**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Silksong, or have any affiliation with Team Cherry besides cursing them repeatedly while navigating the more masochistic platforming sections of their games. Please don't sue me.
Imagine making a game so popular it crashes multiple online gaming stores by sheer virtue of everyone rushing to buy it at once. It's the kind of chaos every game developer drools over, with the sheer level of hype not likely to be repeated any time in the near future.
The reason is simple- people played Hollow Knight, clamored 'we want more', and Team Cherry eventually obliged. Sitting at a price tag of $19.99 USD, Silksong's low price belies the painstaking care given to every aspect of the game- whether it's the horrifying but compelling story, the grim and foreboding backgrounds, the fictitious dialect of the insects, or the polished gameplay, players get far, far more than their money's worth.
Assuming, of course, they are willing to suffer.
Silksong's difficulty ranges from punishing to mind-shattering sadism. In a typical Metroidvania, platforming generally boils down to 'try not to step in the acid/spikes/lava and backtrack when you have double jump', with the occasional tricky section reserved for secreting away something appropriately powerful.
This is not how Silksong plays.
The platforming sections often require precise use of every ability you possess, along with 'pogoing', that is, using your down attack to bounce off enemies and floating objects to continue an upward ascent. Unlike the original Hollow Knight, your initial down attack is a diagonal dive downwards- great for pouncing on enemies while avoiding attacks, but markedly more punishing for failure than the original straight-down arcing slash. In fact, multiple guides instruct players to find a different crest- which dramatically changes how your combat kit works- for the sole sake of having a reliable, simple down attack that aims straight down and allows for simpler pogoing.
This is because the penalty for failing one of the MANY sections that require precise platforming- including multiple pogo jumps is often increasing massive amounts of frustration due to lost progress as you tumble downward, along with losing one or two HP in the process. Spikes, grinding wheels, searing steam, lava, and all other sorts of environmental hazards that are unpleasant to fall on cost you HP and send you back to the nearest safe platform, with "safe" being a very relative term in some circumstances. In other games, it's sometimes possible to "damage boost" one's way to a bonus item, using mercy invincibility after each hit and an extended HP bar to circumvent what would ordinarily require an ability that comes much later.
There'll be none of that here.
Let's talk about how Silksong handles Hit Points. You start with five max HP, and eventually can reach a grand total of ten. You gain these precious additional hit points by finding fragments of masks hidden behind particularly sadistic platforming or combat challenges or costing exorbitant amounts of rosaries- the game's currency. Finding four earns you one more Hit Point.
Many enemies deal two HP in a single strike, effectively halving the amount of times you can make mistakes.
There are two methods of healing- resting at benches, the game's save points, and using your default 'Bind' ability, which usually restores 3 HP in exchange for a massive amount of silk- the entirety of your initial meter. Silk is regained by smacking the ever-loving bejeezus out of enemies, so one might think that as long as a player stops to heal every so often and continues their assault, they are effectively immortal.
Ha. Ha. No.
Binding costs precious seconds, during which a boss or any number of hostiles are doing everything in their power to violently murder you. Being hit during the Bind process removes the silk invested, deals damage as normal, and robs you of the precious HP you were hoping to regain. There are no health drops or healing potions.
When- not if- you die, you will notice that more often than not, the last save point is quite some distance from where you perished, meaning you will have to make your way back on foot unless it's coincidentally near a fast travel station, often through very perilous territory with everything trying to kill you. You will also have your max silk reduced and lose all of your rosaries, the hard-earned cash you've gained from killing crazed cultists and ransacking small treasuries. If you can make your way back to where you died and destroy the cocoon you left behind, you can reclaim your money and max silk. Die again, and your rosaries are gone for good.
There is no hand holding here. Like a particularly sadistic teacher, Silksong often puts you in situations where failing the first time is more likely than not, and then punishes you severely for doing so. Unlike a sadistic teacher- who might be inclined to 'lose' homework assignments and projects- Silksong adheres to its rules- even the more sadistic traps can be spotted with a keen eye, and either disarmed or avoided. If you mess up, it's because you weren't good enough.
Powerups- be it an increase in damage for your weapon, a charm, a new tool, or health and silk upgrades- must all be earned in increasingly arduous challenges of combat and acrobatics. In many games, you get the double jump or something similar half-way through or earlier. In Silksong?
Without getting into spoilers, let me just say this: I hope you enjoy suffering.
In other games, completing the game is generally attainable by a wide range of skill levels. There may be some challenges, but nothing a bit of grinding or gaining some upgrades can't overcome. This is so prevalent that we see gamers taking on self-imposed challenges just to show off- using weak weapons, avoiding using powerful skills, low level runs, no damage runs, and the like. Beating the game may feel fulfilling like finishing a good book, but then it's off to the next AAA title or cranking the difficulty to "Jesus Hates You" or whatever absurd extreme the game calls its hardest challenge.
Silksong is not so much beaten as it is survived. It may not have the sheer unrelenting unfairness of games deliberately meant to be unfair with only the faintest margin of success available- looking at you, _I Wanna Be The Guy- _but it suffers no mistakes. There is no getting so powerful you can simply coast through by virtue of being too tough to kill. You will have to get better.
Maybe that's a major part of the attraction. In a world full of games that hold your hand or offer broken strategies that make you an unstoppable deity of destruction, Silksong demands nothing short of perfection if you want to see the end credits, with each death feeling like the game is saying 'you could have done better'.
But herein lies two distinct issues- firstly, the difficulty.
There are three components to the difficulty issue. First and foremost is that dying, running back to a boss through a gauntlet, and either dying again or dying before it's possible to reclaim lost precious rosaries can get frustrating to a point where a player wants to do anything else a little less rage inducing.
Secondly, some of the traps and situations just feel needlessly cruel- offering what seem like moments of respite only to spring hidden traps you may be too desperate to notice.
Finally, unlike other Metroidvanias, while you may get some new skills essential for traversal or a few new combat options, Silksong doesn't make you feel stronger as you progress. If anything, the scant few upgrades and charms you get can feel like you're in an arms race against increasingly powerful foes and constantly losing.
An example: In the Metroid games, beam, missile, and energy upgrades can make previously brutal sections of the map feel much more tolerable as you gain a greater margin for error and can dispatch previously dangerous foes with far more ease.
In Silksong? The difference you will notice is very, very minor but still present enough that you'll punish yourself getting every last advantage in the hopes the boss will expire before your ability to lock in does.
The second major issue is that Silksong has set new standard for difficulty and quality. Can future games achieve the same level of 'cruel but fair' gameplay without slipping into absurdity? What are gamers expectations of the larger studios going to be in the future, now that we've seen the long-awaited sequel is far better than we could have expected?
Love it, hate it, throw your controller across the room, Silksong has left an indelible mark on the industry. I just hope the stores prepare for the next blockbuster a little better.
I'm going through the original Hollow Knight and some of the expectations in that game were already towards the unreasonable side of things.