It's been over ten years since Hollow Knight burst into my life like a bolt of lightning during a creative storm that seemed to have exhausted the possibilities of Metroidvania.
That small game, made by a tiny studio, captivated me in many ways with its atmosphere of silence and echoes that accompanied me for hundreds of hours (literally)
When Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced, I thought it would be an ambitious DLC. But over time, it became clear that Team Cherry had something much bigger in mind.
The wait became a cross to bear, filled with rumors, delays, and endless silence. A decade of uncertainty.
And now that I've finally played it, the feeling is like waking up from a long dream: yes, every day of waiting was worth it.
The first thing that stands out is the protagonist. Hornet isn't a stylized version of the Knight. She is her own character, with a style so distinct that it forces you to rethink every reflex learned in the previous game. Where the Knight was methodical,
Hornet is agile. Where the Knight relied on small upgrades to gain speed or stamina, she feels from the start like an expert hunter, jumping, dodging, and attacking with surgical precision.
This difference completely changes the experience: moving through Pharloom is an act of dance.
Every jump, every nail thrown, every thread deployed conveys a fluidity that transforms simple exploration into pure pleasure.
Speaking of Pharloom, this new realm doesn't simply imitate the structure of Hallownest. Here there is a different logic, a different rhythm, a different color. If the original world was a graveyard of echoes and ruins, this one feels like an organism that still beats, though ailing.
It's more vertical, more open, with paths that seem designed to take advantage of Hornet's mobility. The biomes aren't just color variations: each one has its own identity, unique inhabitants, and dangers that tell stories silently.
The feeling of discovery is more intense, because you never know if the next corridor will lead to a bright area with golden structures or a swamp infested with horrors that seem alive.
The difficulty level is another pillar that remains intact, albeit redesigned.
Silksong isn't a game to be enjoyed simply out of nostalgia; it's a challenge that demands adaptation. The enemies are faster and more lethal, but also more varied.
Blindly attacking isn't enough: every encounter is a small test of reflexes and intelligence. And the bosses… what can we say about them?
They are true spectacles of choreographed violence. Every pattern, every attack, seems designed to test your patience and muscle memory.
The first time I faced a major boss, I felt that mix of frustration and elation that only Hollow Knight knows how to evoke: dying over and over again, only to finally achieve victory, sweating, trembling, heart pounding.
Christopher Larkin's music deserves its own paragraph. While Hollow Knight's music was primarily atmospheric and melancholic, here the style shifts towards the dramatic and grandiose.
It's a more emotional soundtrack, accompanying the frenetic action and the mystery of the environment.
More than once, I found myself stopping just to listen to how the music blended with the scenery, creating that feeling that the game is more than just entertainment: it's a living, breathing world.
As for the story, Team Cherry returns to its cryptic style, minimalist in words but rich in symbolism and subtle hints. Don't expect cutscenes or lengthy dialogues.
Everything is conveyed through gestures, environments, and supporting characters who say more with their silence than with their words.
It's a narrative puzzle that forces you to theorize, observe, and connect the dots. And that ambiguity is precisely what keeps the community's flame alive: the discussions, the hypotheses, the secrets hidden in every corner.
But it's not all perfect. After so many years, it's inevitable to question whether the wait was worth it. And the answer depends on your perspective. From a technical and artistic standpoint, it's clear that Silksong couldn't have been released earlier. It's not just a commercial product; it's a labor of love and meticulous detail.
However, that decade of silence and rumors took its toll, and expectations reached almost unreasonable levels. This could lead some to believe that no game could ever live up to them.
For me, while I acknowledge that the wait was painful, the final experience has left me satisfied. The game not only lives up to Hollow Knight, but surpasses it.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, SEE YOU
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