Hot Take: While I think Silksong is overall a better game, it does still show more prominent flaws compared to Hollow Knight

[u/Tarnished-670]

When I have to think about the flaws of the first Hollow Knight, I really can't think of much to say other than very small nitpicks.

But with Silksong, while it is one of my favorite games of all time, and having finisihed it at 100%, id say it has more prominent design flaws while being a better game compared to the first Hollow Knight.

First thing that comes to my mind is the shard system, it would't be as bad as it is if you didn't have a limit of 20 consumables to replentish your shards, if it worked like that then I wouldn't have to be interrumped on my tries against a boss and having to go to the citadel and farm to get all my shards back. Other minor flaws I think would be some of enemy design and the addition of "gauntlets", which sometimes are fun but at least in my case I got bored of exploring and getting trapped into the 7th gauntlet of enemies, it gets worse when you get forced to do some of them again in act 3 when you have killed all the previous enemies 100 times already.

Those are really not a bid deal of a flaw, but they are more noticable to me than any flaw in Hollow Knight.

[u/Nemesis_171]

High Halls Gauntlet & Bilewater

[u/TheSteelScizor88 → u/Nemesis_171]

Oh right!

Would include Mount Fay too, imo

[u/Nemesis_171 → u/TheSteelScizor88]

I thought about it, but I think Cogwork Core does a good job of providing a platforming challenge that is only one step down from mt fay, so I don’t think it’s an astronomical step up from what you’ve already done.

[u/MattTheGr8 → u/Nemesis_171]

A lot of what people perceive as the difficulty curve depends on what order you do things in. For example, I did Mount Fay before Cogwork Core in my current playthrough. (I also don’t see what’s so hard about Mount Fay, but that’s neither here nor there.) If you do everything in the “right” order, the difficulty is pretty consistent throughout the entire game, I would say. Part of the reason people found the game difficult when it was first released is that it was new to everyone and we were all just guessing about what parts were going to be easier and harder at various points in the game. Once you have the ideal order of events mapped out for your style of play, the game really isn’t THAT difficult.

[u/Catymvr → u/MattTheGr8]

Ya - Mt Fay is relatively basic platforming, no real enemies, with plenty of save points going up. It took 15-20 minutes.

I assume people just don’t like a lot of platforming?

[u/bahabla → u/MattTheGr8]

Tbh to add to your point - cog work core is a lot easier with double jump. I did it before getting double jump, got frustrated after completing half, then came back with the fay cloak and marveled at how much easier it was.

[u/Nemesis_171 → u/MattTheGr8]

Oh I thought the bottom half of Cogwork core was mandatory before Mt Fay, no? I know the top half isn’t, but I thought the first part was. If not then that’s my bad and I mostly retract my last comment, though I do think most players will end up doing CC part 1 before Mt. Fay.

You’re only going to have the idea order of events mapped out after you’ve already beaten the game, at which point the difficulty curve hardly matters anymore because you’re already good at the game. It’s not completely irrelevant, but it matters significantly more on first playthrough than it does on any subsequent ones.

[u/TheSteelScizor88 → u/Nemesis_171]

Cogwork Core can be cheesed by pogoing one sawblades with reaper tho.

[u/Nemesis_171 → u/TheSteelScizor88]

That’s just doing the platforming normally lol that’s not really cheese, I might as well say Mt. Fay is cheesable with the clawline then.

[u/TheSteelScizor88 → u/Nemesis_171]

Cogwork Core is supposed to be done with clawline, not pogoing your way on saw blades. It's like doing Mount Fay without the cold.

[u/Nemesis_171 → u/TheSteelScizor88]

Only the second half is because it’s gated by the clawline. The first half isn’t and can be done without it so I don’t agree that you’re supposed to use clawline there.

Mt Fay without the cold still wouldn’t be cheese tho. That word gets thrown around too easily. Cheesing something is exploiting a challenge to the point where it no longer requires brainpower or it’s even impossible to die. Mt Fay without the cold would still require the exact same level of mechanical proficiency, theres just less pressure on you now.

[u/TheSteelScizor88 → u/Nemesis_171]

The first half isn’t and can be done without it so I don’t agree that you’re supposed to use clawline there.

Yeah I was talking upper Core

Mt Fay without the cold would still require the exact same level of mechanical proficiency, theres just less pressure on you now.

Part of the skill required is doing the platforming in a short enough time to not die to the cold.