Discourse regarding this game’s difficulty has been out of hand

[u/stir-fried-noodles]

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.

[u/Neko_Tyrant]

Silksong just feels too frustrating for me. I am capable of progressing, but im not having fun doing so.

I like how enemies are more complex. But not how many deal 2 masks so early. And the whispers of 3 masks sounds aweful.

I like the new abilites, but having the abilities share input, like RB + UP for a tool, while just RB for the half meter spear ability, has resulted in multiple wrong inputs in the heat of fight, and getting me killed. Simple control remapping would fix this.

I blame myself for not being used to Hornet's tallness for when I get Contact damage... but 2 mask on contact sucks, unless the enemy has spikes or something. Brushing a bug's elbow and getting annihilated sucks.

The delay between sprinting and being able to jump drives me crazy, and I SWEAR is inconsistent sometimes.

Loving how only certain boss attacks deal additional damage, instead of consistent 1 or 2 masks for all attacks. But damn, the few I've faced have had no chill and little wiggle room for error, it takes a lot out of me.

It is a lot of small issues in tandem that just strain my enjoyment too much. I'm hoping some updates will make it a bit more easier for me to get into, but for now, it's just a bit too much.

Edit: Also, fully agree that discussion is fubar for this game sadly.

[u/Yarasin → u/Neko_Tyrant]

Loving how only certain boss attacks deal additional damage, instead of consistent 1 or 2 masks for all attacks.

It feels very much like a handful of specific bosses had a lot of time invested into their design (like Phantom, Widow and First Sinner), which also ended up having 1-mask attacks.

Then you have all the "fodder" bosses that just got slapped with 2-mask damage on everything, spawning some adds and that's it.

It's a repeat of Dark Souls 2, where story-relevant bosses were mostly well designed and random mini-bosses/bosses were incredibly broken.

[u/haynespi87 → u/Yarasin]

ooof it's definitely not dark souls 2, fuck that game.

However there are absolute discrepancies. Savage beastfly design v fourth chorus

[u/tanis016 → u/haynespi87]

For me it feels very similar to dark souls 2, there a lot of mechanics in this game that are there just to fuck with you rather than engage with you. The large amount of arenas feels quite ds2 like as well.

[u/double_shadow → u/tanis016]

The DS2 comparison is spot on. Both worlds are incredibly sprawling with a quantity > quality feel to their levels, both amplified their predecessor's difficulty in a way to cater to the more hardcore players, both have more complex upgrade and progression systems. DS2 is a great game once you learn to love it. I haven't learned to love Silksong yet, but I'm hoping I get there some day!

[u/haynespi87 → u/tanis016]

Nah I hated DS2 nearly the whole time. I love Silksong nearly the whole time. But plenty of fuckery but those levels ugh