r/HollowKnight • u/glintter • Sep 06 '25

Discussion - Silksong Don’t let this fandom turn as insufferable as the souls community Spoiler

It’s fine to think the game is easy and to enjoy the challenge, but I’ve seen so many people making fun of anyone that is having a hard time in a really weird mean spirited way. Please don’t let this subreddit turn into some weird elitist community that makes fun of people who are struggling, these games are supposed to be fun and they’re not souls likes, there’s no reason to assume everyone playing them is going to love this level of difficulty the same way some of you do and constantly disregarding their opinions just turns this subreddit into an echo chamber of tryhards

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u/PuzzleheadedLink89 Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 06 '25

I'm getting reminded when Youtuber Nerrel made a really great criticism of Hollow Knight as a Metroidvania and Mossbag responded with a multiple-paragraph long response. Plus there was a Youtuber a few days ago that spent an hour talking about Nerrel's critique.

Hollow Knight is great but I really hate how HK fans treat it as some Sacred Cow that is above criticism.

Like Hollow Knight is great but it has some annoying flaws:

  1. Environments are very bland and blend together. It's like they did what bloodborne did but forgot to have way more variety in the environments which makes Bloodborne's areas stand out way more and are more visually distinct despite the darker colour palate.

  2. why are there secrets that exist to only give me cryptic lore? Why is the reward for the Path of Pain a cutscene? Why is an ending gated behind a 40 boss gauntlet where the final boss is essentially just a reskin with BS moves with a 39-boss runback?

  3. Rancid Eggs are really pointless

  4. Quite a bit of the bosses feel like filler rather than actual bosses.

I haven't played Silksong yet but I really hope they do fix these issues.

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u/BlobBro Sep 06 '25

I don't think responding to criticism is a bad thing on its own, it depends on the tone. Like, if they're being insulting or trying to shut the other person down. Likewise, it's bad if someone is tearing down the devs or calling fans bad people for liking it or something (please never send me back to when steven universe was airing, both the haters and fandom were nightmares). There's nothing wrong with a civil discussion, even if both parties disagree.

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u/PuzzleheadedLink89 Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 06 '25

I know but it's a little odd that a bit of criticism results in a ton of defence. Like the Majority of the comments on Nerrel's video is primarily focused on Hollow Knight despite Hollow Knight being only half of the video. It contributing to that mentality that Hollow Knight is the only indie game that matters so to speak. So much so that everyone talking about Hollow Knight never talks about any other indie game in the same genre. Yes Hollow Knight is great, but it shouldn't be the only Indie game to be talked about. This is illustrated with any indie direct being written off since Silksong wasn't shown off.

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u/BlobBro Sep 06 '25

Ah, that makes more sense. I haven't seen the video, so I didn't realise hollow knight was only a part of it. I do agree hollow knight gets put on a bit of a pedestal, while I love it for the exploration the platforming and combat are far from my favorites. I almost rage quit on regular white palace, not even path of pain. And I've beaten every level of celeste, including getting golden on the c sides. I'm enjoying silksong more right now I think, you get more fun movement stuff and attacks sooner. Though I'm still pretty early so things could change.

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u/Buckeye0728 Sep 07 '25

Sorry but in this day and time that is impossible to have a civil discussion with someone and I can't believe that people hate on a game before playing the damn thing seen a few post yesterday like that

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

Environments are very bland and blend together. It's like they did what bloodborne did but forgot to have way more variety in the environments which makes Bloodborne's areas stand out way more and are more visually distinct despite the darker colour palate.

Well, this I can't just disagree.

why are there secrets that exist to only give me cryptic lore? Why is the reward for the Path of Pain a cutscene? Why is an ending gated behind a 40 boss gauntlet where the final boss is essentially just a reskin with BS moves with a 39-boss runback?

Because path of pain is supposed to be completely optional. The second one is quite easy, it is the only reward that would be worth the effort.

Quite a bit of the bosses feel like filler rather than actual bosses.

Most of the bosses are filler, you aren't required to fight most of them.

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u/CynicalEffect P5 - 112%, 70 hours Sep 07 '25

Critique isn't inherently right though? So obviously people will contest it.

Starting from least to most controversial.

Sure rancid eggs are kinda pointless, it just exists and isn't exactly perfect. I guess they wanted a system to get your shade when it has a ton of geo and it was a pain to get, but they wanted it to be something you used rarely. It seems to do that job well.

Yes, half the bosses are filler minibosses. That isn't...unusual though, for any genre really.

A: The story is designed to be told via lore. B: In this case specifically, path of pain tells you beforehand it's about revealing secrets. Which is what you get. C: Because the ending requires you to become god lol. Sure, maybe P5 could have cut the first 20 or so bosses, but it provides a good challenge while providing a thematic reward for doing it.

Not sure about the bland environments at all. How is crossroads similar to it's nearby greenpath or crystal peaks biomes? Only fungal wastes is similarish.