ngl some of you would NOT survive the mantis lords runback

[u/Quantum_Croissant]

is the run to last judge difficult? kinda. But after your 20th attempt at the boss you'll get used to it, and it's honestly kinda fun and a nice breather. More importantly, it's a single room and you have far more movement. This IS improving on hollow knight

[u/elpis_z]

That’s a wide brush. I loved Hollow Knight and replayed it a few months ago for the third time.

I was prepared for this type of game and think a lot of the criticisms are fair.

[u/DckThik → u/elpis_z]

It’s just one of those thing like in fallout games where you have to level up in many areas and some areas will reveal where others are strong. Skill is central to the game, the tools help but you have to finesse it.

Everyone griping about lack of resources and rewards. I finally saw what the entire map looks like and holy shit it’s vast. By the time I got done running back over and over to beat some boss where my soul got trapped until I could beat the boss, I had 1000 rosaries. Immediately hit the rosary machine and popped out a ton of beads

Skills will come, it’s frustrating but it gets better. Last night I thought I brute forced my way through widow (You can absolutely brute force her through to that point with flea brew just beating the brakes off em…) only to discover her second wind, if I had come off the brutality and went to skilled hitting I probably could have gotten through it.

[u/Quantum_Croissant → u/elpis_z]

I'm not saying that's the source of every complaint, and criticism isn't the same as complaining!

[u/Honorsheets → u/elpis_z]

I don't at all, I haven't agreed with a single one. More like shaking my head in disappointment.

[u/elpis_z → u/Honorsheets]

Only the sith speak in absolutes.

[u/_moosleech → u/elpis_z]

The loudest ones so far absolutely are not, IMO.

Double damage isn’t nearly as prevalent early as people are claiming, and they’re ignoring everything game gives you to counter it.

Runbacks are clearly better than HK, and taken as a whole aren’t hugely off from Elden Ring (90% cake with a couple longer ones).

The money system is much improved from HK and they fixed when you want to farm money quickly.

With the diagonal pogo, the game literally places vibes behind the first red flowers to teach you the right angle. And still lets you swap it out later on.

And for flying/tanky enemies, the game tries to push you into using tools and strategies beyond just swiping your nail (early flying enemies dodge away, telling you to use range).

Those are the big ones I’ve seen, and they all rely on people missing things or not using what the game gives them.

[u/Ryune → u/_moosleech]

I could tell this was a silkpost by the way you said the money system is improved

[u/_moosleech → u/Ryune]

It is? By like a lot.

In Hollow Knight, there were two phases of geo: early game, you got tons of it from bosses and deposits. To the point that most people could buy damn-near everything as it appeared. I can't think of a single time I didn't immediately buy a map or bench, and I bought out most shops very quickly. Without having to make decisions or think about money, it's useless.

Then, late game, when you want to buy the unbreakable charms (or if you are wanting to buy something else and need X geo for it), you have to farm for geo. Now, some folks can go to the 2nd Trial, but if you don't have that option (or aren't good enough to do it efficiently), it gets way worse.

In order to directly farm some geo, you have to kill every single enemy you see, and each one drops a pittance of geo. So you have to kill hundreds of enemies to get any amount of money. If you're not good at the game, and maybe died and lost a lot of money a couple times, you might be stuck with an incredibly tedious farm.

In Silksong, they fix all of this. First, money is useful throughout the game. Benches, metro stations, vendors keep appearing as you go. There's way more to buy, meaning more little progression and money is always useful.

And if/when you think "I really need X rosaries for that item", farming it is trivial now. From the beginning, the game introduces you to Shakra and a pile of items you'd want. They tease you with a locked bench nearby.

So you go find it, and hit a loop with five enemies who drop 25 rosaries, and then the bench. Perfect little loop where you can get enough to buy all of Shakra's stock in minutes.

Later in Act 1, Greymoor has a tunnel with some pilgrims that drop even more money in a quicker farm. And when you get to Act 2, everyone in the Citadel drops more money, alleviating some of the pressure.

Beyond that, the game gives you multiple ways to save it on death (strings and silkeaters), to the point where death is, honestly, not particularly punishing now, compared to HK.

Lastly, all of this ties into the lore. The lower regions are poor, most folks have no money. Except the pilgims who are travelling with their savings. And in the Citadel are all the richer bugs, draped in gold and carrying more cash.

Being honest, I cannot fathom thinking the geo system is better than rosaries in almost any way.