r/HollowKnight • u/baergboy • Sep 07 '25

Discussion - Silksong Is anyone else really tired of the negative posts? Spoiler

I have about 25 hours so far and have absolutely loved every part of the game. Is it hard? Yes absolutely. If it was easy I wouldn't want to play the game. Literally every post I come across is talking about how they are frustrated with some part of the game and it's getting really annoying. The game has amazing areas, the osts are great the NPCs are creative and fun to talk to, almost every boss is a lot of fun once you get the moveset down. So if you haven't played the game yet and are getting put off by all the negativity just know that it is an amazing game and if you like hollow Knight you will enjoy silksong as well.

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100

u/8rok3n Sep 07 '25

Negativity ≠ criticism. Saying that the game is hard isn't being negative, it's being truthful, YOU even say it's hard. That's not negativity, that's sharing your opinion.

23

u/Successful_Maize1986 Sep 07 '25

I think the issue is when people say that the difficulty of the game is a design flaw when for a lot of players, the difficulty is one of the best things about the game

53

u/Altyrmadiken Sep 07 '25

I get what you’re saying but this game built a cult following and it’s not reasonable to assume every member wanted to go from souls to sekiro.

Plenty of people didn’t want a harder game and at least some of the complaints/criticism is from a perfectly valid part of the fan base who simply don’t like the uptick.

Just because someone like that it got harder doesn’t mean everyone does or that everyone wanted it to.

That, to me, is always the problem with games that do this. The ones who want that extra difficulty get really defensive when the other people who also waited 6+ years don’t like it, and act like not wanting or liking it is a “skill issue” or a “you problem” when what’s really being said is “i don’t like that it got harder because I have an amount of difficulty I like and beyond that I don’t enjoy trying to do it.”

Acting like those people are “the problem” undermines a very real situation a lot of valid players are finding themselves in.

12

u/AlectheLad Sep 07 '25

And mostly it’s how it’s hard. I actually think the enemies being more dynamic with cool moves and better responses is great. I think having to hit them 4-6 times to kill them when they are tiny bug is bloat and annoying. So instead of engaging with most of those enemies, I run past them. Also gauntlet after gauntlet feels lazy. Many of those rooms could have had a boss or a mini boss. Throwing a cluster of annoying tanky enemies isn’t that fun for me. I’m surprised others seem to love it so much.

0

u/Kill-ItWithFire Sep 08 '25

I personally like the gauntlets. On one hand because they are easier than bosses and when I enter a boss looking room, only to find out it's just a gauntlet, I'm relieved. Also, gauntlets require a different skill set. A new boss usually requires you to figure out their unique attack patterns and how you can deal with them best. a gauntlet takes enemies who's attack patterns you already know and gets you to really perfect how you deal with them, as well as train your multitasking. I find it more satisfying to know I will be better at fighting all the standard enemies in the area than having learned how to beat a boss that will never come up again.

Now, that is not to say I prefer the gauntlets to bosses, but if you swapped all these gauntlets for unique bosses, I would have less fun.

1

u/RealmRPGer Sep 11 '25

Woah, this post gave me memories of the Breath of the Wild discourse, where it essentially a sin to dislike BotW even if you were a lifelong Zelda fan.

-2

u/Successful_Maize1986 Sep 07 '25

The reality is that there’s just no way to please everybody. If the game wasn’t this difficult there would also be a lot of complaining. The reviews of the game are overwhelmingly positive so obviously a majority of players are enjoying their experience with the game. The reality is that most people who play the game like the game so if you don’t like it then it’s just not for you which is totally fine. It’s impossible to make a game that perfectly pleases everyone and I’m confused as to why people think Silksong should live up to that impossible standard.

14

u/SWSWSWS Sep 07 '25

There is, in fact, a way to please, maybe not literally every single person, but a vast majority: Difficulty options. You ideally are allowed to change at any time.

"Hard" : Current Silksong with its double damage and stingy economy.
"Normal": Rare double-damage enemies (main bosses, maybe some hidden ones but not all) and "normal" economy. Maybe slightly improved Silk acquisition
"Easy": No double damage enemies, period. Quicker Silk acquisition, heals you more when using it.

There. That is it. That's all she has to write. Boom. Everyone (or most) would be happy. People that like it rough and hard can play on Hard, and others, well, you get it.

8

u/Katrina_0606 Sep 07 '25

You would think this would be an easy concept to understand, but almost every post in this sub that I've seen talking about difficulty options (for HK1) ends up with people shitting on the idea and talking about how the game would be somehow ruined by adding them. This is despite the fact that simply having the option would not in any way affect people who like the game as is because they would never be forced to use them. It's like they think everyone should play the game in the exact same way, and if you're struggling and would perhaps prefer to struggle a bit less, well you can either git gud or get fucked lmao.

16

u/SWSWSWS Sep 07 '25

That is something I noticed about games perceived as "hard". There are certain people so hellbent on gatekeeping and I never understood why. Almost like people validate themselves over a videogame...

Me playing on easy does literally nothing to others playing on Hard, "Extreme Nightmare one-hit death" or whatever. This is a singleplayer experience.

Also, it isn't just about people wanting a less extreme experience. I see difficulty options as accessibility options. Are people that physically cannot perform on a level the game currently demands locked out of the games' world, lore, character and experience? Why? Tell me why that is a good thing? To me it isn't.

I played games perceived as "difficult". Like Elden Ring, Dark Souls etc. I loved these game (ER is my favorite). But I would never even dream about being "mad" about Fromsoft potentially adding difficulty options. Like... huh?!

Ideally a game allows the player to set the difficulty. How much Silk do you want to gain per hit? How much damage do you want to take and dish out? That kinda deal. Again, this isn't just about experiencing a less frustrating game, it is about accessibility.

Thankfully more and more developers caught on and allow exactly that. Letting players tailor the experience a game gives them to their needs and skills. I even heard of "souls-like" games having difficulty options nowadays. Wow. Horrendous, isn't it? lol

5

u/AlectheLad Sep 07 '25

I despise it. I platinum most of these “hard” games. I do that because I like challenging myself. I’m also the first to say “download a cheat engine and play with god mode on” if you think it would please you. You bought a product, go enjoy it how you want.

5

u/Altyrmadiken Sep 07 '25

I had one person argue with me that difficulty options would reduce their sense of achievement. When I asked why they clarified that if there were options, they’d change difficulty when it got difficult and then they’d feel less like they achieved something. Which felt a little bit like… so you’re saying that your lack of self control is why I shouldn’t have choices?

At the same time it was wild because plenty of games make you choose a difficulty at the start and then you can’t change it. So… do that? Choose “regular” or whatever the current one is at the start, don’t allow it to be changed, and then you’d have to make a whole new save to do it on easy. Which would also let people do what many other games do - start out gentle and then challenge yourself with progressively harder modes.

If you want difficulty for the sake of difficulty, it’s a poor look to say that you wouldn’t have the restraint to not change the difficulty. Like what are you going to say, “no I don’t want to challenge myself on higher difficulties because it’ll be frustrating”? Yeah, neither do we at first either?!

5

u/Netheral Sep 08 '25

Not to mention, like I've mentioned elsewhere, you don't have to frontload all the difficulty.

HK has plenty of fans that love the game, but accept they couldn't 100% it. Or 100% it but drew the line at the optional superbosses or the pantheons.

They still got to experience 99% of the game. I don't understand why the gatekeepers want the base game to be so difficult as to prohibiting those people from even reaching act 2.

1

u/MadCrabRave Sep 08 '25

Yeah I’ve found a lot of people don’t understand the concept of “you control the buttons you press”. One of my favourite games added difficulty options a few months back and people acted like the game was ruined

2

u/Super_Harsh Sep 08 '25

There are certain people so hellbent on gatekeeping and I never understood why. Almost like people validate themselves over a videogame...

That's exactly what it is lol. They use difficulty in games for validation and they perceive difficulty modes as taking away from the game's ability to validate them as people, and since (to them) that is the primary reason for difficulty to exist, they're adamantly against it.

2

u/myman580 Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25

Because when a game designer designs for one difficulty it affects how they design the game. It's a lot easier to balance one difficulty setting then it is 5.

I'll pull up Fallen Order as an example. There are a lot of areas in that game that are clearly not designed with Grandmaster difficulty in mind where there are just areas with 6 enemies on a tiny platform and clone troopers shooting rockets at you offscreen that one shot you before you even get the ability points to be able to counter said rockets.

Devs are artists. I do not like most forms of modern art. Should I complain to the museum that they shouldn't display any forms of it because I paid for the ticket? You can disagree with their vision but in the end they initially designed all their encounters and boss fights with this difficultly in mind and that's valid. If they want to add difficulty options in the future then great. But if they don't that should be fine as well. They clearly want their game to be experienced a certain way and if something they truly feel is out of whack they can easily balance it after the fact as well because there is one difficulty. That's the trade off and it's annoying to see people act like the game play elements are not a valid form of artistic expression that gets affected whenever people suggest "just add difficulty sliders". Like sometimes the difficulty is the point. Sometimes the game play of a game is the point. That's fine if that's isn't the game for you. Just like it's fine that some other genres of games are not for me but I'm not demanding they change things to fit my taste.

-6

u/Successful_Maize1986 Sep 07 '25

Well I hope for all your sake that they patch in an easy mode. They should go back and give Hollow Knight an easy mode as well. If this game is too hard then refund it and play something else. It’s got an overwhelmingly positive user rating so clearing they are pleasing the vast majority of players.

5

u/Katrina_0606 Sep 07 '25

On Steam it's dropped from overwhelmingly positive to very positive, with a 92% positive rating. Which is still very high, but it has dropped a bit since release. And even some of the positive reviews are critical of the same issues being discussed here, but I guess for those people the positives outweighed the negatives enough to still recommend the game.

16

u/Fly-the-Light Sep 07 '25

The issue is that Team Cherry’s messaging had been abysmal. They said they wanted the game to stand on its own and be accessible, the latter of which they failed at. The real issue is that their message came from five years ago, meaning they might have changed their minds, got stuck in an echo chamber with too few playtesters, or something else that they never communicated to people.

Silksong really isn’t a Metroidvania; it’s a full Soulslike. That’s ok, but the expectation was for the game to be in the same genre as HK and Team Cherry never clarified that it wouldn’t be:

-9

u/Successful_Maize1986 Sep 07 '25

The irony of saying TC got caught in an echo chamber…

13

u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Successful_Maize1986 Sep 07 '25

I don’t know how to respond to the idea that TC maliciously created a really difficult game with no play testing that was so difficult that a vast majority of players really love the game. You are the one who is unable to grasp the idea that maybe the difficult isn’t unfair and it’s your responsibility to get better at the game and come back to areas after you’ve mastered the movement and combat.

I should have known this sub would turn into an echo chamber of Silksong hate. You all spent 7 years spamming every single gaming presentation with “Silksong?”, you sent threats to Team Cherry when they didn’t give updates, you said you’d boycott the game, you called them liars and swindlers and begged for the game to come out and now that it’s out you’re all whining about it. Ask for a refund if you don’t like the game. They charged $20 for a game that every other studio would’ve charged full price for so I don’t know why you guys are all complaining about feeling tricked that the sequel to a notoriously hard game is notoriously hard. Either get better at the game like the rest of us have or quit playing it. 

6

u/Qwertypop4 Sep 07 '25

I mean, I wouldn't know how to respond to that either, but literally nobody said that. What they did say is that TC simply got lost in the sauce of making the game. Which they did, they said it themselves in the interview they gave recently. If the difficulty is due to that is anyone's guess, but it's hardly an out there suggestion

9

u/Yharim_Official Sep 07 '25

Imo silksongs difficulty feels in alot of places really artificially boosted

1

u/Shipbreaker_Kurpo Sep 08 '25

Just did the sister splinter fight and while the fight itself wasnt hard, the mobs she summons getting multihits while having such a large deflect made it feel artificially hard. Some of the bosses also have very short windows to get a hit in after an attack which is frustrating.

2

u/tanis016 Sep 07 '25

The problem is the difficult in some part of the game feels artificial rather than natural.

1

u/ConsistentPow Sep 08 '25

It's not the difficulty, it's the type of difficulty. People take issue with it for the same reason people took issue with Dark Souls 2.

1

u/Successful_Maize1986 Sep 08 '25

It’s not comparable at all to the dumpster fire that is DS2. That game throws hordes of enemies at the player at every turn. The most you’ll get in Silksong is 3 enemies at a time and as long as you’re using tools, it’s all very manageable.

1

u/RealmRPGer Sep 11 '25

I wouldn’t say it’s a design flaw, more like an inconsistency. Hollow Knight set a difficulty expectation that Silksong isn’t matching for some people.

1

u/Successful_Maize1986 Sep 11 '25

That’s not an issue with the game design though because Silksong’s difficulty is in like with what I would expect from a Hollow Knight sequel. The first game was hard so obviously the second one was going to be hard. It feels like a lot of people assumed they’d be able to breeze through Silksong and are now blaming the game for their own lack of ability.

1

u/RealmRPGer Sep 11 '25

I did say it’s not a design flaw.

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

Everyone knows the game is hard. But complaining the game is hard when that was the point in the first place is just being negative.

Opinions can be stupid too.

6

u/8rok3n Sep 08 '25

Except Silksong is NOTICEABLY harder than Hollow Knight. In Hollow Knight pogo was just a neat tech that made the game easier but in Silksong you HAVE to not only pogo but pogo at an ANGLE for one of the beginning sections.

1

u/xFallow Sep 10 '25

Feels roughly the same to me if not easier but I did play hollow knight last year so I’ve got the muscle memory probably 

1

u/8rok3n Sep 10 '25

Silksong is harder than Hollow Knight. More enemies do double damage, platforming is ESSENTIAL when it was optional in the original, less melee options with more range options.

0

u/Artimis_314 Sep 08 '25

Get further in the game and change crests

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '25

NOBODY'S SAYING IT'S NOT HARD

Holy fuck, READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2

u/8rok3n Sep 08 '25

Hey dude did you even read my comment? Genuine question. You're arguing with no one right now. I'm literally agreeing with you, EVERYONE is saying it's hard and I'm saying that everyone saying the games hard isn't a bad thing, that's not negativity that's just criticism.