After more than six years of waiting — and two more hours on the Steam page, I was finally able to enter the world of Pharloom and experience Hollow Knight: Silksong.
To no surprise, it lived up to my expectations and then some. While I can keep going on and on about this game for days, I would like to keep this review succinct while exploring some of the intricacies and finer details that make Hollow Knight: Silksong an absolute masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Note: This review contains major spoilers
A gargantuan world to completely immerse yourself
After a few hours of exploring Pharloom, one thing became quite obvious for me; this kingdom is absolutely massive compared to the original game’s Hallownest. This was a great sign as I fully expected Silksong to be on a bigger and grander scale compared to Hollow Knight.
The division of Silksong into three acts did wonders to keep the momentum while having enough content to keep me hooked every time I felt I didn’t have a clear direction to go. There was always something that I could devote some time towards, whether it be challenging platforming sections, interesting side quests, daunting battle arenas, or to simply collect some relics, cylinders, and rosaries.
The number of areas and sheer diversity each of them provide to make Pharloom stand out is impeccable. I would be exploring the deserted wasteland that is the Sands of Karak only to climb the freezing slopes of Mount Fay in the span of five minutes.
The world feels seamlessly connected. Everything and everyone you encounter has a purpose and impact, whether it be miniscule or grandiose in nature. This is exactly what makes journeying through Pharloom such a worthwhile effort. I actually felt that I was making a difference in the world as Hornet on the road to save this haunted kingdom.
The Citadel is the pinnacle of exploration in Silksong. Everything about this grand area is handcrafted to perfection. The gleaming corridors and baroque architecture almost gives you the feeling that the Citadel is the utopia every bug in Pharloom strives to enter; until you come across areas like Underworks and Bilewater that show the harsh reality of the Citadel’s atrocities.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is an incredibly potent example of worldbuilding done right. Every area feels like it has a place in Pharloom, and the additional backstory of each area drives home this fact even further.
A truly grueling challenge that tests your mettle
One of the biggest talking points that has caused a real rift in the Hollow Knight community is Silksong’s difficulty. While I am a seasoned Hollow Knight player that has completed everything the game has to offer, I cannot deny that Silksong’s difficulty is up a notch midway into Act I, which is to be expected.
I personally feel that this difficulty is justified. As Hornet, you have access to way more mobility than the Knight. The bugs in Pharloom are also more sentient compared to the infected denizens of Hallownest that were essentially mindless.
With these two factors in mind, it is only reasonable that the enemies pose a much bigger threat from the get-go. While it is understandably quite frustrating from a gameplay perspective, I feel that the difficulty spike brilliantly plays into the new world of Pharloom.
As I made my way further into the game, I never really encountered an area or boss that truly annoyed me. The closest thing that got me to take a break for a while was the Flea Dodge mini-game in Act 3. However, this isn’t necessary for completion and is purely out there for bragging rights.
The game offers a variety of tools and crests to make Pharloom more manageable to traverse. I was slightly disappointed with the patch update where they lowered the amount of masks you lost from environmental damage in the Cogwork Core and Underworks. I felt that the brutality of the Citadel was reflected very well with the harsh environment the aforementioned areas offer.
Ultimately, I enjoyed the difficulty of Silksong. It gave me a drive to push further and feel accomplished. While I can empathize with people that struggled with some of the Act 1 bosses such as Moorwing and Last Judge, I think the upscale in difficulty perfectly encapsulates the increased stakes and tragic downfall of the once glorious kingdom of Pharloom.
The freedom for creative minds to shine
As I mentioned earlier in the previous section, the Tools and Crests system might be the single best new feature introduced in Silksong. Hollow Knight was perfect in pretty much everything except for the diversity in the Charms system.
You could put together certain Charms to create fun playstyles but none of them drastically altered the way you approached the game compared to the Tools and Crests you obtain in Silksong. Each Crest significantly changes the way you are meant to get through enemies and rough platforming sections.
For instance, the Wanderer and Reaper Crests functions are quite alike when it comes to platforming but drastically differ in combat. This isn’t even factoring in Tools, which brings out a completely new layer filled with tons of creative combos.
One of my favorite Tool and Crest Combo was the Injector Band, Claw Mirror, Multibinder and Witch Crest combo. Every time I healed, I absolutely obliterated any common enemy around me while doing massive damage to bosses.
Another incredibly fun Crest to use is the Architect Crest. It completely changes how you approach Silksong. Forget about using your needle as you can equip three red Tools to mow your enemies without having to press your attack button once. Pairing this Crest with a tool like Quick Sling just makes this combo so fun and obscene to use.
The bottom line is that Silksong offers so much more variety and windows to explore fun gimmicks. It is a huge improvement over the already great Charm system, which is a testament to the success of this worthy sequel.
The underlying political tones
Silksong’s lore is incredibly rich and wonderfully portrays the golden age and downfall of Pharloom. Players can already piece this together as they explore the depths of the kingdom and ascend their way to the Citadel.
Reaching the Citadel is the point where Silksong’s lore truly opens up and the grand reveal takes place. What was promised as the ultimate safe haven for every pilgrim turns out to be a brutal capitalist system that sees bugs tirelessly toil away in the Underworks to afford a bench that costs a measly 15 rosaries.
The once glorious underwater Coral Kingdom that is now the Sands of Karak, the lush green forests of Verdania, and the corrupted blight in Bilewater all signify Grand Mother’s Silk ruthlessness and lust to have absolute control over Pharloom, while completely disregarding her denizens.
Grand Mother Silk’s role as a higher being is a stark contrast to how the Pale King ruled Hallownest. While the latter had done some absolutely inexcusable decisions, he genuinely cared for the development of Hallownest, despite knowing that the kingdom would inevitably fall to the Infection.
Grand Mother Silk, on the other hand, shows little to no care about the consequences of her insatiable need to control everything in Pharloom. The proof of her actions are scattered all over the world as you keep exploring. The absolute theocracy imposed by Grand Mother Silk leads to the complete downfall of Pharloom, which was once a peaceful kingdom where multiple tribes co-existed.
Team Cherry does an excellent job at subtly highlighting the inequality bugs face, the brutal working system, and the lack of room to oppose a powerful figure. It is a poignant commentary that seamlessly blends itself to create a wonderful backdrop for Pharloom.
Christopher Larkin does it again
A hallmark of the first game was its incredible soundtrack that managed to capture the essence of every area and fight to a tee. The Australian maestro, Christopher Larkin, somehow managed to outdo the expectations set around Silksong’s music.
For a game that is heavily revolved around the idea of song and tunes, the soundtrack is absolutely gorgeous, haunting, melancholic, and grand; adjectives that perfectly encapsulate the kingdom of Pharloom.
When I first stepped foot in the Citadel and entered the Choral Chambers, I was genuinely in awe of the area and the beautiful music that followed suit. It immediately reminded me of the first time I took the elevator down to explore the heart of the City of Tears in Hollow Knight.
Every single OST feels perfectly in line with the themes of the respective area or boss fight. While many might disagree whether this game is a true masterpiece on all fronts, it is undeniable that Christopher Larkin is a musical genius that deserves universal praise for his outstanding efforts in Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong.
A beautiful and haunting crescendo
The incredible worldbuilding, mentioned earlier, is taken up a notch in Act 3 of the game where Hornet’s actions directly cause devastation to Pharloom.
You actually feel guilty for what you have caused, after being coerced by the Snail Shamans to set up an elaborate trap to vanquish Grand Mother Silk. Instead, all you do is put Pharloom in further despair and wreak havoc on the last remnants of respite in areas such as Pilgrim’s Rest, Bellhart, and Bone Bottom.
Revisiting these areas is a painful ordeal as you see the first hand consequences of your actions. The world turns increasingly more hostile with void empowered enemies scattered around. The Citadel, in particular, becomes an absolute mess.
The change in the soundtrack of Choral Chambers, Bellhart, and resting zones is a wonderful touch to capture the current state of Pharloom. However, the biggest highlight of this Act is the Elegy of the Deep ability and the tool to revisit past memories.
These memories show how prosperous Pharloom actually was, which makes it even more devastating to explore. The Coral Tower and Lost Verdania are some of the most visually stunning areas in the game. However, just like in the lore, you only get to visit it briefly. The happiness and surreal feeling is never permanent and you get back into the real world once again after a while.
Another segment I thoroughly enjoyed in this Act was the Red Memory. After obtaining the Three Hearts, you get to access Hornet’s past memories with the help of the Snail Shamans. This was a beautiful sequence filled with nostalgia while also providing some much needed exposition on Hornet’s backstory.
Seeing the Distant Village Stag Station elevator, Hive Queen Vespa training Hornet, and the Wingmoulds of the White Palace made me smile as it truly felt like Team Cherry paying homage to its roots while also tying it perfectly with Silksong’s lore.
The true ending in this Act is also excellently crafted. Lost Lace is one of the best bosses in the franchise and the reappearance of the Knight to save Hornet and Lace was a truly incredible moment for diehard fans of the series.
Conclusion and final thoughts
To conclude this review, I simply love this game. One of my biggest fears with Silksong was that it wouldn’t live up to the hype and I am so glad Team Cherry proved everyone wrong. I am thoroughly impressed and even surprised they managed to finish developing this game in six years as there is so much content to unravel in every step of the way.
Hollow Knight set an incredibly high bar for future metroidvanias and Silksong has increased this bar even further, in my opinion. It would be an incredible feat if another game can rival the exploration, combat, and lore of Silksong.
You can argue that games like Nine Sols are better in combat, while Blasphemous has a much richer and interesting lore. However, none of these games truly combine the core aspects of a metroidvania in a way Silksong does.
It is a truly incredibly achievement by Team Cherry, and I cannot wait for what they have cooked up for the community with the upcoming DLCs that should hopefully expand more on Pharloom’s lore, while giving us plenty of new content to experience.
