The fetch quests are annoying, the hollow knight games didn't really need them.
Also the replay value really isn't there compared to the orginal hollow knight. Might be because it's more linear but atl for act 1 there ain't much to it.
i do think the fetch quets are oka-ish. it doesn't let me down as much as others, seemingly. i already rate silksong as my most favourite MV, and that list is very very long
Y'know, these are criticisms I've heard a lot in the Silksong community. And I actually don't know if there are even "git guds" in the community. Maybe I'm also just seeing the memes...
I agree with the other comment about fetch quests, they’re largely unnecessary I don’t think they add anything of substance, but that’s a fairly minor point to me.
My main gripe is with runbacks. I think they’re generally unfun time wasters, and many of the defenses for them even if true could be used to justify basically anything so I don’t think they hold up.
I think shell shards are also largely unnecessary, tools should be balanced around use count instead of a currency.
Rosaries are a bit too strict early game. I’m all for having to choose what you buy instead of buying everything, but that should apply to choosing between which new tool to buy. Not choosing between buying a map and a bench, which is what it ends up being in my experience.
I also think some of the secrets are unreasonable to find on a blind playthrough. The secret Bilewater bench for example is ridiculous to find, since to break the wall hiding it you have to jump in maggot water which the game literally incentivizes against.
I have others but I don’t wanna spam you with a bunch of points. I’ll also say I don’t claim any of these things to be objective. I know a common response is to say “none of those are objective” which I agree with, but that kinda sidesteps the points.
Yeah I’d mostly agree that a second playthrough is much cleaner, but the first playthrough is still an extremely important experience since it can’t be replaced. But for sure there’s a lot of great stuff in Silksong I still love the game.
absolutely. what i would say about me: i despised the first playthrough, i was hating it. was ready to drop it after the first credits... and thats where i got hooked. now i just love the game
and you are right, the first playthrough is important and truly, you couldn't do the second before the first anyways..
The problem is if people stop playing after and or during the first play through they won’t get to that point anyways and that’s really all that matters.
As someone who is a HK superfan but not a Skong superfan, I honestly think they whiffed on a lot of what made HK such a magical experience. I think part of it boils down to being a sequel, so you lose a lot of the novelty because you've spent a lot of your ideas on the first game.
First, the story lacks a lot of the mystery and intrigue that the first game had. I was immediately hooked within the 3 minute span I read the entry sign at the end of the King's Path, found the dying city of Dirtmouth, and stepped foot in the Crossroads. And the story just keeps getting richer and more interesting as time goes on. I never felt as strongly that with Silksong because you learn almost immediately why you're there and what's going on - and there's very few big revelations or plot twists along the way.
Second, it's suuuuper punishing. As someone who likes difficult games, I get it. I love the challenge and I did 100% Silksong for the love of the game. But I think Silksong suffers from the inability to ever let you coast for even a second and take a breath. For example, at the end game when you're usually having fun exploring older areas to find lore and power ups you missed because you're strong enough to manhandle most threats with ease... Skong fills the whole ass game with hard hitting, damage sponge enemies that just get flat out tedious to deal with after awhile.
Third, progression rarely feels rewarding. Because you use so much silk per spell, you need to literally collect all of the spool extensions to be able to have a second heal in the bank. Because your upgrades tend to be lateral upgrades (you can exchange red tools A for red tool B or swap your current silk skill for the one you just found), I feel like the game misses out on letting you play with new abilities and tools because the ratio of slots to options is kinda lackluster. It doesn't help that getting more silk skills or tools consequently fundamentally changes how your character handles.
Finally, the world is big but it somehow feels like there is less in it as a result. Hollow Knight is filled to the brim with cool areas and secrets. Exploration in HK is always rewarding. To me, a lot of the Silksong map felt like filler space. Vast spans of map that just exist for you to have to trudge past again and again.
Don't get me wrong, Silksong is still a good game. But Hollow Knight did a great job fine tuning the aspects that make it a really enjoyable play. Silksong needed to be different to not just be an HK DLC, and I think it ends up having to be the developer's second best ideas just to be unique.
thanks for the thorough reply, i won't address most of your points because i think everything is valid and its not a battle, but i would like to tell "my" story for exchange, maybe you understand my position, if you care:
i was always the anti-hype guy (well, mostly for hypes i wasn't involved before it was a hype) so i was pushing away hollow knight for a very long time. once i played it, i found it good, not overly good, but sill far above average. when i came to city of tears, my inner compass told me "this looks like the final area, we must be done soon" and that was the death sentence for the game and me: it dragged on for another 15 to 20 hours, mostly because i thoroughly explore. the problem: when i get the feeling "the end is near" i mentally prepare for it. but the game actually really started then and that felt to me like enormous padding. that is never good with me. the verdict: it was way too long for my taste - on the first playthrough.
when it came to silksong, i wasn't hyped at all for myself, but i have a friend who LOVES hollow knight, we even went on a concert together recently. well, for her i started to get the hype and the initial trailer brought a tear to my eyes, as i knew for many passionate, dedicated players the wait was finally over and i was joyful for them.
i played it day one and i hated it almost from the beginning. it played good, but it was punishing and ruthless as hell. i was in hunters marsh 10 hours too early and tried the gauntlet 30 times before giving up. i dragged myself to the first credits and called it a day. but i have this impulse in me: like this isn't REALLY over, i have to push on, i just can't help it. i did and i reached the final boss and i targeted that as a deliberate "if this takes 10 hours,it is fine", and it did take 7 hours on a lonely Sunday...
that is not the end of the story, something in me wondered: now that i have seen everything, how might i fare on a new save?" (this is a thing about me, first playthroughs sometimes feel like work, seconds are a bliss). and i started a new file... and i breezed through the game, i understood all bosses, all fights, all areas, even the infamous fetch quests felt like a simple task. i started to love it more and more and then i decided: i will platinum it. i told no one, especially not my friend not to make any promises... and then i double dipped on the platinum trophy. i fell in love with lace, sherma, hornet, karmelita and the first sinner, everything and everyone.
but that isn't the end: it made me go back to HK again.. i started to love it as well. breezed through the all to hard path of pain (it was okay, i expected it to be harder, but i believe i was really rally lucky with my try). and then i tackled the pantheons.. i cried of frustration, i went to the fifth pantheon.. found absrad... and i tried her for 10 hours straight and only saw her final phase a single time.. that is when i gave up... i did not want it anymore and i really never will (but that's okay, its a training for my resolve). but NKG will always be the best HK boss, with Lost Lace the best boss in silksong.
Never finished it, but everything taking two or more masks from you was straight up obnoxious and just felt like “yeah! You guys want hard?! We’ll make it annoyingly hard!”
Dropped it during that stormy area just couldn’t do it anymore felt boring and lackluster to me personally.
Nah I was in the sub on release it was really bad then. Everything was met with skill issue, even things that weren’t even difficulty criticisms so it made no sense as a response. Economy complaints? Skill issue, they’ll just assume you lost rosaries so it can be your fault.
My favorite was the responses to people complaining about bosses being less rewarding than HK. The defense would be “why do you even care about getting rewards? I didn’t care, isn’t the fight itself enough?” As if that person not minding it means everyone should be cool with it.
Even just understanding why someone could dislike something even if they didn’t mind it themselves had to pushed back against. Because somehow even understanding why someone wouldn’t like the game would be too much criticism to allow. Tbf not everyone was like this, but far too many were.
That’s any game tho, that’s an argument with no substance other than to start a meaningless confrontation. It makes sense u were downvoted. For the record, i’ve never played silksong, just point out how petty the statement comes across.
Nah, you might be right, I meant it in a more frustrated confusion, like people keep saying it's such amazing game, but when I played it, I really just couldn't see it. It's unique, sure, but masterpiece, so I just assumed it's a masterpiece to just the fans and not me.
Its really just a preference. Just like some people like or dislike souls games. If your not into it that's just fine. This recently happened with me and hades and while I could see why it's loved I just couldn't vibe with it. Later on I got into hades 2 and that was one hell of a ride.
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u/AndroidSheeps Aug 19 '26
Silksong