Note: This post contains mild spoilers for Silksong. If you haven't played it, be cautious.

When Hollow Knight released in 2017 I was so stoked. Hand drawn art, metroidvania, hot off the heels of my time with Ori and the Blind Forest - I was READY, man! And god DAMN did I just not mesh with it!! I bounced off Hollow Knight HARD, dude. Tried going back like multiple times and there was always something there that just felt wrong. It wasn't the difficulty it was just the feeling like I didn't belong in the world (which narratively I guess makes sense now that I've since rolled credits in the intervening years).

Like everyone else on the internet, I felt the cruel passage of time and "Silksong" joined the "Half Life 3" and "Duke Nukem Forever" pantheon of things that just were never gonna happen. But hey - then Silksong showed up with a surprise release date announcement that caused untold chaos for other indie devs not wanting to release along side it.

And it fucking rules, dude

I've been trying to pinpoint what about Silksong hooked me when Hollow Knight didn't, and despite fair similarities in gameplay and presentation, I think it's that the Knight as a silent protagonist just didn't work for me. Hornet is a goddamn chatterbox (complimentary) and it makes the experience feel so much more alive.

Plus, as a person with a significant amount of religious trauma, the game opening with being kidnapped by religious cultists that quickly devolves into "Hey so uhh we're gonna have to break into Bug Vatican and kill every last one of these motherfuckers, and they will deserve each death tenfold for what they're doing to the bugs they have power over" really helped sell me on Hornet's whole deal.

Like seriously. The Anthony Bourdain Kissinger quote but about the Citadel after finding out the BENCHES COST MONEY IN THE WORKERS QUARTERS. Vile. Absolutely vile. Love it as a narrative piece. Death to the citadel.

Hollow Knight does have a cast of fun bugs but again, I think those interactions do a lot of heavy lifting to give the world personality and having Hornet interact with the NPCs over the course of the experience feels so much more natural. When you run into someone again after a long time they greet each other like worn travelers, or in the case of the (can't believe this is a phrase I'm typing) flea pervert, someone in desperate need of their head getting caved in.

There are really interesting parallels between Hollow Knight and Silksong; Hollow Knight is a game about descending, Silksong asks Hornet to ascend to the top of the Citadel. The Knight gets long range horizontal traversal tools, Hornet gets verticality. The Stag in Hollow Knight (fast travel) is a sentient being who loves to tell you things while the Bell Beast in Silksong is beastial, much more like the best doggo you've ever met. I love this creature so much.

I don't wanna go too spoilery on this post for people who haven't beaten it yet but if you play your needolin for Bell Beast and their cubs, they fucking sing along and it's so good.

(Though it was good to see a Stag callback in the later game)

The traversal in the game feels good. The combat feels good. The music and art fire on all cylinders. This game is a fucking work of art from start to finish. Sure there are some annoying runbacks (Savage beastfly, Team Cherry who hurt you???) but I enjoyed being in the world so much that I didn't mind them as much? I always wanted to see what Hornet would get up to next, who else I would meet, would she admit she's gay for Lace, etc etc etc.

I reluctantly rolled credits on Hollow Knight last year; contrasted with Silksong, I couldn't get to 100% fast enough. I did everything. I rushed the damn meat. I got top scores in the flea games. I found every collectible. I found the goddamn mushroom. I did the horrific witch quest!! and like, well, Hornet can sum that one up:

Yet I think if they released DLC I'd be jumping right back in. This game activated neurons I didn't know I had. Moving around the world, helping out these poor downtrodden bugs, finding secrets. God damn. What a game.

PRE-PUBLISH EDIT - Nautical DLC was just announced let's fucking gooooo

The main question I have after finishing though - it's an important one. One we're probably all asking:

Who on team cherry was responsible for this?

Wait so Should I Play it™?

Maybe! Since there were mild spoilers I'd hoped you already have but if you made it this far and still haven't committed I'd recommend it with the caveats that it can be quite hard and there aren't any difficulty settings. I'd say that's the only ding I have against it because the story and the exploration is SO fucking compelling and it makes me sad to know boss fight ridiculousness can gatekeep it. If tough boss fights are not your thing, watch a let's play. The game's beautiful.