Review in Progress: Hollow Knight: Silksong (PS5)

Hollow Knight is a cult indie classic from three man developer Team Cherry which took the world by storm selling a total of over 15 million copies to date.

Hollow Knight: Silksong, a sequel that was originally planned as DLC, was first shown off in February 2019 and fans have been subsequently clamouring for its release ever since.

Finally releasing on 4th September, the title caused major storefronts to crash at launch. But is the game worthy of its elongated wait and the sheer hype surrounding it?

When booting up Silksong for the first time, you’ll not be greeted by the eponymous Knight but his nemesis, Hornet.

Her journey begins being transported by mysterious, cloaked captors to a new realm named Pharloom, a land cursed by silk and song.

While being escorted, a small insect lands on Hornet’s cage, breaking the seal and sending it crashing down a ravine into the starting area, Mossy Grotto. Who would want to capture Hornet? And why did they want to bring her to Pharloom? With so many questions and very few answers, Hornet sets out to navigate these dangerous lands and climb up to the Citadel to interrogate its leaders for answers.

In similar style to the original, you’ll begin the game with nothing but your basic jump and needle slash attack; you’ll have no tools at your disposal and no map for navigation.

This is where the game is very challenging in its opening hours as you try to adjust to the new environment, enemies, and Hornet’s new moveset.

Although Mossy Grotto is fairly forgiving — with plenty of spiky caterpillars and moths to slaughter — if you don’t purchase a map and compass promptly with the new rosary beads currency, you’ll be tearing your hair out not knowing where to go.

As you traverse Pharloom, you’ll notice that Hornet feels entirely different to control in comparison to the previous protagonist of the series. With her higher agility she is far nimbler than the Knight, allowing her to jump higher, sprint faster, flip, and diagonally slash enemies beneath you.

Crests are by far the most interesting new addition to Silksong: these adjust your needle’s attacking style, from short and fast-paced slashes to curved wide-range attacks. They also have several different coloured slots for equipping tools, amulets, and pendants.

Each item you collect is assigned a colour, and can be equipped based on the layout of your crest. For instance, you start off with the Hunter’s Crest, which allows you to equip one utility of each colour. But others have different slots, allowing for a lot more customisation when it comes to your build.

Wishwalls are another huge improvement to the original game. Now, instead of just receiving items from certain characters, you’ll have wishes to fulfil instead. These are presented like bounties on a board in the main town, Bone Bottom.

Requests can be as simple as collecting a handful of berries for a potion brewer or as difficult as eliminating a group of enemies and retrieving their dropped resources. The variety in tasks is very refreshing and gives you another reason to revisit already completed areas.

But the boss fights have always been a highlight of Hollow Knight and Silksong is no different, with over 40 new beasts to best.

So far, our highlight has been the Bell Beast. Based on the biggest bug to ever crawl the earth, it dashes from side to side and digs up large bells for you to dodge. If you can learn its pattern of fast dashes, jumps, and bell launching attacks long enough to defeat said beast, it’ll join your quest by aiding in fast travelling between major locations.

Another notable boss for us is the Fourth Chorus, a large robot with mechanical hands that destroys the platforms you’re stood on. This encounter requires some precise timing to avoid being burnt to a crisp in the lava.

So far every boss battle has been excellently designed and a joy to overcome. Yes, we’ve died a lot, but there’s still the feeling that you are progressing as muscle memory takes over once you’ve learned all the patterns.

It should be noted, though, that difficulty-wise Silksong sets a higher bar than its predecessor with more intricate platforming and more intense combat encounters.

Mastering Hornet’s new downward diagonal slash to pogo off of enemies and environmental objects to gain height whilst platforming can take time.

Meanwhile, combat trials have also been ramped up with many more waves and a wider variety of enemies spawning in each.

Mix in multiple locations where you must pogo whilst avoiding flying enemies and it is obvious the sequel has taken things to a whole new level.

Conclusion
The love, care, and attention that’s gone into making Hollow Knight: Silksong is already very evident in its vast array of gorgeous environments, earworm audio, and tough but fair platforming challenges. Pharloom is a land we just can’t get enough of, and we can’t wait to see where Team Cherry will take us as we work towards the conclusion of the campaign.