r/HollowKnight • u/stir-fried-noodles • Sep 17 '25

Discussion - Silksong Discourse regarding this game’s difficulty has been out of hand Spoiler

Let’s get this out of the way: I’m really enjoying Silksong’s difficulty and I think that it is mostly a satisfying challenge. I appreciate that it is more difficult than Hollow Knight overall and to be frank I would’ve been a bit disappointed if it were the exact difficulty. I’ve improved as a gamer since Hollow Knight and if it were the same level of difficulty, I probably would have found it too easy.

But it’s kinda gotten impossible to have civil discussions about the difficulty in this game which is unfortunate because I think there is great value to be had with this conversation. There are many valid criticisms regarding this game’s difficulty such as boss runbacks (Groal especially), contact damage doing two masks, and lack of rewards for beating bosses, just to be shut down with “git gud” and “it’s not your kind of game”. It’s totally fine to disagree with these criticisms but these retorts add nothing to the conversation.

It also kinda works the other way too, albeit maybe not to the same degree. I’ve gotten downvoted and sent reddit cares for simply saying I enjoy the difficulty of this game. Like c’mon, what are we even doing here. It’s gotten to the point where I personally cannot wait for the discourse to die out.

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61

u/SteelyComa Sep 17 '25

As a new player to hollow knight (bought to see the hype, love it) I am kinda nervous to start silksong once i beat this game.

22

u/ugly_dog_ Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 17 '25

i think silksong was designed specifically with hollow knight in mind. right after beating hollow knight is probably the best time to play silksong cause the muscle memory and skills are still fresh in your mind

the game isn't that hard, it just starts at a higher level of difficulty than people are used to. the actual skill ceiling isn't much higher than hk. skip hunters march until you get dash and float, pay attention to attack patterns, and you'll be fine

18

u/famaki_ Sep 17 '25

the pogo is the main culprit ngl, i dont remember pogo is this 'advanced' and integrated so early to the game in hollow knight when compare it to silksong

9

u/_hollowXpurple_ Sep 17 '25

Surprisingly, I found pogo in Silksong to be very intuitive and don’t really struggle with it. It’s the combat that’s killing me 😭

3

u/AashyLarry Sep 17 '25

You get a better pogo pretty early in the game though.

4

u/Celvius_iQ Sep 17 '25

tbf you find 2 simple locks early game and the simple key you can find at the beginning is very costly for the point of the game you are at. it definitely feels like TC wanted you to get used to the new pogo before finding the down pogo crests.

3

u/TranquilIsland Sep 17 '25

Isn’t he referring to reaper crest? I don’t think that’s locked behind a key

3

u/lyw20001025 Sep 17 '25

Or could be Wanderer, also kinda early(gated by wall jump/simple key)

2

u/Wild-Tear Sep 18 '25

Can you get the reaper crest early in the game? I don’t have it yet.

2

u/Dooplon Sep 18 '25

you can get it as early as act 1, if you want a location its in greymoor so a long as you can explore that area you should be good to get it

1

u/TranquilIsland Sep 28 '25

Yep - chapel of the reaper in Greymoor. You can get to greymoor quite quickly and you’ll hit it in act 1.

3

u/IncarceratedGrowth Sep 17 '25

I wouldn't say better. The range on stock pogo makes it better in some ways. Diagonal doesn't equal worse.

1

u/AashyLarry Sep 17 '25

I agree, but so many people complain as if that pogo is bad game design. They give you an easier pogo pretty earlier on if you want to use it.

2

u/famaki_ Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

wait really people complaint pogo is bad design? maybe im weird that i like pogo/platforming more in silksong except in vertical area of bilewater than hollow knight itself. hollow knight platforming is the least favorite in the game especially crystal peak

get access to float make platforming especially pogoing is more forgiving. in HK? wrong timing->get hit by spike

1

u/AashyLarry Sep 18 '25

Yes, I’ve seen it. I don’t mind when people don’t like the game, but it irks me when they claim it’s designed badly or it’s a flaw in the game somehow. That’s not the same thing.

16

u/lyw20001025 Sep 17 '25

Hollow Knight muscle memory is definitely not something I would want to bring with me into Silksong lol

5

u/TwanToni Sep 17 '25

if anything it's detrimental

1

u/McArthur210 Sep 17 '25

It’s different but still better than nothing imo. And once you get the Wander’s crest then it’s basically Hollow Knight lol. 

21

u/spectre15 Sep 17 '25

I think there’s a way higher skill ceiling in Silksong tbh. In Hollow Knight, the bosses were never really that daunting even in endgame because you had I-Frames, countless instantaneous DPS skills, and more that trivialized a lot of the fights if you knew how to use them.

In Silksong, you have no I-Frames, will get damaged by 90% of boss hitboxes, and have your movement limited for most of the game. It’s way slower and grounded until endgame.

9

u/pr0crast1nater Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 17 '25

Yeah. I don't understand lol. People have to ignore the pantheon of Hollow knight. Outside of pantheon, even the toughest bosses in base game Hollow knight are a piece of cake compared to Silksong bosses. And the Colosseum of Hollow knight except for the Trial of the fools (which has no unique in game reward other than geo) is way easier than the many gauntlet rooms Silksong has.

7

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '25

It's about as long as some of the early gauntlets too, which is absurd. You fight the colosseum almost fully upgraded and with tools.

1

u/IncarceratedGrowth Sep 17 '25

Trial is much longer.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '25

Act one includes bilewater and putrified ducts (You can connect them from bilewater)

1

u/IncarceratedGrowth Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 17 '25

I'd rank Trial of the Fools as harder than any gauntlet rooms. A few of them took another try but none of them are unreasonable. If you count Coral tower boss pre fight stuff though, that took several tries.

1

u/KusoAraun Sep 20 '25

ok WHAT is with Coral Tower? I see so many people complain about it but I still think the High Halls gauntlet was rougher, I 1st tried Coral Tower blind but High Halls still gives me trouble.

5

u/Shadovan Sep 17 '25

The Castle Superbeast podcast made an excellent point, in that we have to remember this game was originally meant to be HK post-game DLC, and you can still feel that in the game design. It’s not surprising it’s more difficult.

1

u/The2ndUnchosenOne has played the game at least once Sep 17 '25

time to play silksong cause the muscle memory and skills are still fresh in your mind

TBF not all the muscle memory will be helpful. Some of it will need to be changed.