Choose Silksong for beautiful Metroidvania exploration, agile combat, and huge value. Skip it if harsh difficulty, sparse benches, grinding, or limited accessibility options will sour the experience.
Best for Metroidvania players who enjoy hard-earned mastery, dense exploration, expressive movement, tough bosses, and uncovering secrets across a large interconnected map. It especially suits fans who value art, music, atmosphere, and replayable build experimentation.
Not for players who want forgiving checkpoints, generous difficulty options, clear completion guidance, or frictionless progression. Reviewers repeatedly warn that early harshness, long runbacks, rosary/shard pressure, and limited accessibility options can be deal breakers.
Hollow Knight: Silksong emerges from the reviews as a brilliant but demanding sequel. Reviewers consistently praise Pharloom's hand-drawn beauty, Christopher Larkin's music, Hornet's faster movement, expressive combat, and the huge map full of bosses, secrets, tools, and optional content. The tradeoff is that the same deliberate design often becomes abrasive: two-mask damage, paid or distant benches, punishing runbacks, resource pressure, and occasional fetch-quest or map friction repeatedly test patience. The consensus is not that Silksong is easy to recommend to everyone, but that its craft, atmosphere, and mastery curve make the struggle feel worthwhile for players who enjoy uncompromising Metroidvania design.
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
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This is like totally worth it
they even kept it at $20
deals in gaming ever
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Sound design is also top-notch
immaculate sound design where each surface produces new, wonderful noises
Sound design is also topnotch
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everything is simply world-class
Christopher Larkin returned to compose the soundtrack
a score that's haunted, playful, and endlessly beckoning
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optional endings, additional zones and bosses, and new plot elements
roughly 15-20% of its content behind this false ending
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There are so many little touches
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I'm having a great amount of fun here
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an excellent performer even on lower-end hardware
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no room is purposeless or empty
Each area flows into another seamlessly
Obstacles exist for a reason
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the attention to detail is off the charts
a level of precision and imagination that's hard to find anywhere else
Team Cherry created a superb gameplay loop
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Hollow Knight: Silksong is simply breathtaking
visually stunning new area
These are handcrafted, gorgeous visuals
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The worldbuilding is immaculate
Every shortcut and secret area contextualizes the horrors
compelling world-building, high production values in graphics and audio
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Citadel’s grandiose architecture, with gorgeous animations
excellent character designs and animations
the animation on the character
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how well-rounded Hornet is as a protagonist
Hornet is an excellent hero
Hornet is a more developed character than the Knight
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there’s still so much left to discover
there's an entire game left I need to finish
hours and hours of optional endings
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Hornet’s movement is sublime
create a much more fluid and fast-paced experience
fantastic to control, brimming with mobility options
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just ponder how beautiful this hand-drawn universe is
every moment of the game is just dripping in style
expanded color palette that brought more diversity
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Pharloom is a fascinating place
the haunted dreaminess of the characters and their world
Silksong’s aesthetics and sense of place are an evocative powerhouse
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The customisation is off the charts
incredible upgrade system that really lets you make massive changes
Crests and Tools replace the Charms from the first game
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exceptional enemy and environment variety
Enemies and bosses are generally a lot more varied
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tears I’ve shed after beating a particularly beautiful boss
I was often genuinely moved
the tears we've shed after beating a particularly beautiful boss
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complete control of Hornet and everything she did
allows players to maintain a consistent flow
give you an incredible amount of control
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The thrill of playing as Hornet
among some of the best I've ever clashed with
a ballet of movement and action
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live up to the legacy of the original game
a smart continuation of the original Hollow Knight
improved on nearly every aspect from the original
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approached from so many directions
Silksong offers abject freedom
different paths on the way there
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supports full ultrawide resolutions
making use of the 120Hz mode when docked
60 frames per second with Switch 2 given the option
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feels perfect at 120 fps
60 frames per second with Switch 2 given the option
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expect incredibly solid performance with at least 5 hours of battery life
I did play about five hours handheld
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a charming cast of bug-based characters
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makes for a satisfying loop
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some of Team Cherry's best bosses, shockingly good dialogue
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immerse incredibly well into the world of Pharloom
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moments and reveals that will satisfy only those curious enough
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the characters she runs into, are a splash of cold water
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Silksong truly excels at building a world you want to explore
The environmental storytelling is backed up by rewarding exploration and traversal
constantly rewarding exploration, as well as some thrillingly free-flowing bugfights
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best-in-class bosses as Silksong
bosses are a ballad of movement and action
Boss fights are, for the most part, incredible
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a lot more stuff to discover
13 things I love and two things I really don't love
environments, enemies, and bosses are just as visually striking
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stronger emphasis on aerial combos and gameplay
more engaged movement system
complexity, amount of NPCs, amount of things going on
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the story in here is actually excellent
The larger story is made more explicit
expands its narrative in one major way
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Every 30 minutes or so, I would earn a new tool
gameplay systems and upgrades to your character
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Silkong's map tells a story of suffering
Silksong's map tells a story of suffering and struggling
one of my favourite Metroidvania maps since
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finding new ways to innovate and elevate the experience
Its new directions inspire so much in me
defies those conventions with verve
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her nature grows softer as she befriends and assists
Hornet's tendency to soften from cold-blooded warrior to empathetic survivor
personal motivations and more natural connections with other characters
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beautifully written dialogue between characters that fleshes out the fiction
Dialogue can definitely feel a bit dry at times
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the kind of close-up worlds of wonder and horror
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if you're standing in water, the map won't appear
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the Bellway system, which functions as this game’s fast travel
well-marked fast travel spots shave off most of the tedium
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Give up, temporarily. Take a break
learn the enemy mechanics piece by piece
There is a lot to learn, in other words
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Silksong's firmly on its own path
a very polished version of what it is
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hunting beasts and collecting items
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solving puzzles, delving into hidden pathways
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the tuning is impressively dialed in
Silksong typically falls into the tough but fair category
finely tuned to be conquered
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Diagonal pogo attacks? Tracked quests? Protagonist dialogue? Ledge grabs?
Objectives and sidequests, for example, are now tracked in your journal
There are audio sliders for individual tracks
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Silksong doesn’t hold back on early-game challenge
Hornet stands on its own merits either way
The opening hours of Silksong are likely to be where players find the most friction
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tightly designed platforming puzzles that will make use of just about every gameplay mechanic
lining up paths through rebound spots
pogoing doesn’t feel consistent
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The new Tool system that slots into these Crests
the “tools” system that defines what you can do
the shell shard system for red tools starts to break down
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turn off camera shake and customize HUD size
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Pacing issues and a punishing approach to forward progression
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some pretty uninspiring fetch quests that ask you to grind pointless
some pretty uninspiring fetch quests
a lot of them are boring fetch quests
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currency in the late-game
you'll be spending rosary beads on almost everything
it’ll charge you for the privilege
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some options to tone down the nastiest punishments
turn off camera shake and customize HUD size
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arena battles, which never quite fit into the formula
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travel elsewhere to farm Rosaries
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the game have a shortcut or alternative path
extremely long checkpoint placement hampered the sense of pacing
you'll be lucky to find a bench to rest on
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teleporting around the battlefield from outside the bounds of the camera
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Bosses have zero loot drops, no XP, no rewards
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Compared with other Video Games, this product is above average in protagonist appeal, map and navigation design, below average in checkpoint system, loot system, accessibility options.
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| checkpoint system | 2.3 | 4.1 | -1.7 |
| loot system | 2.0 | 3.8 | -1.8 |
| accessibility options | 2.8 | 4.3 | -1.5 |
| camera behavior | 2.2 | 3.6 | -1.4 |
| economy and resource balance | 2.8 | 4.0 | -1.2 |
| mission design | 2.8 | 3.9 | -1.1 |
| protagonist appeal | 4.7 | 3.8 | +0.9 |
| map and navigation design | 4.3 | 3.5 | +0.8 |
Most reviewers say yes, mainly because of two-mask damage, faster enemies, harsher early hours, and longer runbacks. Several still call the challenge fair once Hornet's movement, tools, and route options click.
Reviewers say Silksong can stand on its own, because Hornet's journey in Pharloom is understandable without prior knowledge. Playing Hollow Knight helps you appreciate callbacks and the mechanical evolution.
The strongest praise goes to the hand-drawn art, soundtrack, atmosphere, movement, combat, boss design, exploration, and the sheer amount of content for the price.
The recurring complaints are sparse or paid benches, long boss runbacks, rosary and shard friction, some fetch quests, limited accessibility options, and platforming sections built around the diagonal pogo.
Yes. Reviewers specifically mention strong Steam Deck battery/performance impressions and praise Switch 2 handheld play, including comments about 120Hz docked support and crisp portable visuals.
Yes. Reviewers describe alternate endings, optional bosses, additional zones, true-ending content, 100% completion goals, and enough secrets to make replaying or continuing after credits worthwhile.
Choose The First Berserker: Khazan. It scores 4.8 vs 2.3 for checkpoint system, with a 4.0 overall score.
Choose Diablo IV. It scores 4.6 vs 2.0 for loot system, with a 4.1 overall score.
Choose Saros. It scores 4.7 vs 2.8 for accessibility options, with a 4.3 overall score.
Choose Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. It scores 4.5 vs 2.8 for economy and resource balance, with a 4.0 overall score.
Good if you want deeper Hades-style roguelite combat, huge build variety, polished art, and rewarding progression. Skip it if repetition, resource tracking, or a less intimate story than the original...
Pros: world interactivity, side character depth
Cons: grind level
Best for inventive turn-based combat, a powerful story, and standout presentation. Skip it if you dislike parry-heavy encounters or want cleaner navigation and UI.
Pros: combat system, boss design
Cons: platforming precision, puzzle design
Choose if you want Horizon’s best-looking open world and freer exploration. Skip if twitchy handling and a city that can still feel sparse are dealbreakers.
Pros: exploration quality, open-world design
Cons: world interactivity, learning curve
Good if you want elite bullet-hell shooting with smoother roguelite progression. Skip it if abstract storytelling, repetition, or lighter buildcrafting will frustrate you.
Pros: load times, visual effects quality
Cons: side character depth, map and navigation design