Hollow Knight Silksong Review – Hornet’s sharpest dance

Silksong is a gorgeous, razor‑sharp Metroidvania that pushes hard and refuses to apologize. Hornet’s movement sings, the combat has bite, and Pharloom is a world you want to map cell by cell. It’s also often mean. Early benches that cost money (or worse, hurt you), double‑damage attacks, and long runbacks will test your patience. If you’re up for that bargain, you’re in for one of the year’s best games.

Pros

• Fluid, expressive movement; Hornet feels fantastic to master
• Stunning hand‑drawn art and an evocative score
• Huge world with smart vertical design and memorable bosses
• Flexible builds via Crests, Tools, and Silk Skills

Cons

• Spiky difficulty and “gotcha” traps can feel punitive
• Stingy early‑game economy (Rosaries) and paid benches
• Limited accessibility settings at launch; Simplified Chinese localization needs work

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A sequel with its own identity

Silksong doesn’t feel like “more Hollow Knight.” It feels like a cousin with sharper elbows. Pharloom is built upward, and its spaces are dense, layered, and hostile. The art direction is exquisite: backlit cathedrals, rain‑slick aviaries, and industrial guts give each region a clear mood. Christopher Larkin’s score threads it together with mournful strings and bright, needling motifs. The whole thing plays like Micrographia come alive—tiny creatures, seen close, made monstrous and strange.

Structurally, it’s the same genre bedrock: explore, unlock movement, loop back. But the rhythm is faster. Shortcuts braid vertical shafts; bells and stations trim long hauls. Side quests—“Wishes”—nudge you off the golden path with new tools, bosses, and story beats. It’s a huge game, and it trusts you to find your way.

Hornet moves like a blade

The biggest shift is you. Hornet is quick, acrobatic, and precise. Her dash is always‑on, wall‑mantling is standard, and a diagonal down‑strike changes classic pogo routes into new geometry puzzles. That one tweak demands relearning muscle memory, especially in air‑control rooms and spike corridors, but the skill ceiling is high and satisfying.

Combat leans aggressive. You build Silk, spend it on Bind (a burst heal that restores three masks at once) or on special Silk Skills. Bind is fast, but if you’re hit during the animation you lose all stored Silk. That risk–reward loop pushes you to create heal windows, control space, and commit.

Crests, Tools, and builds that matter

Silksong swaps the old Charm system for Crests that alter your moveset and tool slots. Each Crest plays differently: some add silk‑on‑hit after a Bind, some reshape your basic strings, some tilt you toward aerial combos or control tools. Tools slot in for utility—traps, throws, mobility—and Silk Skills sit on top as power spikes. The result is honest buildcraft. Bosses and kill rooms will punish a stubborn loadout; benches (when you can safely reach them) are your respec table.

A world that plays rough

Silksong wears its “no free lunch” philosophy on the surface. Early on, you’ll meet paid benches and scarce currency. Rosaries replace Geo, and you can’t just farm every trash mob to refill your wallet. Many foes don’t drop beads at all; you’re pushed to explore, sell relics, and buy smart upgrades (magnet pickups help). There’s also a notorious bench trap in an early nightmare zone that turns a “made it!” moment into a lesson: look before you sit.

Difficulty spikes are real. A lot of enemies and many bosses hit for two masks. Some arenas are shaped to smother panic movement. Some runbacks are long by design. It can feel needlessly cruel in the moment, but there’s intent here: teach spacing, punish greedy heals, and make you re‑tool. When it clicks—when you route a zone, re‑spec, and dismantle the fight—the payoff lands.

Bosses: choreography and character

There are a lot of bosses, and the best of them emphasize motion and clarity. Patterns are readable but tight; fights reward deliberate aggression. A few can overstay their welcome, especially if your build under‑indexes on crowd control, but the variety is strong: duos with emotional beats, gigantic set‑pieces, compact duelists who test your air game. Silksong still does the thing where the world story surfaces mid‑fight through animation and framing. It works.

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Performance and options

Silksong runs well on modern consoles and PC, with Switch 2 delivering high‑refresh options in TV mode and snappy handheld play. On the options side, you get useful basics (camera shake, HUD scaling, remapping). You don’t get much beyond that. There’s no built‑in assist or difficulty slider; a cheeky cheat unlocks a permadeath variant, not an easier mode. For some, that’s fine. For others, especially players who need more accessibility support, it’s a miss for now.

Launch reality check

The launch was huge. Storefronts wobbled under demand, Steam peaks climbed fast, and the Metacritic slate landed in the low 90s on many platforms. Week‑one discourse has centered on three things: difficulty (especially double‑damage), economy friction, and the Simplified Chinese localization, which Team Cherry has said it plans to improve. Meanwhile, speedrunners—being speedrunners—are already posting sub‑two‑hour clears. The range of reactions tells you something: Silksong has heat.

How it stacks up to Hollow Knight

• Movement: A clear upgrade. Mantling, a true dash, and diagonal pogo shift traversal into a faster, more vertical game.
• Healing: Bind is quicker and bigger, but riskier. It changes how and when you take space.
• Builds: Crests + Tools + Silk Skills offer more distinct playstyles than Charms alone.
• World: Pharloom’s zones are larger and more varied, with a nastier streak. Secrets and shortcuts remain excellent.
• Tone: It’s harsher. Hollow Knight had long breathers; Silksong keeps you tense. Some will bounce off that; others will love it.

The IGN‑style bottom line

Silksong is a confident, uncompromising sequel. It is beautiful, thrilling, and often cruel. It asks more of you than the first game and gives you a deeper toolkit to answer back. When you’re stuck, it nudges you to wander, learn, and return stronger. When you’re rolling, it feels like flying. If the economics and traps grate, or if you want more accessibility from day one, those are fair knocks. But as a work of craft and as an action‑exploration game, Silksong stands near the top of the genre.

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Score: 9.0 / 10

Amazing — A masterful Metroidvania with sharp edges and a sharper identity.