Hollow Knight: Silksong

Team Cherry does it again

Why

Why Not

Impressions

If you liked Hollow Knight you should stop reading and go buy this game before I spoil anything, but you probably already did. The seven year wait and silkposting madness were all worth it, Silksong is a perfect example of how to pull off a beloved game's sequel (along with Hades 2, still can't believe came out within a fortnight of each other).

You could be extremely reductive and call Silksong 'just more Hollow Knight', but even if that were the case the level of polish and care put into it would make a worthwhile sequel. There's an animation for everything you can think of; jumping just as Hornet grabs a ledge, holding the map as you look at it, falling asleep when resting on a bed rather than a bench... and so many more that'd be spoilers. The scenery is just as beautiful and varied as it was in Hollow Knight, but more polished. The soundtrack is amazing, setting the mood beautifully and keeping up the feeling of hype as I died to the true final boss for hours on end. And just moving around in the world feels so satisfying that I rarely minded the oft-maligned runbacks, or the delicate-flower-trauma-inducing courier missions.

Part of this is the crest system, which allows you to swap playstyles on the fly. For example you start with the (eventually upgradable) Hunter's Crest, whose diagonal pogo is probably responsible for a large chunk of the initial negative reviews. Over time you gain a crest which basically lets you play as the Knight, one that ensures you'll never run out of silk and one that lets yougo full agression and facetank some bosses if you time your binds well. Three additional secret crests change the game even more, completely altering your focus by leaning heavily into one of combat's core mechanics.

Speaking of mechanics, oh boy there are a lot. You of course have your trusty nail, and since you're Hornet Silk replaces Soul from the original game. Since Hornet is a hunter, she also gains access to a bewildering variety of tools, from simple throwing pins to buzzsaws that'd make her dad proud and Grimmchild-like automatons. These are powerful but gated by shards, a separate resource to the main rosary currency, so you can't spam them with impunity. I'd recommend not being quite so stingy as I was though, often being stuck at the maximum number of shards it's possible to hold until particularly difficult bosses. As long as you're not constantly hurling them at anything that moves, you'll get enough back from defeated enemies to keep your stock of dangerous metal topped up.

Weird and likable characters were a strong point of the original Hollow Knight, and that continues in Silksong with the addition of Hornet herself. Learning more about who she is and what she's been through via dialogue and her own words in the Hunter's Journal you'll eventually find adds an extra dimension compared to the Knight's emptiness. There are a whole cast of characters and groups you'll get attached to then cry about when they inevitably die (though not all of them!), and the side quests usually tie in nicely with them, giving a sense they're out & about doing their own things rather than just waiting for Hornet to talk to them. My favourite was definitely Shakra, who has enough personality & aura to deserve her own spinoff and is exactly as terrifiying to fight as you might think from seeing her annihilate any bug stupid enough to follow you near her.

There is so much amazing missable content that I almost wish it was required; for example if you made your own way into The Slab you've missed out on a truly unique experience, and there's a 3rd act you can miss completely if you don't go check wish boards after putting a cocky child in her place for the second time. You reallly don't want to miss the 3rd act, it's a (much needed at that point) spike in difficulty and contains two of my favourite bosses from any game. Plus it unlocks the only 'good' ending, even if it may not seem like it at the time.

As you might have guessed, I wholeheartedly recommend this game. Until I played it Elden Ring was my favourite game, the peak of the souls-like genre from the AAA studio that created it. Maybe it's recency bias but Silksong has eclipsed that titan for me, an absolutely insane feat for a 2300 yen game from 3 guys in Australia. Plus, rather than paying 5000 yen for Shadow of the Erdtree, Sea of Sorrow is coming in 2026 for free; definitely not in 7 years as a completely separate game this time...