Topic: Hollow Knight: Silksong

I haven't seen a thread for this game yet but I thought it better to start one than keep talking about it in the what are you playing/chitchat threads.

I'm certain that I'm almost done with Act 2, but I've decided to check out more of the map and fulfill all the wishes available before I move on. I'm currently in the upper region of Bilewater.

I despise Bilewater with a burning passion.

@Kairuuu I keep finding more areas. for one area above bilewater it looks like I need a specific skill to enter above. I tried jumping but the walls aren't smooth enough to latch onto. Mount Fay is another area I really enjoyed, it gave me Celeste vibes.

I had to go back to get the bell in Bellhart as the only one I'd missed. Beat Widow (cheeky bonus boss phase) and have just been picking off the Wishes for the area before heading back to the top.

@Thrillho Widow was a great boss. I'm currently taking on the first sinner. I might go and farm some roseries and go and get some upgrades.

@MightyDemon82 Yeah, Bilewater and Putrified Ducts just annoyed me. Hate the pair of them.

I'm slowly making progress in Act 3. No spoilers but I've made it to all the respective bosses I have to kill to advance, so it's just a case of committing to them one at a time.

@Thrillho Widow was a great boss fight. Seemed impossible the first couple times fighting her but once the old reliable pattern recognition kicks in, it really isn't too bad!

@Kairuuu Good luck with Act 3. I have a few bosses I'm working on just now but I'm concentrating on First Sinner. Maybe get her this week.

@MightyDemon82 Thank ya! Good luck with First Sinner. She's up there as one of my favourite boss fights in the entire game.

Finally beat The Last Judge.

Well, beat him twice. The exploding dead enemy move is a low blow..

@Thrillho The Last Judge was a great fight. Unlucky you got caught out with that dirty trick.

I'm still on The First Sinner but got the pattern down and can do the first phase without taking damage, just need to focus for the second phase. It doesn't help when your wife shouts on you in the heat of battle to rescue her from a "Giant Spider". 🤣

Well, fellas. It's done. 83 and a half hours of playtime and Hollow Knight: Silksong is finished. Ended up at 89% completion which seems quite good. How on Earth you're supposed to 100% this game in under 30 hours for the platinum is absolutely insane.

What a fantastic sequel though. Act 3 is just bonkers in terms of difficulty but the perseverance paid off and despite the pain and suffering I went through (curse you, Bilewater!), I enjoyed every second of it. Hornet is an amazing protagonist and she has so much more character and flair than the knight from the first game.

The real question is: does it knock Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 off of my top spot this year?

@Kairuuu nice one. I beat The First Sinner last night so I can go and do something else in the game for a bit before taking on the next few bosses.

@MightyDemon82 Thank ya! Nice work on First Sinner. She's still one of my favourite bosses in the game.

@Kairuuu Glad to hear it lives up to such high standards through to the end! Not sure it's one I'll be enticed to get the platinum for (only the second game this year I won't have done after FF7:Rebirth).

I just took down the Cogwork Dancers in the Choral Chambers. A beautiful area with some stunning music. I've just about finished clearing as much of the map as I can for now and just need to turn in the little side quests back at the bell village before pushing on in one of the few directions I've got unlocked.

@Thrillho The platinum is insane, to be honest. Beating the game in under 5 hours, and then having to 100% it in under 30 hours are no easy feats. I'm not a trophy hunter by any means but it's a game I'm definitely not going to platinum any time soon.

Choral Chambers is unreal. It's the only area in the game where I really noticed the music. Like, I really felt it while I was exploring the area. Sublime.

@Kairuuu On the trophy hunting subreddit people who already got it seem to say it’s easier than Hollow Knight but then again just about everything is!

I guess if you know exactly where you’re going and can beat the bosses in a few attempts then it’s probably possible. I wonder if it’s easiest to do the 100% from there or not..

@Thrillho Funnily enough, I also had a gander online earlier today at what is actually needed for 100% and there are actually quite a few things that you actually don't need to do/get. It's mostly just getting all tools, upgrades, etc. and, to my surprise, bosses actually don't count — directly to the percentage, at least, but you'll need to kill those guarding mask fragments and such. Also, you can do the five hour any% speedrun first and then continue on with that save to get the 100% speedrun so you can actually get two birds with one stone there.

Like you say, if you know where everything is and you can find an optimised guide for it, it's probably not as daunting as it seems. It'll all come down to your effectiveness at killing bosses which, interestingly enough, seeing as I've got a second, more casual playthrough going on my Switch 2, I've been killing all the early bosses with relative ease so far compared to my initial playthrough.

The High Halls gauntlet... Jesus f-ing Christ!

And I've just looked it up and there are how many waves??

@Thrillho As much as I hate to say it, as it’s an incredible game in just about every respect, the whole ‘lock the player in a tiny combat arena to fight wave after wave after wave of enemies’ is growing pretty stale for me. I feel the scenario is so overused as to feel like a crutch at times. Hasn’t wrecked the game for me by any means but I’m at the point where I let out an audible sigh when the next one inevitably pops up.

To quote a post on reddit, Silksong is absolutely "the greatest game I've ever hated"....!

Maybe the hardest game I have ever played actually, there just never seems to be any let-up.

I've just reached the 100% tally in-game, with only the final Act 3 boss left. When/if I nail that boss, I am well ready to put the game down and very comfortable that my 80 hours playthrough is more than enough!

I looked at some of the achievements/trophies - some seem absolute insanity. Beat the game in 5 hours? No-death run Steel Soul mode? Far too rich for my blood, will settle on 100% in-game progress and beating Act 3!