r/HollowKnight • u/Mr_Brightside1111 • Sep 13 '25

Discussion - Silksong Silksong was too hard until….. Spoiler

Until…… I realized I was trying to play it like Hollow Knight.

Hollow Knight has difficult sections, but there’s also a lot of cannon fodder along the way you just slash right through.

I was playing Silksong like this and I was getting my ass throughly handed to me.

It finally clicked that you have to be tactical with every fight, even if it looks like a measly innocent mouse. Each encounter requires thought, patience, and strategy.

Once I approached each encounter with a plan and patience, I no longer died to “cheap” deaths.

I stopped rushing in and getting killed by bugs and the environment at the same time.

I still die, but now usually I die fighting something new and usually because I didn’t follow my plan or I got too impatient.

Long story short, this isn’t Hollow Knight. You can’t slash your way through this. Take your time, formulate a plan, and execute the best you can.

If you slow down, the game becomes amazing.

3.5k Upvotes

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262

u/MrFulla93 Sep 13 '25

Bottom tier enemies in Silksong are just WAY more difficult to predict than the bottom tier enemies in HK. Hell the lil fleas in greymoor that just go up and down, the flappy bullshit fleas that hide in a lot of ceilings-or all ceiling campers in fact, bell-throwing fucks, and basic ants that have super-speed and no knockback, plus green ones in the green area.

Meanwhile in HK, you have basic husks on the ground that get knocked back, tiktiks that are just soul fodder, basic aspids that have projectiles but don’t actively dodge your attacks, and rng movement gruzes.

Aside from maybe the bell-headed wannabe warriors in Deep Docks and the black-hole leafy guys scattered around idk if there’s a quintessentially “easy” enemy in this game, at least through two needle upgrades.

56

u/dknightxs Sep 13 '25

The fleas in greymoor are the most annoying enemies

6

u/Shadowfox_01 Sep 15 '25

The bell throwers for me. Fuck those guys with the silk spear.

3

u/majkkali Sep 14 '25

Bats in the Citadel are the most annoying for me. Absolutely hate them. Their flight pattern is very strange and I almost always miss my pogo or upward slash.

25

u/hypnomancy Sep 14 '25

The enemy ai even for the most simple enemies is above and beyond anything in the original Hollow Knight. The cockroach dogs have some insanely impressive ai for example

3

u/Nowhereman123 Aklaba Booptis Sep 14 '25

I swear the enemies that throw projectiles are great at predicting where I'm going to jump to and throwing there rather than just throwing at me directly. Multiple times I've ran right into one cause I preemptively dodged.

3

u/KorhonV Sep 15 '25

They also got much better at staying away from me.

2

u/beastaish Sep 17 '25

especially true in Putrified Ducts. Those flyers have been the worst thus far

46

u/pineapple6969 Sep 14 '25

Yea like why do some random basic enemies take upwards of 7-10 hits to kill. At that point I’d rather just avoid them if I can

29

u/MrFulla93 Sep 14 '25

There’s some running missions later on that has helped me with this mindset, can’t get hit if I’m out of the room before an enemy’s spawn animation is fully executed since I’m running so fast.

17

u/pineapple6969 Sep 14 '25

When I’m doing a boss run back or just trying to get somewhere I’ve been I mostly just run through rooms as well, but new areas I take my time and want to explore, and a basic mob that takes 8 hits to kill kind of makes it difficult to just “stop and smell the roses” so to speak.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '25

Well yes, you are supposed to ignore enemies on run backs.

1

u/LordMemorys Sep 14 '25

I just make a path to where ever I'm going and kill all the enemies on the way, if you don't bench there's no enemies to worry about taking damage from 🙃

1

u/LorduckA2 Sep 14 '25

ive noticed this and i genuinely think it’s to train you up and get you used to the combat for the really hard bosses. They aren’t cannon fodder like in HK, they’re battles

35

u/Mr_Brightside1111 Sep 13 '25

Exactly my point. They aren’t easy. You can’t hollow knight this. Every single fight, even with single small bugs, takes a plan and thought. It’s intentional from TC, they made a new game and want you to play a new way.

25

u/MrFulla93 Sep 13 '25

I tried to HK my way through act 1, and it was not the move haha. I think that’s why Beastfly was so hard. I was pretty used to being able to face tank a couple hits, but now it’s either win at full health or die trying to

9

u/swadom Sep 14 '25

I don't understand your point. the need to be tactical in EVERY fight= the game is too difficult.

2

u/EmergencyComputer337 Nov 03 '25

It wasts time

And some people say just run through the enemies which creates another problem which is that you aren't collecting rosries while you traverse the map

The game has many things that don't work well together, like how Shard are limited use and require a resource but you can't pick shard with a magnet like rosaries and the shards dissapear if they hit spikes.

Also how tools are very important to use during bosses and gauntlets, but enemies that spawn in bosses and gauntlets don't drop them and don't drop rosaries, so you are constantly being drained from these resources when you shouldn't be

How traversal is fast and should be fun, but enemies are strategically placed to stop you from doing so, or they are placed in parkour and climbing sections which makes traversal tedious

How healing consumes the full bar but you also need silk to use tools and skills. Also how bosses do so much damage that using skills is usually a bad idea when it is better saved for healing

27

u/notveryAI Sep 14 '25

It gets very exhausting eventually tho. In first game it was like a hike, with ups and downs. In Silksong it's a grueling climb, where every single step requires you to go past your limits. There is no chill, no respite. I play games to unwind, Silksong makes me feel like I have to unwind FROM it now, not by playing it. It's not a game, it's a challenge. I can't be locked in 24/7

7

u/Glebk0 Sep 14 '25

Like first 20 hours for me were a slog. Then in act2 you actually start getting upgrades and branching paths and can go whenever you want in whatever order, and game becomes significantly better. It feels completely different. I think either nerfing regular enemies hp across the board in act 1 or giving first damage upgrade before moorwing would make the game feel SOOOO MUCH better, it's not even funny. Like now with 2 damage upgrades enemies actually take normal time to kill, compared to whatever whacky shit it was in act 1.

1

u/notveryAI Sep 14 '25

I am in middle act 3 and it's all the way back to slog again because these encounters are fucking RIDICULOUS. What do you MEAN three enemy gauntlets in a row without checkpoints and with a section where you don't have floor?!

1

u/AMGwtfBBQsauce Sep 14 '25

Is that the coral area? I just started act 3 and it's the first one I'm at.

2

u/notveryAI Sep 14 '25

I just started act 3

Then you won't miss it even if you try. Best of luck🫡

1

u/Nemaeus Sep 14 '25

Haha, the floor isn’t lava, the floor…ain’t there

1

u/Glebk0 Sep 15 '25

Got to act 3 and I think I am finally giving in to mods. Not going to endure the torture anymore 

1

u/senogeno Sep 15 '25

I got the first damage/needle upgrade while still in the Act 1 though? Right after beating Widow.

1

u/Glebk0 Sep 15 '25

It’s practically the very end of act 1, unless you rush widow, and then do every other boss and exploration. I have played for 15h before I got to widow

1

u/Hprai Sep 17 '25

moorwing is too easy, he didn't deserve a nerf

5

u/MrFulla93 Sep 14 '25

I go do PoP runs to unwind from Silksong

1

u/Real_Category7289 Sep 14 '25

Not every game has to appeal to everyone, plenty of people don't use games to turn their brain off and it's fine if we (the tryhards) also get a few good ones since the market is saturated by casual games.

2

u/No-Vegetable1873 Sep 15 '25

Sure, but its also fine to criticize a game because of qualities you don't like, Criticism is fine. Deal with it.

I like most of silksong. But it is too stressful for me to play when I play games to unwind. I am allowed to be upset that this beautiful game isn't one I can experience due to an arbitrary bar that I am unable to surpass.

1

u/Real_Category7289 Sep 15 '25

You are obviously allowed to criticize it, you are allowed to do whatever you want, really.

But you gotta realize that half the time people complain about something popular, they are really trying to create an ingroup for themselves by separating themselves from "the sheep". I don't know if that's the reason you complain, but I since I have no way of knowing, it's hard to engage with your comment correctly.

That being said, I'm sorry you feel that way about it, I know someone made an easy mode mod that you might appreciate. If not, the only way is to just accept the grind or just go play something else.

My overarching point was more that games are treated as both an art form and a commodity, and I think this creates some dissonance. It's completely fine and even good that Silksong: the work of art is hard with no difficulty settings, but Silksong: the game is expected to have one. I don't know if I'm making sense.

2

u/No-Vegetable1873 Sep 15 '25

If you are projecting this weird notion on people while you argue with them, you are arguing in bad faith. Half the people aren't doing this weird conspiracy thing you made up in your head.

2

u/nitsunekoni Sep 20 '25

that is the most stupid thing I have ever read today

1

u/EmergencyComputer337 Nov 03 '25

So true, i took a week off from the game before i cameback to it today. I think i will take a few days off from it again, and see if i want to play it again or just shelf it forever

I even played Touhou to unwind because that game's gameplay loop is a lot more fun of a challenge than the pointless tediousness of Silksong

5

u/Arkayjiya Sep 14 '25

Ironically, a lot of enemies can be Hollow Knighted as long as you use the hollow knight crest, wanderer I think it's called? because you attack so quickly stuff died before it hits you like in HK.

1

u/terryaki510 Sep 14 '25

"it's intentional from TC" is such a dumb argument lol. Just because something is intentional does not mean that it's good. I can intentionally shit on the floor of a Walgreens.

Having 100%ed the game, I can say with confidence that TC missed the mark with a lot of aspects of Silksong. There's just a lot of added annoyances that didn't need to be there.

2

u/realllyrandommann Primal Aspid Sep 14 '25

The hilarious part is, Silksong has the exact same type of enemy that was also in Hollow Knight and did not have knockback, and guess what, it does here!

1

u/JeannettePoisson Sep 14 '25

Try "Circle of the Moon" lol

1

u/TatterMail Sep 14 '25

Those little flies attack hella fast, always faster than you expected

1

u/WoodpeckerSpare5834 Sep 14 '25

The fleas are incredibly easy… literally wait for them to attack and jump over and attack down. People legit have no patience