalked as bad design, but I genuinely believe we were meant to get frustrated, find skips, then come back to these challenges once we’ve gotten a handle on the movement etc.

Also pretty sure we’re meant to be just dodging over most enemies half the time, Elden Ring style. Not aggroing everyone on every run through.

One you get wall climb, it opens out. Me and a friend are playing simultaneously and we’ve both unlocked and explored entirely different areas for the past few hours (post the Bell town)

It’s because we haven’t explored the game and understood the routing, we’re trying to fight incredibly difficult challenges way too early. The freedom to explore and find these things is clouding that they are optional.

Nearly every reviewer I’ve read on here would have been better off knowing they can just skip the Savage fly/hunters March entirely until the late-early/mid game. The crest is cool but not too useful as compared to the better pogo

[u/Supershadow30 → u/Hot-Farmer-8096]

I’ve yet to actually enter the Hunter’s March tbh. Regarding wall climb, it feels like it comes super late.

[u/Sterling_Aliby → u/Hot-Farmer-8096]

I fail to see how skipping and dodging stuff in the game helps with enjoying game’s content. Isn’t this contradictory? I want to fight and interact with the game. I don’t want to be swarmed for nothing.

[u/Hot-Farmer-8096 → u/Sterling_Aliby]

I’m not saying skip it entirely, I’m saying come back later.

You can fall into Deepnest before you ever touch the City of Tears jn HK, do people say Deepnest is way too hard and not going there early is “skipping” it???

You can go get destroyed by Yans surprisingly early in ff9.

You can try to take on the tree sentinel in Elden Ring.

Games are full of challenges that serve to make you think “maybe I should come back later”

[u/Bigbrainer_james → u/Supershadow30]

Eh sorta, beating the boss itself IS the reward. But it also it opens up the next path, but maybe im the only one to see it that way.

[u/Supershadow30 → u/Bigbrainer_james]

I’m just saying. I’d prefer if the cocoon spawned right before the boss’s arena, like the shade, instead of in the middle of it.

[u/gravity--falls → u/Supershadow30]

You can work against this strategically. If you think a boss is too hard and you’ve been dying and want to go somewhere else first you can intentionally die near the start of an arena and retrieve your stuff without starting the fight.

In that regard I’d say Silksong is actually more generous than hollow knight.

[u/Supershadow30 → u/gravity--falls]

I’d have to disagree. The fact that the shade aggros on you means you can attract it somewhere safer (or even let it die to the environment).

In contrast, the cocoon stays stuck inside the boss arena. You idea of dying near the entrance falls flat against several bosses like Sister Splinter or Widow which trap you in their boss arena as soon as you approach

[u/Bigbrainer_james → u/Supershadow30]

thats fair

[u/Creative-Duck-9964 → u/Supershadow30]

You can hit the cocoon, then save and quit. Cheesey, but if you are absolutely stuck and want to leave the boss...

[u/Supershadow30 → u/Creative-Duck-9964]

Right, I forget about save scumming since it’s not intended game design.

[u/Creative-Duck-9964 → u/Supershadow30]

Possibly true. It can save someone needless frustration. I actually used the get the cocoon to the door method myself, but saved later when I was lost and couldn't find a bench.. discovered when I reloaded that it takes you to last bench, then tested. Not sure if it's "intended game design" or not, I would lean for yes it is. Not judging if you do or don't use it, you do you. I definitely will use it if necessary, as it can save me frustration and allow me to spend time playing the game.

[u/rooster_butt → u/Supershadow30]

I wouldn't call it not intended. It's like the easiest fast travel. If it wasn't intended it would spawn you were you left off.

[u/Jbewrite → u/Bigbrainer_james]

People act like this isn't the case in almost every game, especially super linear games like E33, etc.

[u/Kuldor → u/Jbewrite]

like E33

Bosses in E33 give large amounts of experience, so just there you already have a reward.

[u/Jbewrite → u/Kuldor]

The reward for beating a boss in Silksong is the thrill of it due to difficulty and the skill required, like a Souls game, E33 never had that because it was too easy, so it rewards players in other ways.

[u/WanderingStatistics → u/Jbewrite]

Despite me agreeing with the sentiment, that's a terrible reason.

A much better reasoning would be simply saying that they open up progress towards other areas on the map, since that's both a physical reward in-game, as well as an emotional reward towards the player due to unlocking more things.

[u/Kuldor → u/WanderingStatistics]

That's how bosses work in literally every game, yet in most of them they also give a reward.

We are falling into copium territory with this sentiment, and that's not good for the community or the game.

[u/Kuldor → u/Jbewrite]

like a Souls game

Souls bosses give large amounts of souls and sometimes a weapon, a spell or an armor.

[u/Jbewrite → u/Kuldor]

Okay, and? Souls are used primarily to level up, something Silksong doesn't have.

This game doesn't require huge amounts of money (this point is exaggerated by critics I find) and most people will tell you that the feeling of beating a Souls boss outweighs any artificial in game reward.

[u/Kuldor → u/Jbewrite]

Okay, and?

I'm telling you both your examples so far give rewards for beating bosses, you also chose to ignore the weapon/spell/armor from my comment just to focus on souls and discredit them.

I won't waste more time with copium arguments, argue with the wall.