Hollow Knight Silksong Review (SPOILER FREE)
After around 80+ hours into the game, finished ACT 3, 98% completion, I can simply say that this game is great, phenomenal, with some flaws, one really concerning.
Having said that, being massive, I mean massive metroidvania fan (metroid is one of my favorite games), I was excited for this game.
1st game was awesome. I finished the game completely. It was frustrating at some times, but mainly it was due to my controller back then, until I used my old trusty PS3 controller on PC, since its D-pad is awesome.
Oh and btw, play these games on D-pad, old school style please.
Atmosphere
As expected, the game is a sequel to a beautifully crafted world full of life and charming creatures. First Hollow Knight was a fantastic looking game, with memorable NPCs that I cannot forget. Silskong is no different and if I might add some of the worlds and areas are even better looking.
The map is huge with tones of exploration and hidden stuff.
Exploring feels like going through a beautifully crafted fairytale. All topnotch as expected from Team Cherry.
Main difference is now, the game is much darker. If the 1st one was like old wine Dark Souls, this is the Bloodborne. Creatures attack you mercilessly and whole world is hostile and tormented.
Shortly, you will remember this game, its charming friends and creatures, landscapes, as well as enemies and bosses. That is for sure.
Speaking of bosses, there is a ton of main bosses, some are optional and hidden.
Some will test you. They are great, and some are superb. My humble opinion, is that there is not a bad one. ACT 3 though, well, I will speak of that later.
Story is also complex, bunch of lore, just darker this time, but I won't stay on that because you can find lore online and it is subjective.
Gameplay
Gameplay is one of the best I have ever experienced. Hornet moves smoothly and everything is instant. Addition to the new crests, adds tones of variability in combat.
One annoying thing, is that when you get a crest, it is auto equipped. You will need a bench to change them. I would have really wanted to change them on the fly, but hey, you can't have all.
It needs some time to adjust to the new Hornet moves, but you can choose how you play with crests and you can change them and experiment.
Utterly fun to move and kill things with Hornet.
And, speaking of Hornet, she is respectable, addresses others by sir or madam, but will slap some NPCs for trying something crazy. That made me chuckle, so adorable. 😅
I was like, WTF WAS THAT? SO ADORABLY CUTE, KAWAII.
Very few games nowadays, will draw you inside of the world. Such as Dark Souls 1 did to me and made ma a fan for life.
Music is so cleverly implemented into your needle/sword, that when you get "needolin", you will use it for many things. It reminds me of the golden days of Ocarina of Time or Windwaker.
Music
Music is just great, awesome. No more words about this. Peak. Let's move on.
Is the game fun?
For the majority of the game, Silskong is fun and adorable.
What is not fun, are backtracks, some of those are not fun.
Economy and having to pay for a bench for example. A bit of farming, no biggie.
You know what is also not fun? Team Cherry literally trolling players, saying that this game is approachable to the new players. I kid you not, this game is another level of hard compared to the first game. You will loose your shit and get frustrated.
Even when you get used to the game and gitgud, you will loose it.
As far as I know, the game has ~5 endings, one is achievable through doing main missions and killing the final boss. That is ACT 2.
But "true ending" is doing almost every side quest and killing boss. (no spoilers), and going through the dark ACT 3, let me tell you something bruh, is punishing.
Let's start off this way.
I consider myself a Dark Souls veteran and decent at metroidvanias. I am not a "godplayer" by any means.
I was struggling. And all this because of one main factor, enemies and bosses will take away 2 chunks of health with each hit. To put this in perspective, by the end of the ACT 3, I had like 9/10 hearts/chunks of health.
Yes, you heal for 3 and yes you can heal in mid air with majority of the crests, yes you have tools, but man, that was not, and I really think, not fun.
Who thought that was a good idea, is beyond me?
There is a fine line, between a challenging and rewarding game that doesn't go on the frustration bar. Dark Souls is mostly fair, and rewards your build types and time put into it.
Also, while you spend your hard earned healing bar to heal, if the enemy/boss hits you, not only do you loose the healing bar, but also 2 chunks of health and you didn't even heal??
It is like chugging estus flask and in middle of animation, enemy interrupts you and you loose health and 1 estus, leaving you with lower health bar, while you can go fuck yourself, you didn't heal for a slightest bit. 😉 Pretty cool idea, Team Cherry thought.
And now, we go to the concerning part and my conclusion.
Conclusion
This is beautifully crafted game, which world is sooo captivating.
Combat/gameplay is one of the best in metroidvania.
I cannot imagine how it would feel to a real newcomers and casual video game players. They wouldn't be able to experience such a beautiful art of a game.
That's a real shame. Calling it "approachable" is straight up, trolling.
Maybe it gets nerfed with patches overtime, so that as many people as possible can enjoy this gem.
My whole playthrough of the game is here:
Silksong Playthrough
Regardless of criticism, this game is fantastic.
9/10 Must Play
After around 80+ hours into the game, finished ACT 3, 98% completion, I can simply say that this game is great, phenomenal, with some flaws, one really concerning.
Having said that, being massive, I mean massive metroidvania fan (metroid is one of my favorite games), I was excited for this game.
1st game was awesome. I finished the game completely. It was frustrating at some times, but mainly it was due to my controller back then, until I used my old trusty PS3 controller on PC, since its D-pad is awesome.
Oh and btw, play these games on D-pad, old school style please.
Atmosphere
As expected, the game is a sequel to a beautifully crafted world full of life and charming creatures. First Hollow Knight was a fantastic looking game, with memorable NPCs that I cannot forget. Silskong is no different and if I might add some of the worlds and areas are even better looking.
The map is huge with tones of exploration and hidden stuff.
Exploring feels like going through a beautifully crafted fairytale. All topnotch as expected from Team Cherry.
Main difference is now, the game is much darker. If the 1st one was like old wine Dark Souls, this is the Bloodborne. Creatures attack you mercilessly and whole world is hostile and tormented.
Shortly, you will remember this game, its charming friends and creatures, landscapes, as well as enemies and bosses. That is for sure.
Speaking of bosses, there is a ton of main bosses, some are optional and hidden.
Some will test you. They are great, and some are superb. My humble opinion, is that there is not a bad one. ACT 3 though, well, I will speak of that later.
Story is also complex, bunch of lore, just darker this time, but I won't stay on that because you can find lore online and it is subjective.
Gameplay
Gameplay is one of the best I have ever experienced. Hornet moves smoothly and everything is instant. Addition to the new crests, adds tones of variability in combat.
One annoying thing, is that when you get a crest, it is auto equipped. You will need a bench to change them. I would have really wanted to change them on the fly, but hey, you can't have all.
It needs some time to adjust to the new Hornet moves, but you can choose how you play with crests and you can change them and experiment.
Utterly fun to move and kill things with Hornet.
And, speaking of Hornet, she is respectable, addresses others by sir or madam, but will slap some NPCs for trying something crazy. That made me chuckle, so adorable. 😅
I was like, WTF WAS THAT? SO ADORABLY CUTE, KAWAII.
Very few games nowadays, will draw you inside of the world. Such as Dark Souls 1 did to me and made ma a fan for life.
Music is so cleverly implemented into your needle/sword, that when you get "needolin", you will use it for many things. It reminds me of the golden days of Ocarina of Time or Windwaker.
Music
Music is just great, awesome. No more words about this. Peak. Let's move on.
Is the game fun?
For the majority of the game, Silskong is fun and adorable.
What is not fun, are backtracks, some of those are not fun.
Economy and having to pay for a bench for example. A bit of farming, no biggie.
You know what is also not fun? Team Cherry literally trolling players, saying that this game is approachable to the new players. I kid you not, this game is another level of hard compared to the first game. You will loose your shit and get frustrated.
Even when you get used to the game and gitgud, you will loose it.
As far as I know, the game has ~5 endings, one is achievable through doing main missions and killing the final boss. That is ACT 2.
But "true ending" is doing almost every side quest and killing boss. (no spoilers), and going through the dark ACT 3, let me tell you something bruh, is punishing.
Let's start off this way.
I consider myself a Dark Souls veteran and decent at metroidvanias. I am not a "godplayer" by any means.
I was struggling. And all this because of one main factor, enemies and bosses will take away 2 chunks of health with each hit. To put this in perspective, by the end of the ACT 3, I had like 9/10 hearts/chunks of health.
Yes, you heal for 3 and yes you can heal in mid air with majority of the crests, yes you have tools, but man, that was not, and I really think, not fun.
Who thought that was a good idea, is beyond me?
There is a fine line, between a challenging and rewarding game that doesn't go on the frustration bar. Dark Souls is mostly fair, and rewards your build types and time put into it.
Also, while you spend your hard earned healing bar to heal, if the enemy/boss hits you, not only do you loose the healing bar, but also 2 chunks of health and you didn't even heal??
It is like chugging estus flask and in middle of animation, enemy interrupts you and you loose health and 1 estus, leaving you with lower health bar, while you can go fuck yourself, you didn't heal for a slightest bit. 😉 Pretty cool idea, Team Cherry thought.
And now, we go to the concerning part and my conclusion.
Conclusion
This is beautifully crafted game, which world is sooo captivating.
Combat/gameplay is one of the best in metroidvania.
I cannot imagine how it would feel to a real newcomers and casual video game players. They wouldn't be able to experience such a beautiful art of a game.
That's a real shame. Calling it "approachable" is straight up, trolling.
Maybe it gets nerfed with patches overtime, so that as many people as possible can enjoy this gem.
My whole playthrough of the game is here:
Silksong Playthrough
Regardless of criticism, this game is fantastic.
9/10 Must Play
Comments
Post a Comment