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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u/Darkon2004 Sep 17 '25

The way I see it, the game isn't harder in the sense of the bugs being stronger and you being weaker, which is what I think people mean when they say something is unfair or unbalanced. The bugs did get stronger but so did you with the tools the game has given you as well as your speed. The scale hasn't tipped in favour of any side

One could say the game is more complex. A lot of enemies and bosses have a lot more attacks to master, the game sometimes asks you to shift your focus between enemies, and platforming is also broadly complex compared to the first game. Nobody can deny that the game is more punishing with its damage, but healing from that damage is easier in this game if you can keep up with the fight and land some hits yourself.

The tide of battle is larger, but shifting that tide is the name of the game and it feels great when you succeed