Hollow Knight: Silksong Reviews

Right on time!

The wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong has been an excruciating one. Since the 2017 Metroidvania masterpiece Hollow Knight, the community had been clamouring for more. And in 2019, Silksong was finally announced, but nobody expected the long wait. Years of teasing with gameplays followed by extended lengths of silence, it felt like it was impossible for the game to come close to living up to those insane expectations. 2025 has not only finally given us Metroid Prime 4, but Silksong as well, mak...

Hollow Knight: Silksong is a flawed masterpiece. To the right player, it can be one of the greatest games of all time. But that’s only if they are able to look past or easily overcome the grueling, unforgiving challenges that come up regularly. From the world design to the music, characters, and animations, this is a monumental achievement, but had I not been working on this review, I would have given up on Silksong a long time ago. That certainly says something about me as a player, but it also says something about the game, too.

Don't be fooled by its playful appearance; Hollow Knight: Silksong by Team Cherry is a devious creation that will push your skills to the limits.

Team Cherry has done the impossible. In the face of colossal expectation, it has bottled lightning twice. Silksong is a masterpiece, not because it’s bigger and better than what came before, but because it doesn’t lose itself in trying to escape Hollow Knight’s shadow. Its massive scope extends beyond Team Cherry’s initial influences to become a definitive Metroidvania epic that challenges players to rise to the occasion.

Hollow Knight Silksong takes all the best parts of its predecessor and somehow makes them even better.

Despite the long wait, Hollow Knight: Silksong exceeded everyone's expectations by bringing a new beautiful map brimming with things to discover, challenging combat, and some of the most memorable boss encounters in gaming.

Whether you’re looking at the making Hollow Knight: Silksong or the many patient fans that have been waiting, this has been a long time coming. And in the end, it was worthwhile to open this up, let it breathe, and take in all the notes, because not only is Hollow Knight: Silksong a challenging Metroidvania, it’s also dense. And while that challenging side sometimes slips into annoying territories, this is an undeniably well-crafted delivery of a promise made nearly a decade ago.

After all this wait, Hollow Knight: Silksong is a masterpiece that demands the player to meet it at its level. Come prepared for a very difficult adventure, and you’ll be mesmerized by its immaculate vibes and beauty.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is an exemplar of its form. Games like Metroid and Castlevania helped establish the fun of an exploration and platforming adventure filled with upgrades that open up new paths to progression, and Team Cherry’s second Hollow Knight game takes that concept to a profound level of depth, sophistication, and scope. Pacing issues and a punishing approach to forward progression prevent a full-throated endorsement to every type of player, but those with significant patience ...

Hollow Knight: Silksong is so much more than I expected from a sequel, deftly avoiding the pitfalls that come with following up from one of the best indie games. Team Cherry’s second masterpiece is not for everyone, but it’s absolutely proven to be worth the wait. It rewards patience in its combat, platforming, and exploration, before daring the player to take big risks during boss fights. Frustrating map design decisions and a tendency to punish the player early on dampen the experience from time to time, but make no mistake, Silksong is every bit as great as its predecessor.

Team Cherry not only delivers on its much-anticipated follow-up to Hollow Knight but exceeds all expectations by constructing one of the most complete and coherent video games I've played in years. Hollow Knight: Silksong is an absolute triumph.

Hollow Knight: Silksong’s beauty is beguiling, hiding an interior that’s deliberately harsh but endlessly rewarding. Everything feels deliberate, pushing you to learn, improve, and perfect, or simply just explore a little more. And what a world it is to dig into. Somehow, Team Cherry has surpassed my expectations tenfold and delivered a mesmeric blend of balletic combat and movement with persistence, joy, and an incredibly invigorating map at the centre. I’ve never felt better surmounting the challenges put in front of me, and I’m already raring to do it a second time.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is packed full of sharp platforming, enticing exploration, and nail-biting combat that's all unapologetically challenging in just the right way.

Hollow Knight: Silksong manages to be a surprisingly great sequel to a title that was all-too difficult to follow up. If you're a fan of the series, you'll find no better way to feel back home than in this sequel, but newcomers should still stick to exploring Hallownest for their first venture.

Landing the final hit of my Silksong playthrough felt surreal not just because of it finally releasing, but because, in many ways, it contains everything I have been chasing after in the medium

Silksong can be ruthless, but it's hard to pry yourself away from its haunted little world that never seems to end.

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Pretty and charmingly mean-spirited, this is a game filled with revelations and genuine personality.

Fortunately, my console is still functioning, and besides, feel-good emotions dominated my 25-hour-plus quest to see Hornet’s journey through to its end. Hollow Knight: Silksong is gorgeous, massive, and fiercely challenging – a masterpiece that doesn’t always play fair.

Silksong can be considered an excellent and even exemplary Metroidvania. It is damn nice to play while exploring every picturesque corner of the teeming world. It is gorgeously structured, the modified role-playing system, although it has become a little less diverse, is still pleasant. And the rebalanced battles of the sequel, each duel in which resembles a rhythmic dance, cause an influx of adrenaline. However, the game is not without its flaws.

In terms of the base game, there are a lot of quality-of-life fixes that make Silksong a more manageable experience for fans of the original Hollow Knight. Team Cherry developed Pharloom with so much love and care that it’s hard to believe that a small team made it. Team Cherry's attention to detail takes Silksong beyond being a great Hollow Knight sequel to competing for a spot among the best games of all time.

A beautifully executed and immaculately polished continuation of Hollow Knight’s Metroidvania artistry, with a similarly lugubrious art style and occasionally rage-inducing difficulty.

Hollow Knight: Silksong takes the masterclass design of its predecessor and elevates it to set a new gold standard in Metroid-like design.

I’m still not convinced that counterbalancing your own strengths requires a mean streak that’s quite as mean as Silksong’s. And I didn’t even have space to complain much about the trade economy, which bleeds you dry for rosary beads (Pharloom’s chosen currency) despite only half the game’s enemies dropping them. Still, when I look at Silksong in my Steam library – a strange thing in itself, given how long it took to get there – I don’t think about counting beads. I don’t e...

Hollow Knight: Silksong is an incredible game, only held back by a couple questionable decisions. When the game is at its best, it's far beyond any game I've ever played, near-perfect in its design, and a masterpiece that I can't put down. The combat feels incredible, the visuals are stunning, the story is engaging, and the soundtrack is lovely. At its worst, though, it is extremely punishing, forces you into repetitive segments, and feels occasionally purposefully irritating. I love it with all my heart, but if you aren't willing to put up with intense difficulty, it may not be for you.

Hollow Knight: Silksong manages to live up to the daunting expectations surrounding the sequel. It carries the spirit of the original while introducing fresh mechanics that shape a remarkable adventure, one worthy of standing alongside its predecessor. The challenge is steep, but the true reward comes from mastering enemy patterns and finding ways to overcome them. Every element coalesces into an experience that exemplifies what’s possible when developers take the time to fully realize their vision.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is as beautiful and endearing as it is brutal and uncompromising. It isn't a game that newcomers (or even longtime fans) can quickly come to grips with. Yet, Hornet's journey through Pharloom stands as one of the genre's greatest and a testament to pure passion.

Hollow Knight: Silksong has a long road ahead of it, and I'm ready to follow it on its entire journey. Whether that includes a swath of free updates just like the original game, or potential DLC, I'll be there. In fact, I'm still there, slowly chipping away at a 100% completion rate. I won't be putting this one down for weeks.

A work of art made of silk and shadows.