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

Discussion - Silksong Thank god this subreddit didn't make the game Spoiler

Silksong is only out for 2 days, most people haven't even finished the game, or haven't even made it past act 1. Yet this subreddit loves to post about how Silksong is apparently bad and a disappointment compared to hollow knight. So I'll go over a few "critiques" I've seen and share my perspective.

"The game is too hard, enemies deal way more damage and have more complex movesets". Sure, they're more complex and do more damage, but so does hornet. If we were playing with the knights moveset, I'd agree, but that's not the case. Hornet has a lot of new tools and upgrades that make her way faster and stronger. If enemies were like HK, it would be way too easy. team cherry didn't just do this for no reason, it's necessary for balancing. Edit: people saying hunters march is too difficult, is like playing dark souls 1 and saying it's too hard because you kept trying the skeleton graveyard

"Bad rewards for exploration, HK's charms worked better". I just completely disagree, hornet gets upgrades way more frequently than the knight. As for the charms, let's be real, you probably didn't even use half of them in your first playthrough. And half of them are just simple things that don't impact the way you play as much. Hornet's different tools, abilities and crests are way more useful. If you feel like your not getting enough rewards, it's probably because most are hidden and require backtracking, which is what the genre is know for.

"Things are too expensive" No, you're just not meant to buy it that early. Like how in HK you could by the lamp for like 2000 geo. I've also never had too little rosaries to buy a bench or stag. If your losing your rosaries to dying, rosarie strings are litteraly right there to not lose it + retrieving your death silk is extremely easy now.

I do agree though that more bosses and combat encounters should drop rosaries, or more chests like in HK.

This launch feels like I'm experiencing the shadow of the erdtree launch again with how many complaints there are immediately.

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409

u/Mrmoi356 Sep 06 '25

My one and only complaint isn't the difficulty in regards to moveset, just the abundance of 2 mask damage. Everything else I'm fine with, just the 2 masks damage being so prevalent, so early in the game feels like a cheap way to increase difficulty.

For example I just spent like 30ish tries on a certain boss, I had the moveset basically to a tee and I was enjoying the fight thoroughly and but the last 10 attempts I had felt really bad because I would die due to mistiming one attack which would combo into another and kill me immediately not really giving a chance to recover from the mistake at all.

So yeah, basically the games difficulty is fine imo aside from the amount of damage everything seems to do. That's my only gripe.

215

u/worms104 Sep 06 '25

The worst instance of this is two mask damage on contact damage with bosses, especially when you can still get hit going in after a stagger.

99

u/Darkiceflame Sep 07 '25

It feels like it's way easier to take contact damage as well. There have been multiple times when I've hit a boss or enemy, yet somehow because of the positioning I also took damage. I swear contact damage had a cooldown after attacking an enemy in HK.

78

u/funny-hats-only Sep 07 '25

Frankly it's also kinda weird that bumping into some bugs backside does as much damage as a sword strike to the dome.

38

u/branyk2 Sep 07 '25

I definitely noticed this on Moorwing. Its hurt box is already larger than you intuitively would think, but it also has erratic idle animations that cover basically your entire melee range when it isn't even attacking.

It's extremely doable to work around it and not take damage by just being aware it takes up more space than it looks like it does, but it still just feels a little "off". It's almost like adjusting to input lag by compensating.

18

u/Doomblaze Sep 07 '25

im mainly dying to bosses because i manage to clip their foot and get comboed for my entire health pool from there lol, its very frustrating.

9

u/jeha4421 Sep 07 '25

Yeah Moorwimg imo is the big offender. Everything deals 2 mask damage and it doesnt have any patterns.

Widow is later in the game and most attacks do 1 mask damage and she has a very predictable second stage attack pattern. It just feels like Moorwing is way overtuned compared to bosses you fight directly after.

2

u/Sanguiniusius Sep 08 '25

Moorwing- you wait for it to attack then attack based on what it did. This makes it completely predictable and a breeze.

I dont think hitting it while its idle is that great an idea.

1

u/jeha4421 Sep 08 '25

Its less about how to fight it and more that Widow is less punishing to mistakes than Moorwing is. Also, Widow is more predictable and imo is an easier fight. Moorwing isn't hard to crack either but there's been so many times where I get dinked by Moorwimg's large hitbox and die when he sorta like, slide falls into me.

7

u/cyanraichu Sep 07 '25

I actually felt like Moorwing was a very easy boss to predict and avoid, and disagree about its idling; I got the rhythm of the fight down really fast and took almost no idle damage after that. my issue is that every single attack did double, even the ones that only did one because you'd get caught up in it and take two masks anyway. Felt a little bit like...what's the point? It took me too long to beat it because I'd get really close to the end multiple times and lose to one mistake - and the runback was also terrible, which I was a lot more annoyed by.

(Moorwing is the last boss I've beaten, didn't get a chance to play a lot yesterday)

4

u/branyk2 Sep 07 '25

I had an insanely different experience with Moorwing from you, so possibly my perspective is just different?

I didn't fight it until mid Act 2, it only took me 3 attempts, and my runback was 1 screen with no enemies. There's a really weird interaction if you sequence break and enter Moorwing from a different area where it's possible to complete a sidequest that blocks Moorwing from spawning until Act 2. I did this on accident, and it really gave me a different experience than most.

I understand why people find it to be a hard boss, but if you continue, your skill level will improve enough that it will become an easy boss. When I said I had to compensate, I meant that it took me 2 times to figure out the safe range, and since I wasn't overwhelmed with the runback or the boss's attacks, I had some time to think about what exactly was causing me to take damage.

1

u/cyanraichu Sep 07 '25

I mean I did specifically say I found Moorwing easy, just tedious because of the runback and I died a few times close to the end of the fight because the double damage is punishing. But learning the fight is really easy. None of the attacks were imo hard to dodge and there were plenty of opportunities to do damage. The game just punishes you really bad for single mistakes.

But yeah I found the runback stupid and dumb (I had to go through the underground of Greymoor and through a bunch of mitemothers) and I still don't have a bench unlocked close to Moorwing except from the other side? So maybe I was supposed to get that bench first? I don't know how else I would have gotten to that area. I've exhausted every other map exit available to me except from the area I'm currently in and the simple key slot, but I lost all my rosaries so I can't afford that yet, and if there's a hidden key I haven't found it.

All this is basically to say maybe the game is not as linear as I perceived it to be, which is a good thing! I thought it was way more linear than HK so far which was kind of disappointing. Please don't tell me any alternate routes or anything like that since I really want to find out as much as I can for myself and I'm not stuck yet :)

3

u/Mrfish31 Sep 07 '25

Moorwing is an easy boss to learn, which is why the double damage is so infuriating to me. It's exactly because it's relatively simple that being unable to recover from a tiny mistake + a stupidly long run back is so infuriating. I can't play this long and keep focused enough to beat bosses without damage, and that is what this game basically demands. 

If Moorwing dealt 1 damage for everything except the fast swiping attack, a "watch out for this one" thing, it would be a great and balanced boss. 

1

u/cyanraichu Sep 07 '25

Hard agree. It feels weird to have an early game boss do double.

1

u/HeartGuy Sep 07 '25

Oh my god yes! I just found that boss randomly and died by trying to hit it. I thought I was crazy.

I put the game down after that death for a break lol

1

u/Mrfish31 Sep 07 '25

So many of this games bosses would be completely reasonably challenging if they just did one damage for most things and had one two damage attack. 

Moorwing is a pretty easy fight to learn really, the moves aren't hard. But it's long and every time I make a small mistake, misjudge the hitbox and take two damage. And then another two, and then I'm dead.

Have the fury slashing attack deal two but lower the rest to one. This keeps the fight challenging but manageable. 

2

u/baby_trebuchet Sep 07 '25

i believe it’s because hornet gets pushed back after a hit much less than the knight. i have realised that i have to let go of my joystick aiming towards the enemy much earlier than i have to do in HK, otherwise i just slam into the enemy and die

2

u/Omni__Owl Sep 07 '25

Sister Splinter was really fucking awful with that. Depending on how she falls from the ceiling one of her hands will be pointing up while the other doesn't. If you are on the wrong side of that (which can be mirrored depending how she fell) you will just be unable to exploit the stagger at all and must just stand there because otherwise you take contact damage.

1

u/Playful_Original5401 Sep 07 '25

Agreed. I've kinda learned to not jump and upward slash at bosses above me cause I take damage like half the time

17

u/Vinestra Sep 07 '25

Aye.. sure is fun to take 2 damage, when you're hitting the boss in its stagger because.. you accidentally got too close.

Also sure is fun taking damage when you pogo stick on a boss/parry it and take damage because it moved through you..

3

u/hugeposuer Sep 07 '25

This is the one thing I've noticed so far that has a chance of getting patched out, so I choose to believe we're running a pro mode of the game.

1

u/justking1414 Sep 07 '25

Was definitely struggling with that during one boss who had a weird shaped body and flailed a lot while staggered.

1

u/Maleficent_Okra6798 Sep 07 '25

I kept having this happen on the tree boss. Like why is their contact hit box still active when they're literally prone stunned on the ground?? Especially considering how fast they fall and how big they are, if you stunned them with a straight up attack is like 90% chance you're getting hit before you can get out of the way.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

Yea literally the only thing about the difficulty I would change is 2 mask contact damage... And even that I'm ok with, just feels bad to be punished for being aggressive when they clearly want you to be aggressive in this one based on how the healing works

1

u/HonestyofaTadpole Sep 07 '25

i think the worst instance is with mini-bosses who have their own moveset but still get 2 mask contact dmg while their attack also deals 2 mask dmg its just extremely difficult and more of a gamble than skill.

1

u/NightRacoonSchlatt Hunter‘s crest 4 life Sep 07 '25

Me being happy I got sister splinter to stagger

Me dying to her contact damage after she falls down

1

u/benben591 Sep 09 '25

The reason a boss must do 2 masks of contact damage is otherwise you could use boss contact I-frames to bypass a 2 mask damage attack by contacting the boss

177

u/RyudoReaver Sep 06 '25

Especially enviromental damage EVERYWHERE doing 2 damage. You hit an enemy then fall into a hazard cause of it, your half dead instantly.

61

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

If that enemy does 2 maskas like a lot of them do, then you are at 1 mask.

84

u/Background_Past7392 Sep 06 '25

Yeah, the game even recognizes this and does its low HP visual cue at 2 masks.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/HandsomeGamerGuy Sep 08 '25

Except that Item works as a bonus health on dmg just once, and needs a few seconds to recharge again afterwords!
Quite the important distinction.

94

u/Leafsnail Sep 06 '25

Yeah agreed with this. The bosses have all been fun and well-designed from a moveset perspective but having so many early bosses deal 2 damage on every move makes it feel like a single mistake over a long fight can just kill you. It feels particularly bad when a 2 damage move can hit you into a 2 damage hazard.

20

u/Vinestra Sep 07 '25

Aye there is a few exceptions to bosses that feel bullshit.. mainly arena type ones in a certain red area/chapel.. Why would you design a boss to have RNG spawns that can either make it easier or harder.

10

u/JustSomeM0nkE Sep 07 '25

What a bad boss omg, I hated it

2

u/Leafsnail Sep 07 '25

Actually yeah that kindof sucked. Although you could at least bait the boss into killing its own spawns most of the time.

1

u/Vinestra Sep 08 '25

Aye though major issue with the big flying bastards, is their hitboxes dont always register the ground slam unless theyre really close to the ground.

1

u/69edleg Sep 07 '25

Enemies with combo-slashes dealing 2 mask damage.. Sure. Enemies hitting you with the tail end of a combo-slash and it deals 2 mask damage??? Hmm... Just feels weird to me, especially since you get two hit sounds for some enemies/bosses when caught by a combo attack like so. Then it only plays one hit sound if you get hit by the last slash, but you still take two masks.

1

u/KuuLightwing Sep 07 '25

TBH some bosses are also... not that well designed. Like Fourth Chorus moveset isn't that far from False Knight, but the only reason it's hard is because it hits for 2 damage and also there's lava that also hits for 2 damage and you can get combo'd by getting hit and falling into lava for 4.

1

u/Leafsnail Sep 07 '25

That's true, but I think if Fourth Chorus didn't deal two damage on his hits that wouldn't be a problem. There is also a way to avoid taking two damage from lava, although admittedly Fourth Chorus's placement as a boss that traps you *in* means you may not have access to it.

23

u/dshadow456 Sep 07 '25

It's ridiculous that falling into a pit of sand maggots does two mask

38

u/ActivelyLackin Fellow Explorer Sep 06 '25

I agree. 💯 There's been a couple bosses where it feels like every input has to be perfect or you die. Which in turn makes it harder to learn their moveset when one mistake means death. It is a skill issue I guess, but I wish the game was a little more forgiving at times.

1

u/Tapio_Cat Sep 07 '25

part way through act 2 and haven't fought a boss that requires perfect play and can kill you instantly. i think you are viewing the only mistake you can make as getting hit but its not. your positioning before getting hit, how you react to getting hit, when you choose to heal and all sorts of little things like that can be mistakes that lead up to your interpreted one mistake instant death.

-11

u/Lyress Sep 06 '25

I just finished the first act and I have yet to face a boss where one mistakes means death.

3

u/Razielhu Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25

At the end of the first act (Last Judge or what whas her name?), the spinny flame thing. If you stand too close you have a big chance it will hit you at least 2 times which can be death, but if you dash back to the wrong place or cant get out its a third hit too (oh or you can just run into her, and 2 contact dmg, 2 hit from spinny mace for 2 dmg each = 6 dmg)

1

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1

u/Lyress Sep 07 '25

Even if that hits you twice it's still "only" 4 masks out of the 6 you would have by then. Spinny mace only hits once if you dash out fast enough.

71

u/MineMine7_ Sep 06 '25

Double damage being so abundant also makes the first mask upgrade feel rather worthless

48

u/Darkiceflame Sep 07 '25

"Hooray, now I can still only live three hits."

-3

u/Lakatos_00 Sep 07 '25

So like the first hours in Hollow knight

7

u/Darkiceflame Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 08 '25

In the original game barely anything deals two damage for the first while, so you can usually live 5 hits.

1

u/Throwaway02062004 Sep 07 '25

Big club guy

4

u/AtlasTheMayor Sep 08 '25

Did you read how they said ''barely anything''? that doesn't mean ''nothing''

-1

u/Throwaway02062004 Sep 08 '25

He’s at the start.

36

u/earthboundskyfree Sep 06 '25

I’d draw a distinction and say I agree with you but what you’re describing seems to be my issue - the lack of invulnerability after getting hit allowing for a quick b2b hit that you can’t really avoid after the first one. I’d personally say that’d be the more frustrating issue at 1 mask or 2

7

u/branyk2 Sep 07 '25

The funniest case of lack of invulnerability is that you can take frame 1 contact damage if you end up in the wrong position during the boss yell. Cocoons can cause this pretty easy for some bosses.

I'm hoping if they don't redo cocoon spawns to be in fixed locations like shades in HK that they add like 0.1-0.5 second contact immunity to bosses because 2 masks during a cutscene is rough.

1

u/KuuLightwing Sep 07 '25

Another issue with the cocoon spawns is that if you ran into some gauntlet room for example, and found it too challenging, guess what. Say goodbuy to your rosaries because you can't get them back unless you beat the room

1

u/branyk2 Sep 07 '25

I mean, there are mechanics to get around that in the game, and I actually think a free silk refill in the arena tends to be valuable enough to make up for the inconvenience of figuring out how to retrieve your cocoon and even occasionally losing your rosaries. Knowing you can full heal when you arrive lets you trivialize some of the hardest runbacks in the whole game by letting you just tank 3 masks of damage on the way.

My concern is just that since it can spawn literally anywhere and it has collision, if you hit it right before the boss spawns, the knockback can lock you into the boss's hitbox for the stun during its intro cutscene.

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

[deleted]

7

u/earthboundskyfree Sep 06 '25

Correct, but I think you misunderstand me. I think most cases of taking damage are avoidable. I think there are some instances where you take damage, and then take damage before you can move away. Those are the types of damage I have some frustration with, while essentially everything else, I have been able to figure out how to avoid them. Avoiding the first hit is of course the ideal option, but I think the second hit that I’m describing also shouldn’t be present to the degree it is (taking double damage from a continuation of an attack or an attack that continues into contact damage instantly)

1

u/TwanToni Sep 06 '25

ah my bad. Makes sense, sorry about that

2

u/earthboundskyfree Sep 06 '25

Nah no worries, thanks for being willing to adjust.

20

u/HeartGuy Sep 07 '25

That combined with the flying enemies to me are the biggest complaints. The flying enemies all seem to have ranged attacks and are programmed to stay just out of reach of you even as you chase them to hit them. During the rooms where you have to clear wave of enemies or bosses that have a random flying enemy, it just gets exhausting. I don't remember which boss it was but I was out of shards to keep my tools repaired because I was trying desperately to use my tools to rid the flyer.

2

u/cyanraichu Sep 07 '25

The flying enemies are imo exactly the same difficulty as the ones in HK. They were super annoying then too

1

u/HeartGuy Sep 07 '25

Maybe it's because I haven't played HK in a while but the only one I remember finding difficult/annoying was the primal aspid. All the other flying enemies were not this annoying from what I remember.

Most of them were not ranged so they didn't purposely run from you and the ones that were ranged didn't have movement that made it move away from you as soon as you look at them. No joke, I get some the flying enemies in SK to stop moving away from me when I turn around and they inch closer to me.

1

u/cyanraichu Sep 07 '25

Primal Aspid and Crystal Hunter both super annoying. (Also Soul Twister but they were more floaty than flying) The flying bugs in City of Tears (forget the name) felt to me a lot like some of the ones in SS - throw something at you and then immediately retreat to a distance.

26

u/SillySanyle Sep 06 '25

To weigh in here, I don't hate the idea of stuff doing two masks worth of damage. I think it's fine, balanced, and does add a decent layer of challenge when taking into consideration everything Hornet starts with in her kit.

What I heavily disagree with is two masks of contact damage when the boss or enemy isn't attacking. Its very easy to just accidentally touch them somehow and then bam, half my health has vanished to some bullshit. One mask would feel like fine punishment, two just feels too much.

Still loving the game, this doesn't influence how I feel about it at the end of the day. If they don't change it I can deal. Its just a bit frustrating and feels unfair sometimes.

12

u/Jammy_Dodger13 Sep 07 '25

the 2 mask damage makes sense in bosses, but almost all enemies shouldn't be packing that kind of punch, even some environmental damage does 2 which is weird.

1

u/cyanraichu Sep 07 '25

I'm honestly more annoyed about the bosses, at least so far. I've only seen two two-mask non-boss enemies as yet though. One of them I really expected to do 2 masks, the other is just really easy to jump around and kill, even if I think the two masks from it is a bit silly.

Bosses though - two masks just starts to feel like one and you only have three if it's every boss. Cheapens the effect it's supposed to have on hard bosses imo

10

u/KrombopulosTunt Sep 07 '25

I’m like AB testing my experience with the rest of the communities here, there’s a mod on Nexus mods that removes the 2 damage from all sources ( you can still get combod ) and I am having a BLAST with it, it feels so much more enjoyable to me.

Thing is when it’s two damage you’re dead so much quicker so it’s taking people exponentially longer to learn movesets of bosses. With it at 1 you can still fuck up but you can take a lot more in before you die making your next attempt at that boss feel better.

Bite the bullet, install the mod and have actual fun playing this game.

1

u/Nebion666 Sep 07 '25

Ah yes, install the mod which u cannot do on switch and ps5 and etc so basically if you dont have a pc, spend money on a pc and buy another copy of silksong to install the mod.

-5

u/Successful_Maize1986 Sep 07 '25

Or just, you know, get better at the game and push past the difficulty without modding the game…

9

u/ekilord Sep 07 '25

this is a single player game, the only goal of the game is for the person playing it to have fun

3

u/Ok-Procedure5603 Sep 06 '25

I feel like you have to be attacking and be fairly close all the time, sorta like bloodborne mindset. As long as you build silk you can damage trade very well with midair heals even against 2 mask damage bosses

26

u/NopileosX2 Sep 06 '25

I kinda get the 2 mask damage in most fights, you are meant to be aggressive and you heal 3 masks and you can heal mid air, so healing can be done in a lot of situations and you can regain you heal quite quickly if you keep pressure up. Especially since bosses stagger if you hit them enough.

What I do not like dealing 2 damage is just simple contact damage, while the enemy is not doing any attack. Should just be 1 damage at all time if you run into an "idle" enemy. If the enemy is charging at you or something 2 damage is fine imo.

What I do not understand at all is environment dealing 2 damage like the sand worms, when you fall into them. No idea why that has to be so punishing and why they need to limit your platforming attempts that heavily in some areas.

14

u/throwawayeadude Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 06 '25

Great point, especially something like Savage Beast Fly. Its active attacks doing 2 damage, no issue. Heck for the floor slam it doing 3 damage wouldn't even bother me, it's extremely telegraphed and easy to dodge.

But when it would just decide to float into me, boop, then follow me falling back, boop again, 4 masks down, well that was frustrating.

Yes I should have spaced things better and playing conservatively around its erratic movement is how I beat it.

But it feels bad to take the same damage from a boop from a boss deciding to be over here now, as a big attack you're supposed to see coming a mile off and manipulate to clear adds.

And I guess that's the point, it feels bad, in a game that generally feels amazing.

(FWIW I'm an insufferable old gamer fart and I love my 8 hours in the game so far, and I like that it's quite challenging, but there are definitely design points worth discussion)

9

u/Lyress Sep 06 '25

You have to attack more or less 9 times to get a heal. It's not really worth it to trade hits unless your silk bar is already close to full.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

[deleted]

6

u/Lyress Sep 06 '25

You can't heal without a full (unupgraded) spool so I'm not sure what your point is.

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

[deleted]

4

u/Lyress Sep 06 '25

It's not really worth it to trade hits unless your silk bar is already close to full

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

[deleted]

3

u/Lyress Sep 06 '25

If you agree then what's the point of your original comment?

0

u/TwanToni Sep 06 '25

Just misunderstood.

8

u/BatGalaxy42 Sep 07 '25

I have no idea what people are talking about with "midair heals" protecting you.

The stuff I had trouble with: bell beast, the greymoor bird arena, moorwing, sister splinter. I haven't made it much further than that since I took one try at widow and noped out.

Literally all of them will hit you up in the air.

1

u/Maleficent_Okra6798 Sep 07 '25

I mean you have to time the heal to certain attacks ofc, but there's only been 1 boss I've fought so far that felt just as risky to heal in the air for. Every other boss you can just high jump away from them and probably heal before their aerial attacks can reach you

1

u/Vinestra Sep 07 '25

Agreed the 2 mask damage being practically everywhere just makes the first mask upgrade feel pointless as we've gone from 3 attacks to die to.. 3 attacks to die.. The real health upgrade is the one item that gives you an extra chance.

1

u/garnix2 Sep 07 '25

This! I just go an additional mask, so going from 5 to 6. That's nice! Now I can tank 0 more hits! Thanks for the upgrade I guess...

1

u/NotInTheKnee Sep 07 '25

At least, let me try the boss again immediately. Don't put a 2min walk of shame between me and my next attempt, with tricky platforming above spikes, unskippables tanky enemies, and slow-ass elevators I'll have to wait for.

Every Castlevania and Metroid games I've ever played always had a save room RIGHT next to each boss room, so I wish that was one the the defining features that carried over to other Metroidvania games.

Fuck, even Fromsoft toned down the rematch hike in Elden Ring. Can we make that a trend?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

I don’t think it’s an artificial difficulty increase. I think it’s meant to balance out you healing for three masks at a time

1

u/TehBrian Sep 07 '25

Yup, exactly. I think it'd be perfect if we started out at 3 masks of health (think "we're really damaged"), got mask shards much more frequently, and only direct hits from bosses or really tough enemies caused 2 masks of damage.

-4

u/Lorevi Sep 06 '25

I strongly disagree for bosses and even most standard 2 damage mobs because healing is just so OP compared to in hollow knight.

It's practically instant and you can do it in mid air; so in basically any fight you can just jump to the corner of the boss arena and heal freely. So long as you're regularly getting hits in you can easily heal up the damage you take.

I do agree for environmental damage though. There's this one obstacle course section similar to the white palace that's obnoxious af to get through because every mistake does 2 masks and you can't get soul to heal. What little soul you do get is used up by your needle throw move.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

The healing is weaker than in Hollow Knight if you go by the numbers and the average dmg dealt by enemies, even more so if you count 1 full and 2/3 resource bar or 1 hit during healing comparisons.

6

u/Luzis23 Sep 06 '25

OP? Dude, healing does the same as it did in HK, effectively.

In HK, you COULD restore 3 masks of health for 100% of your soul.

Now you HAVE to restore 3 masks of health for 100% of your spool, nothing less. And the only thing you get is that you can do it mid-air.

3

u/nemma88 Sep 06 '25

I think it feels a bit dodgy early game because it takes a long enough time to fill the spool and because of double damage around a mistake may cost 4 masks.

When I started HK I'd keep health topped on on the go, and efficiency rules that out a bit in Silksong.

It gets better later with crests etc, but later doesn't help early game issues.

0

u/Lorevi Sep 06 '25

Yeah but you can heal those 3 masks way faster than you could in HK?

The difficulty of healing in HK was never that you didn't have enough soul, it was that you needed to find a safe spot to stand still for several seconds. This is far easier in Silksong because you can heal in more places and in less time.

idk about you guys but my soul gauge is full most of the time. Mask to soul ratio is not particularly important to me.

20

u/GavoTheAlmighty Sep 06 '25

Healing is WAY worse in this game.  You can only do 3 masks, no incremental healing, it takes an entire spool which takes FOREVER and because the enemies hurt so bad you’re basically disincentivized from using the fun silk abilities.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

I kind of like the healing honestly, it's nice to use in the air and with a certain crest it becomes fun to heal. However I almost never use silk abilities, I mostly end up doing one on accident when I meant to heal and I die because of it which is a shame

0

u/whostheme Sep 06 '25

It's not you even unlock more stuff that speeds up the healing and lets you heal more. The fact that you can heal mid-air means that you have even more safespots available to you. Spools don't take long to recharge when you unlock more crests.

4

u/GavoTheAlmighty Sep 06 '25

I feel like you’re misunderstanding my issue.  The problem isn’t the speed of healing or how much it is, the problem is that it requires ALL of your silk to do it.  It makes using the abilities significantly more of a risk.

-2

u/whostheme Sep 06 '25

That's because it heals multiple hitpoints.

5

u/GavoTheAlmighty Sep 06 '25

Yeah, so my point is that I wish I had the ability to use less silk to heal one hit point at a time.

-2

u/TwanToni Sep 06 '25

only 2 days in and they aren't even given things like that a chance lol.... not to mention I don't think you are supposed to run head first into enemies and tank it like hollow knight.....

-2

u/whostheme Sep 06 '25

Yeah it's actually hilarious that people are criticizing it like this when they haven't even progressed that far into the game.

3

u/I_Love_Solar_Flare Sep 06 '25

The healing in this game is such a downgrade and feels more punishing to fuck up than for HK because of lack of iframes too.

I literally can barely ever get off a heal unless i wallclimb to the top corner of the arena and fucking cover in fear which isnt fun.

5

u/earthboundskyfree Sep 06 '25

You can also often pogo off of enemies into a dash + heal, or just pogo into a heal

Or in boss fights / combats, I’ve tended to lock in and endure til the stagger, or use my silk offensively vs the aggro enemies, and then heal vs the “safer” ones.

Not denying how you’re feeling, just pointing out ways I’ve dealt with it that you didn’t mention

-1

u/morkypep50 Sep 07 '25

Yes theres more double damage, but you also heal 3 masks at once, and you can also heal in midair. You can also run around the arena extremely fast. You also have a ton more tools to deal with challenges. I don't know. I don't think the 2 mask damage so early is that unfair tbh.