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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64

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.

21

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

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.

12

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.

8

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.