Hollow Knight: Silksong: A Beautiful, Brutal Climb That Refuses to Baby You

The Wait Was Ridiculous, But The Game Is Real

Hollow Knight: Silksong had no normal launch runway. It carried years of memes, hype, delay anxiety, Nintendo Direct copium, and one very loud community that treated every showcase like a religious event. Somehow, Team Cherry shipped a sequel that mostly survives that impossible pressure.

This is not Hollow Knight 1.5. Silksong is faster, taller, meaner, and less patient. You play as Hornet, captured and dragged to Pharloom, a haunted kingdom built around vertical ascent rather than Hallownest’s slow descent. That change matters. The whole game feels like climbing through enemy territory while everything is trying to swat you out of the air.

Hornet Changes Everything

The biggest win is Hornet herself. She is not the Knight with a new skin. Her movement has bite: sharper jumps, quicker attacks, diagonal aggression, silk-based healing, tools, crests, and a combat rhythm that rewards commitment. When Silksong clicks, it feels incredible — like playing a boss character who still has to earn every upgrade.

Combat is more acrobatic now. Enemies are designed to punish old Hollow Knight muscle memory, especially players who want to turtle, poke, and back off. Hornet wants to move through danger, not just away from it. The silk system is smart because it turns offence into survival: fight well, build silk, heal fast, or spend that same resource on powerful skills. It creates constant pressure without becoming pure chaos.

But bro, Silksong is also rude. Some early difficulty spikes feel less like a skill check and more like Team Cherry saying, “You waited seven years, right? Prove it.” Regular enemies can hit hard, boss patterns are dense, and certain runbacks will test your patience. Most of it is fair after you learn the rhythm, but the learning curve is steeper than Hollow Knight’s. Newcomers attracted by the hype may bounce off hard.

Pharloom Is Gorgeous, Dense, And Sometimes Too Much

Pharloom is stunning. Team Cherry’s hand-crafted 2D art remains elite, and the new kingdom has a different flavour from Hallownest: more gilded, more theatrical, more openly hostile. Mossy grottos, coral-like spaces, blazing zones, misted regions, and shining citadels give the journey a strong upward identity. Christopher Larkin’s score is again ridiculous — melancholy when exploring, then suddenly heart-attack strings when a boss decides your night is ruined.

The world design is huge and layered. There are more enemies, more bosses, more quest hooks, more NPCs, more little corners hiding something weird. The Wishes system gives side content clearer structure, which helps when the map becomes massive. For players who love checking every wall and platform, Silksong is makan besar.

Still, bigger is not always cleaner. Hollow Knight had this lonely elegance where getting lost felt poetic. Silksong sometimes feels busy. The quest boards, tool economy, crest loadouts, and denser encounter design can make exploration feel more demanding than mysterious. I respect the ambition, but there were moments where I missed the original’s quieter confidence.

Tools, Crests, And The Joy Of Building Hornet

The tool and crest systems are the sequel’s smartest RPG-ish layer. Tools let you bring traps, weapons, and utility options into fights, while crests tweak Hornet’s attack style and loadout capacity. This gives Silksong more build expression than Hollow Knight without turning it into loot nonsense.

The downside is restocking. Offensive tools using charges and shell shards adds planning, but also friction. In a game already asking you to master platforming, boss tells, resource timing, and map routes, having to think about tool replenishment can feel like extra homework. It never kills the game, but it does occasionally interrupt the flow.

Story: Less Silent, Still Strange

Hornet being an actual character changes the storytelling. She speaks, pushes back, and has history. Pharloom’s mysteries are tied to lineage, pilgrimage, capture, and power, giving the narrative a more direct emotional hook than the first game’s archaeological sadness.

Is it better than Hollow Knight’s story? Not cleanly. Hallownest’s restraint was special. Silksong is more dramatic and more readable, but slightly less haunting. Still, Hornet carries the game well, and the NPCs give Pharloom enough personality to feel like more than just a giant boss ladder.

Malaysia And SEA Player Notes

For Malaysia, Silksong is an easy recommendation on PC. Steam Malaysia pricing is RM49, which is honestly gila value for a game this dense. No server ping issues because it is single-player only, so your Unifi mood swings cannot sabotage a boss run. Switch is also a strong fit, especially handheld, with a small file size and excellent pick-up-and-suffer energy, though PC is still the best bet if you want sharper performance, mods, or Steam Deck-style flexibility. The local Hollow Knight community has been loud for years, and this is exactly the kind of game that will spread through Discord clips, rage posts, and “finally beat this boss” screenshots.

Verdict

Hollow Knight: Silksong is brilliant, but it is not gentle. It takes the first game’s precision and atmosphere, then injects speed, aggression, and a slightly evil sense of challenge. Some players will call it too hard. Some will call it the best Metroidvania ever made. Both reactions make sense.

For me, the rough edges are real: difficulty spikes, occasional navigation fatigue, and a few systems that add friction where the original felt cleaner. But the highs are absurd. Hornet is fantastic to control, Pharloom is unforgettable, and the boss fights hit that perfect “I hate this / I am obsessed” zone. Silksong is not comfort food. It is a blade. And once you learn how to hold it, memang best.