Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch
Genre: 2D, Metroidvania, Action, Soulslike

Back in 2017, Australian indie developers Team Cherry made their tribute to both Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metroid, and the Dark Souls trilogy in the form of Hollow Knight. It’s a 2D search action title in an anthropomorphic bug-filled world with its own deep and dark lore, is beautifully animated, and flat-out challenging amidst its seemingly Tim Burton-esque adorable coating.

The game garnered loads of fans, though I’m not really one of them as the game’s Metroidvania and exploration aspects weren’t the best. It’s a good boss-fighting game, but not an enjoyable search action experience.

Which is why I’m glad to say that after so many years of waiting from fans since its announcement back in 2019 that the follow-up, Hollow Knight: Silksong, is a frickin’ huge improvement in every way.

Aim For The Top!

Hollow Knight: Silksong is focused on the first game’s secondary character, Hornet the needle-bearing huntress in a red coat, as she gets kidnapped by what seems to be church bugs. As luck would have it, the group ended up collapsing down below, with her being the sole survivor. So off she goes as she heads from bottom to the top of the auspicious Citadel, determined to find out the truth to her kidnapping. Along the way, she comes across pilgrims both friendly and insane, monsters, platforming, and loads of fighting.

True to search action form, Hornet needs to explore all-new and dangerous areas filled with enemies and challenging platforming segments, gaining new powers that help her traversal, and also plan her course and next steps. But Hollow Knight: Silksong does things a lot more different and doesn’t hold you by the hand.

For one, you have to buy your own maps and markers rather than start out with them. You also can get the game’s form of money -rosary beads- from insect humanoid enemies and caches found in nooks and crannies of stages. The benches that let you rest and save your game? Some of them are free, while most require payment in beads to be activated.

And halfway between your journey if you die? You leave your webbed-up corpse at the last spot where all your gathered beads are, and need to retrieve it before you get axed. The boss runbacks for Silksong are arguably the toughest I’ve experienced in a Soulslike game (or any 2D game styled like From Software’s babies).

This, along with the escalating difficulty curve, tough boss fights, and the contact damage system where big-bodied foes and later-game hazards take off two of your life points (you start off with five) all combine to make the Hollow Knight: Silksong challenging while straddling between the line of frustration and fun. Yes, you’ll tear your hair at certain aggravating design choices that make Team Cherry look like From Software-wannabes.

But at the same time after retrying those segments -especially the ones where there’s an obstacle course just between a bench and a tough boss fight- they become second nature and tune you into a better action gamer, aware of your surroundings and not letting up while getting too comfortable.

Long story short, Team Cherry has pretty much made a better Hollow Knight. I’ll let this video review of mine go into detail; final score’s inside.