Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Difficulty Spike – Is It Too Much?

The video game difficulty debate has arisen once more, this time with Hollow Knight: Silksong. Team Cherry’s long-awaited sequel to the acclaimed Hollow Knight (over 15 million sold and counting) finally launched on September 4th for every single platform after seven years in development. It was hyped beyond measure in equal parts by a community that loves the first game, many who were happy to join in on the meme, and those in between. But this wasn’t a case of “anything less than perfection is bad.”

Many saw Silksong in its sparingly low appearances, ogling the screenshots, dissecting the details. They were already in love, and more than anything else, they wanted to play the darn thing. As the hype continued to build, earning spots at Summer Game Fest and the Xbox Games Showcase (pity the ROG Xbox Ally, which is all but forgotten in this mania), the number of people waiting to get their hands on it was high. Look no further than the fact that all major storefronts – Steam, the Nintendo eShop, the Xbox Store, PlayStation Store – suffered heavy server traffic as soon as Silksong went live. The moment had finally arrived. We were ready.

However, as players spent more time with the game, they quickly noticed something: Everything hurts. A lot. Some regular enemies can now deal two HP worth of damage, which is a problem when Hornet starts with five. Almost every boss deals as much damage with their attacks, some through the simple act of making contact. Hornet has lost much of her power in-game due to being imprisoned, but that segued into another issue that fans had: The apparent lack of upgrades.

If everything hurt so much, where was the additional health? Enemies required more than their fair share of hits to down – where were the damage upgrades? Why would Team Cherry do this? That’s not even getting into all the annoyances with currency drops, lackluster rewards from bosses, the map system, and – my favorite – boss runbacks. Years of Souls-likes and side-scrollers, many before Elden Ring’s checkpoints or Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s “Retry” option, and suddenly, runbacks are frowned upon as poor design.

For the sake of clarity, depending on the sorted language, Silksong hasn’t received the Shadow of the Erdtree review bombing treatment on Steam. Among nearly 50,000 reviews at this time, 91 percent have given it a thumbs-up, resulting in a “Very Positive” rating. You could chalk this up to a vocal minority, and yet, the debates have arisen regardless. While the usual “git gud”s and “skill issue”s are doled out, those complaining insist that it’s legitimate criticism.

Honestly, I can see the logic behind some of the complaints, including certain bosses not dropping any rewards, but truth be told, I didn’t really feel those pangs. Despite finishing Silksong in less than 20 hours, I still approached it at my own pace, completing requests, earning currency, and retrying against bosses. However, several areas are left unexplored. Bosses remain unconquered. I haven’t purchased every single Tool, and I’m sure there are hidden nooks to unearth, which is a sheer testament to the size and scale of Pharloom. Throughout it all, I probably spent ten minutes farming for some currency to buy a Simple Key.

On many occasions, I would drop currency on death and fail the runback, but still carried on like normal. I never felt hard-pressed to really push for certain benefits, which is hilarious considering I defeated the Last Judge without damage upgrades for the Needle or Tools. Or even using other offensive Tools beyond the Straight Pin and Longpin. It wasn’t for lack of challenge – I just enjoyed the rush, the feeling of learning the Judge’s patterns while getting a handle on Hornet’s mobility. When to float, when to mid-air roll, when to pogo (and not pogo) – so on and so forth.

Everything feels so good to control that I didn’t even mind dying after defeating it and having to retry the fight. Even the punishing contact damage taught me that it’s not just about zipping around, but improving my control and positioning, which came in handy for later fights. In some battles, I would completely forget that I had better Tools because of how much I enjoyed the movement and combat.

Nevertheless, I can empathize with those who don’t want this kind of difficulty and challenge, whether it’s the Hollow Knight fans who didn’t expect regular enemies to pile on the damage, much less have more than two moves or those who saw the art-style and just wanted to get lost in this gorgeous world. There’s something about letting the hype consume someone to such an extent that they straight-up impulse buy without knowing what they’re getting into. Then again, I also feel bad for those who love the game – its characters, visuals, soundtrack, and controls, which are all top-notch – but hate actually playing it due to the difficulty.

Granted, several mods are already available on PC that make things significantly easier, from reducing the damage of every hit to one HP to all enemies dropping currency (as lore-breaking as it may seem). The option to have the Compass at all times is all well and good – Hollow Knight had something similar, so even if it’s not the “intended experience,” seeing it return for Silksong is unsurprising.

However, this is one of those few occasions where I feel like a game is better because of that challenge. Exploring and finding different upgrades – and yes, they do exist – is one thing, but realizing that Hornet’s true strength lies in her speed and leveraging her movement in creative ways is one of the more rewarding aspects. This is especially the case when skipping enemies, either to rematch bosses or because you don’t need to fight them.

Would it completely fall apart if enemies didn’t hit so hard? Probably not, but the feeling from dancing around enemies in mid-air, knowing that you can safely unleash your Silk Skills because the healing isn’t needed, and just slipping into the zone, where everything is seemingly moving in slow motion, wouldn’t feel as good.

Of course, there’s also the learning factor. Silksong is a new game with new mechanics and systems, and not everyone will have all the answers immediately. Maybe that’s causing some discomfort for those who don’t know what to expect, compounded by the fear of losing progress (or not gaining enough progress). As time passes and more information is available, perhaps they’ll realize that things aren’t nearly as hopeless.

But hey, that’s just me. I can understand those who don’t feel the same way and want a slightly more forgiving yet challenging experience. It would be great if all platforms had access to those same mods, or even if Team Cherry released a lower difficulty while ensuring the current Normal Mode remains untouched.

Whether that happens or not, I still believe this approach was the right choice and complements almost everything that the developers wanted to achieve in terms of pacing, flow, and challenge. I’m eager to get back in and see what else Pharloom has to offer, both because of the incredible atmosphere and the potential stress that its dangers could bring. And while the difficulty debate won’t die anytime soon, the fact that Silksong is finally out and so enjoyable is more than enough for me.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.