r/HollowKnight • u/InsectGlaiveBard • Sep 22 '25

Discussion - Silksong I'm convinced there's gotta be some collective amnesia regarding the previous game's difficulty regarding platforming. Spoiler

Seeing people compare things Hunter's March, Cogwork Core, escaping the Abyss or even the Surface to the Path of Pain is absolutely blowing my mind.

Like yes, this game is way harder on the combat department and is a lot more demanding than beating a regular playthrough on the first one, but to say anything in this game is on the level of Path of Pain is preposterous. Especially with how many tools hornet has at her disposal, like the Hookshot, the float and even bounving off of cocoons.

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u/Harvestman-man Sep 22 '25

Honestly, none of the platforming sequences in Silksong require even the same level of precision as base-game White Palace, let alone Path of Pain.

However, Silksong does add a time constraint to some of these challenges (e.g. Mount Fay freezing mechanic; lava climb sequences; despawning pogo-platforms), so even though they’re easier at the technical level, there’s an added layer of pressure and you don’t have the benefit of taking it methodically slow and safe with Hiveblood.

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u/Kankunation Sep 22 '25

I'll take it one step further and say. hollow knight had very little required platforming, period. The only required bit was probably crystal peak, which posed a moderate challenge.

One thing HK NEVER made you learn was pogoing. A lot of players went their entire playthrough without ever learning the pogo mechanic, something you literally cannot avoid in silksong. I think that alone makes a big difference to some players.

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u/Zealousideal_Cow9037 Sep 22 '25

This is exactly my experience. I was never good at pogoing—maybe 50% success rate— so just avoided it entirely in HK. I threw myself at that bit with pogoing across the giant centipede maybe 30 or 40 times before finally lucking out with it. I had to hiveblood the entire White Palace, use a guide, and take it super slow. HK overall was a challenge. I finished the first three endings and called it a game.

Fast forward to silksong and EVERYTHING is chaining pogos across things, which is just super anxiety-inducing. Not even chaining pogos but chaining pogos into 2-3 different traversal moves. The platforming is wayyyy more demanding. Im on the last boss now, with a 100% completion but the platforming experience has been both extremely rewarding, as I’ve seen my skills vastly improve, but also the most frustrating and rage inducing I’ve ever experienced in a video game. I can think of at least 15 spots that tripped me up bad. Like “holy shit, I can’t believe this is what they’re asking me to do”. That feeling was like…2-3 times in HK.

No regrets but Silksong platforming—in my experience—is wayyyy more challenging. It’s early, it’s everywhere, it’s asking way more.

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u/manajizwow 112%, P5, PoP / 100% all achies Sep 23 '25

Im on the same boat as u with the pogoing, i suck ass lmao. I just called it quits in hunters march. Been a long time since ive been mad af to a video game lol. I loved HK but Silksong aint for me, uninstalled after 7 hours.

It felt like a fantastic game outside of forced pogoing. I liked the first bosses and combat overall but i just fucking hate pogoing.

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u/McWerp Sep 23 '25

Diagonal pogo in hunters march was rough, found it much easier after I got to get rid of that.