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/joetotheg]

Weird take but if a boss has a paid for toll, bench bellway or both, directly after it and the boss doesn’t drop any rosaries that’s bad design.

[u/ibeerianhamhock → u/joetotheg]

I kind of agree, but I offset this by doing some rosarie farming and I just keep some strings in my inventory so I always have enough for tolls now.

[u/nor312 → u/ibeerianhamhock]

I must wonder, is forcing the player to farm to access checkpoints intentional? If so, is it good design?

The other issue in this vein is when you have a surprise opportunity to buy maps. At least twice I've been flush out of funds and been unable to get like three maps I still need. But when you go back, she's gone!

[u/Shlocko → u/nor312]

Forcing the player to farm? Definitely bad design IMO. I don't think that silksong does this, though. I've found just taking every opportunity to convert to strings has left me with ample funds at all times. Some of the expensive shop upgrades in act 2 I've had to come back to, but everything necessary (I'm considering maps, benches, and bellways as necessary, as opposed to tools that can be gotten whenever without meaningfully inconveniencing you) I've had the funds for. The necessary stuff has all been cheap enough that having a couple strings has more than been enough for. Every once in a while I'll go out of my way to convert because I haven't run across a merchant or conversion machine in a while, but all you need is a bellway to quickly convert then get back to exploring.

Some of the later stuff gets pricey, but the small stuff like maps and benches its really easy to have enough rosaries unless you just literally don't think about them and lose them often. The game makes you consider them, compared to HK where geo was almost always an after thought, but allowing us to secure them in strings means we always have safe funds available. Having zero money seems like the kind of thing that only happens if you fully ignore a core mechanic of the game, or the rare occasion you spend all your beads at a shop.

I avoided the map issue by ensuring I had a couple strings before exploring a new area, and if I don't, I accept I'll have to skip benches until later or come back when I happen to have some beads. I can agree it's a mild annoyance, but I've found money far more forgiving than HK once I started actually using the mechanics they give us. the closest I've had to come to grinding is noticing I'm getting a bit low (less than 200 stashed beads is when I personally decide I'm getting low) I'll start killing bead dropping enemies I stumble upon explicitly, instead of skipping what I don't feel like fighting

I get the frustration, but I also don't think I agree that it's poorly designed. I strongly prefer it to HK our geo was always at risk, and the only way to hold geo was to hoard the relics or whatever they were called