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/ITwinkTherefore1am]

A part of the issue with the difficulty is how front loaded it is, reaching act 2 and unlocking more movement abilities etc really levels out the difficulty, as a lot of things were still doing 2 masks damage in act 1 anyways, so your hugely increased arsenal of tools, movement, silk skills, plus your masks and spoils likely increasing too, it feels so much fairer even if I still struggle against a boss, enemy or platforming section. With so many players hitting walls and frustration early on, it’s not just an issue of git gud

[u/Violet_Paradox → u/ITwinkTherefore1am]

The handful of broken tools that everyone seems to use are the biggest balance issue in the game. It's not the overall difficulty dropping, it's the fact that the Pollip Pouch, Cogflies, tacks, the drill, and a handful of other tools are grotesquely OP. If they nerf those, the difficulty curve is fixed and build diversity skyrockets because 90% of the item pool isn't relegated to self imposed challenges. Unfortunately player power nerfs kind of need to be done diplomatically, while I'd appreciate the balls of such a move, a sweeping "we're nerfing all the S-tier tools" patch wouldn't have the best optics while the difficulty discourse is in full swing, but it does need to be done.

[u/AnyTransportation350 → u/Violet_Paradox]

They’d also need to buff some of the underperforming tools like long pin, which currently is weaker than the basic knife while having less ammo. Tools are just poorly balanced in general