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Hollow Knight: Silksong |OT| It’s SHAW-time!!!!

I found the original Hollow night brutality hard at times. This game is tougher ?
 
First Sinner...hoo boy 😂

I found the original Hollow night brutality hard at times. This game is tougher ?

This question has already been asked and answered 100x, yes, it's tougher, stay away if you can't handle a stiff challenge, join the party if you want to experience one of the best games of this generation.
 
Hoo boy...fun or hard?

Took me a couple tries but it's tied with Widow as my favorite boss fights. The pace and feel just work for me.

Both lol and very "Widow-esque"...

Edit: just discovered the Putrified Docks , crazy just how much content is packed in here, so much of it optional/missable.
 
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Patch Version 1.0.28497 Now Live

- Fixed situation where players could remain cloakless after Slab escape sequence.
- Fixed wish Infestation Operation often not being completable during the late game.
- Fixed wish Beast in the Bells not being completable when Bell Beast is summoned at the Bilewater Bellway during the late game.
- Fixed getting stuck floating after down-bouncing on certain projectiles.
- Fixed courier deliveries sometimes being inaccessible in the late game.
- Fixed craft bind behaving incorrectly when in memories.
- Fixed Lace tool deflect soft-lock at start of battle in Deep Docks.
- Fixed Silk Snippers in Chapel of the Reaper sometimes getting stuck out of bounds.
- Fixed Claw Mirrors leaving Hornet inverted if taking damage during a specific moment while binding.
- Fixed Snitch Pick not giving rosaries and shell shards as intended.
- Fixed Swamp Squits becoming invincible if hit under water.
- Fixed instance where Lugoli could leave the arena and not return.
- Removed float override input (down + jump, after player has Faydown Cloak).
- Slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter.
- Reduction in damage from Sandcarvers.
- Slight increase in pea pod collider scale.
- Slight reduction in mid-game Bellway and Bell Bench prices.
- Slight increase in rosary rewards from relics and psalm cylinders.
- Increase in rosary rewards for courier deliveries.
- Various additional fixes and tweaks.
 
I played it for an hour last night and progressed fairly well, a little past some friendly tall warrior bug with a sword (who sells maps and shit if I recall correctly). I then tried to fall onto a platform a bit further on and managed to fall all the way back to the beginning (where the first shop is). To say I was fuming is an understatement. I mean why would they have such a large chasm? And I can't currently fast travel anywhere, so it'll mean a slog back to where I was.
 
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after the nintendo direct, just went to punish my self some more in the silksong endgame....and it started to download a patch.

am I gonna suddenly be playing an easy game right at the end lol
 
5/5 from Eurogamer, I enjoyed reading this review:

Hollow Knight: Silksong review - beautiful, thrilling and cruel | Eurogamer.net https://share.google/0Sv1irf5DMzuzoISY

I'm 45 hours in now, still on Act 2, still discovering secrets. I *think* I have every optional area canvased and boss beaten, still need to do the damn courier mission, damn annoying even with all the movement upgrades lol.
 
after the nintendo direct, just went to punish my self some more in the silksong endgame....and it started to download a patch.

am I gonna suddenly be playing an easy game right at the end lol
According to the patch notes it seems to be very slightly easier which I don't think it needed.
Some other bug (lol) fixes were good though.
 
5/5 from Eurogamer, I enjoyed reading this review:

Hollow Knight: Silksong review - beautiful, thrilling and cruel | Eurogamer.net https://share.google/0Sv1irf5DMzuzoISY

I'm 45 hours in now, still on Act 2, still discovering secrets. I *think* I have every optional area canvased and boss beaten, still need to do the damn courier mission, damn annoying even with all the movement upgrades lol.
just did the rasher courier mission. ugh, never again
 
FUCK the Last Judge. Fuck these spoungy bosses. And the dumb cone bird that comes out first in the path to the boss, fuck him too.

You have to commit to the to a speedy runback. I did those paths without ever stopping to battle. For that section the enemies spawn in such a way that you can just bypass everything.
 
You have to commit to the to a speedy runback. I did those paths without ever stopping to battle. For that section the enemies spawn in such a way that you can just bypass everything.


I dodge all of them but the fucking bird that stops me like a red light signal. Most times I dont have silk for the Malenia attack that one-shots it.
 
I dodge all of them but the fucking bird that stops me like a red light signal. Most times I dont have silk for the Malenia attack that one-shots it.

The one spawning where there's red balloons and spikes under that you have to go to the right and jump up to go to judge? Running → dash in air and let fall until you're under his spawn, float to next balloon, slash under for balloon jumping dash to wall and jump all the way up. Spawn will never have to be dealt with.

I never used a skill or even an attack for that path.
 
You have to commit to the to a speedy runback. I did those paths without ever stopping to battle. For that section the enemies spawn in such a way that you can just bypass everything.

Yeah I saw a lot of people complaining about that runback here... it's not that bad at all, IMO, can fly through it without a ton of trouble. I did get caught up a couple times though, that's for sure.

I had a much more annoying runback for Beastfly... I had fewer tools and upgrades then, but still. That was annoying. All other runbacks have been pretty good.
 
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Yeah I saw a lot of people complaining about that runback here... it's not that bad at all, IMO, can fly through it without a ton of trouble. I did get caught up a couple times though, that's for sure.

I had a much more annoying runback for Beastfly... I had fewer tools and upgrades then, but still. That was annoying. All other runbacks have been pretty good.

Beastfly was an even easier run than judge. I can't recall fighting a thing. Just annoying because I redid that fucking fight like 20 times :messenger_crying:

Running + dash + float gets you so far in this game, to be abused 100%.
 
I played it for an hour last night and progressed fairly well, a little past some friendly tall warrior bug with a sword (who sells maps and shit if I recall correctly). I then tried to fall onto a platform a bit further on and managed to fall all the way back to the beginning (where the first shop is). To say I was fuming is an understatement. I mean why would they have such a large chasm? And I can't currently fast travel anywhere, so it'll mean a slog back to where I was.
If that was so bad for you, you might just want to not play any more of it, because that is a very minor amount of backtracking compared to the rest of the game.
Like a lot of Metroidvanias you are going to be revisting areas a lot, although shortcuts and later abilities will make that a lot more bearable and easier.
 
Everyone being excited for this made me restart the original. That and metroid zero mission which seems significantly more advanced than the nes version from what I remember. Guess it's a remake
 
Beastfly was an even easier run than judge. I can't recall fighting a thing. Just annoying because I redid that fucking fight like 20 times :messenger_crying:

Running + dash + float gets you so far in this game, to be abused 100%.

For sure. Don't think I had float for Beastfly run though. And yes memory is a lil affected by the fact that that was really my first and only annoying boss so far.
 
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FUCK the Last Judge. Fuck these spoungy bosses. And the dumb cone bird that comes out first in the path to the boss, fuck him too.

If you rush there without making movement mistakes, you can avoid dealing with everything (except one shield dude you have to bounce off who can get in the way ~20% of the time). There's actually enough leeway to make a number of non-optimal movements and still avoid everything. ... I know from the number of runbacks I've made.

The birds are almost never an issue unless you're slow.
 
As spoiler-free/vague as possible: I just made it to Act 3. I feel like my stamina is waning. How long is Act 3 compared to the other 2? How difficult?
I don't know how long it is because I'm not done with it yet but it's much more difficult than anything before it.
 
As spoiler-free/vague as possible: I just made it to Act 3. I feel like my stamina is waning. How long is Act 3 compared to the other 2? How difficult?
I would argue act 3 is the best part of the game. It doesn't overstay its welcome. It gives a lot of great story and cinematic moments. It has a very focused set of bosses you need to do. One boss in particular is challenging from the perspective of annoyance. The suggestion I would make is look up a guide or full map to see where to go to enter/find these last bosses or else you'll wander for a little too long. It's not immediately apparent. One in particular makes no sense where you need to start from to get to it, and another you have to talk to a npc to initiate being able to go there and that isn't stated to you. I lucked into that conversation by chance but if you don't you'll be confused.

You've suffered through the worst parts of the game. At least go enjoy the best bosses left and the story pay outs.
 
The suggestion I would make is look up a guide or full map to see where to go to enter/find these last bosses or else you'll wander for a little too long. It's not immediately apparent. One in particular makes no sense where you need to start from to get to it, and another you have to talk to a npc to initiate being able to go there and that isn't stated to you.
Aren't they marked on the map like the three songs from Act 2? I guess you're talking about the new
Shellwood
boss when you say there's a cryptic one because I haven't done that one, the other two were rather simple to find.
 
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Savage Beastfly was probably the first annoying boss I've fought so far. Finally beat his dumb ass, but probably made it harder on myself again stubbornly not wanting to use tools.
In the end, I gave in and did use the boomerang and although I had the trap equipped, didn't use it.
 
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Slowly but surely getting better. I have got the runback to the Last Judge mastered now so I can reach her with full health. I have got her knocked down twice which is half way there, I think. I reckon I'll have beat her by Monday. :D :D
 
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Aren't they marked on the map like the three songs from Act 2? I guess you're talking about the new
Shellwood
boss when you say there's a cryptic one because I haven't done that one, the other two were rather simple to find.
They are marked but I only had access easily to coral tower.

The others showed up in awkward places I didn't now how to initially go there because it's not a straight path.
 
I was prepared for the worst with everyone talking about the run back to last judge. Am I missing something? That was easy. There were far worse run backs earlier in the game.
 
finished my second run in super speed on the up down up down hidden difficulty setting and man that final boss is still an absolute mother fucker, I almost gave up for the second time. Scraped through the skin of my teeth.

Plat is in sight. 2 more trophies to get.
 
Garmond is the fucking man. I've been seeing him all over the cathedral, we had an honorable duel, and later the dude offered to help in the High Hall arena. Scraped by (granted it was my first attempt) but it was definitely harder than the normal ad arena and he stuck with me the whole time. Post-fight he tried playing off being tired by saying Zaza need to rest. After I picked up the melody I found him napping outside. He's so cute. :) 15 minutes later I ran into him again in upper Choral Chambers, and I just shouted 'Zenzibo' after him as we took down a pair of dudes.
 
All of my difficulty complaints went away from the Widow fight onward. It's been nothing but great since then, great bosses, awesome exploration, HK secret sauce kinda stuff. Still very hard at times but not ball bustingly so.

For me the run backs are a good chance to really get into the flow of the movement and perfect the run. I often don't even fight enemies.
 
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Gotta say, I'm really disliking act 2 compared to one. Seems much more difficult to fast travel and just trying to explore to find new areas is a complete pain in the ass. I couldn't stop playing the game in act 1, now it just feels like a slog.
 
I'd say Act 3 > Act 1 > Diarrhea soup > Act 2

Act 2 will push most sane players limits at various points.

For example imagine if bile water was half the size and that development went to coral tower being an actual level instead?

What could've been…
 
This game fucks so hard. I'm mid Act 2, but I'm discovering all of the secret areas. These challenges are so freaking brutal, and some of the boss fights and gauntlets make me absolutely rage.

This game is definitely better than the original Hollow Knight, so long as you're down for an absolutely insane challenge.

Still pissed I have to waste a slot to see my position on the map. Stupid fucking design choice, and if I ever see Team Cherry in person, imma smack 'em in the face.
 
All of my difficulty complaints went away from the Widow fight onward. It's been nothing but great since then, great bosses, awesome exploration, HK secret sauce kinda stuff. Still very hard at times but not ball bustingly so.

For me the run backs are a good chance to really get into the flow of the movement and perfect the run. I often don't even fight enemies.

Couldn't agree more, on both counts.

- Widow, Judge, and the few bosses I've seen since have been excellent
- Runbacks like the one to Judge, they're almost meditative... focus and get in the zone!
 
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Pouch and tools fully upgraded, needle fully upgraded (4x), finished that damn courier mission with literally a second to spare (you can afford to take 2 hits if your movement game is on point), discovered two secret boss battles roaming already explored areas, all board quests done, obtained 4 items I assume are connected to the real ending.

All that's left is to take on the boss but I realized there are those optional courier quests and discovered finishing one open up another unique quest with it's own rewards so I'm going to do all these first and *then* engage the big boss, assume this will trigger Act 3.

I have an epic post planned once I've completed the game but for now I will just say it looks like my top 3 games of the year (Death Stranding 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Expedition 33) will see some shuffling take place, something I was *not* expecting to happen, Silksong is just that good.
 
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Done. Looks like I got the normal ending. Good enough for me.

I feel weirdly torn about the game. World is beautiful and interesting, fun characters, exploring and finding secrets is rewarding, combat's great, controls are perfect. But the things they do to make the game challenging on top of that are so cheap and sleazy to me. So many boss fights are about surrounding you with mobs of enemies that are all doing different moves at the same time while you fight them in the tiny arenas with almost no room to maneuver but just enough room for some of those enemies to be off screen while they throw shit at you, it's just exasperating. There were other boss fights that were great, but many of them I didn't even feel accomplishment on winning, just relief that I got lucky and didn't get hit by something off screen or do an attack that is only safe against 3 of the guys I'm fighting right now, thus getting me killed by a 4th.

About halfway through Act 2 I decided to try referring to guides to show me where I should go next, and that helped a lot to soften my frustration. So maybe I'd feel differently if I'd just been playing that way from the start. Maybe this whole situation was born out of a design philosophy of trying to make the game challenging for a community working on solving it together, but as an individual player blindly feeling my way I often felt that the situations I was being put in were flat out bad game design. I love hard games like Lies of P and I was even annoyed when they added an easy mode to that game, but it's all about what's making a game hard I guess. Obviously some people are really loving it, so if you're a pro gamer or okay playing with a walk through you might have a totally different experience.

As for comparing it to the original Hollow Knight, I don't really remember it that well. I remember thinking it was pretty tough. And I remember liking that game but not loving it the way a lot of people do, so maybe like Silksong there were some parts of it I thought were bullshit and that held me back from praising it as a masterpiece. But now I kinda wanna play Nine Sols. It's been on sale lately, and it has a reputation as a really good, really tough, soulsy metroidvania which I thought was what I wanted right now until Silksong. Should make for an interesting comparison.
 
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Oh yeah, just some tips of my own that are helpful for anyone who is a scrub like me:

1. No question reaper is the easiest crest to use. It has larger arc when you're scrooge mcduckin' which makes the preposterous pogo platforming much easier. There's a boss with fire flying around everywhere late in the game where you basically have to pogo the entire battle while fire balls are flying at you, I would never have beat it with a different crest. But it also has the advantage of right after you heal, hitting enemies makes white orbs appear that fill up your silk faster so you can heal again sooner, which is actually totally crucial in a game where you get swarmed by attacks so often.

2. Except for special situations like wanting fire resistance against a fire enemy, I used almost the same 2 blue crest items the entire game. The "multibinder" and the "injector band." One of these makes you heal more but makes healing take longer, while the other makes you heal faster cancelling the downside of the first item. I would recommend using these fast, safe heals at a wise time so won't get hit as you do it and can get some white orbs for more healing by attacking right after the heal. All the awesome silk attacks you have like parry are a bad idea imo because they use too much silk, unfortunately. Practically every enemy that matters takes 2 points off your lifebar when they hit you so I would save all silk for healing unless you are like a no hit 360 scoper type of guy who doesn't get hit.

3. There are some really good attack items. The thumb tacks you get from a quest in sinner's road are good but only on bosses who stand on the ground. The robot bee attack drones you get in high halls are great and require no aiming, and I also like the purple exploding lightning bombs you get in the memorium, but you need to change them to be throwable bombs on the menu screen while sitting on a bench, otherwise they just plant in the ground like a stake. Don't use any of these! Save them all until a boss reaches its 3rd phase and then start spamming them. It's annoying to learn what new sleazy tricks a boss has in store for you after you already survived 2 phases so just unleash all your artillery and kill them quickly. If you run out of shards from too many failed attempts, go farm rosaries and shards and stock up on shards before fighting them again so you can spam attack items. It's ultimately much easier imo.

4. I think looking up guides is the way to go. If you never want to do that, you already know who you are, if you are unsure, I recommend considering it strongly or you may find the game frustratingly unfun. You don't have to use guides for everything, but stuff like looking up on maps where the closest bench is to the boss you're trying to beat makes everything waaaaay less tedious. In my 50 hour play time I'd estimate 40 hours were spent running from benches to bosses to reattempt them.
 
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Does anyone know what you need to do to get the different endings?
I think I may just duplicate my saves at whatever fork where it affects the endings. At least I think there's an option to duplicate a save.
 
Preface:

I'm old, so my reaction time isn't what it used to be to be (I'm not that old)

But I don't see how ANYONE is getting through this game in sub 20 hours - caveat incoming - without just missing an assfuckbucket load of great content, which then means, that this game essentially pulls the Elden Ring-thing and makes, estimated, half of its content optional?

I recall the original HK had a lot of optional stuffs, but not on this level…or am I just recollecting wrong?

What a truly wonderful, challenging (sometimes unbalanced in my eyes) and glorious game.
 
Preface:

I'm old, so my reaction time isn't what it used to be to be (I'm not that old)

But I don't see how ANYONE is getting through this game in sub 20 hours - caveat incoming - without just missing an assfuckbucket load of great content, which then means, that this game essentially pulls the Elden Ring-thing and makes, estimated, half of its content optional?

I recall the original HK had a lot of optional stuffs, but not on this level…or am I just recollecting wrong?

What a truly wonderful, challenging (sometimes unbalanced in my eyes) and glorious game.
Speedrunners will do it in under 10 hours or near that is my guess, but it'll take a year or so. Those guys are dedicated nuts that have a community where they share info and challenge each other. That kind of motivation really pushes record times.

If I think about it, and I'm at 23hrs+ and still in Act 1, most of that time is exploring/re-exploring/boss fights. Speedrunners will find ways to optimize their routes to get abilities/collectables/quest items and will likely beat bosses on their 1st attempts.

There are vids of HK speedruns and it's amazing how fast they get through the game from start to finish.
 
I cleared The Mist. If I backtrack to an area before The Mist to handle some other business, do I have to complete The Mist in maze form again? Or does it just become a one screen pass through once you clear it for the first time? The Mist for whatever reason gave me a lot of trouble. I died like 10 times. Those phantoms kept swarming me and I couldn't keep them away long enough to play my Needolin to know where to go. Unless there's a way to slow down or kill those wraiths I missed, which would've made it a lot easier. I only got through it by guessing on the final screen which exit to go in and luckily I picked the right one.

Anyway, I want no parts of that place again, so I'm afraid to backtrack because I don't want to have to go through the whole damn thing again. So am I good once I got through it? Or if I backtrack will I have to do that all over again to make it back to the Organ zone?
 


Dude already did it in a little over an hour. It wouldn't be unreasonable for him to do all quests/collectibles in the remaining ~9 hours I predicted to do a sub 10 hour run.
 

I haven't seen it, but apparently someone already did a 100% run in ~9 hours

Edit: Not watching because I'm still in Act 1 and trying to remain as spoiler free as possible
 
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That's insane. I'm 70% done with Citadel (far as I can tell) at 35 hours. I'm obviously not a speedrunner, but just boggles the mind.

Never understood speedruns. I hate that they're part of the trophies in this.
 
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