Hollow Knight: Silksong, a sequel originally planned as free downloadable content for Hollow Knight, was first shown off in February 2019 and fans have been clamouring for its release ever since.

This is evidenced by the fact the original has sold a whopping 15 million copies, and the sheer number of fans attempting to purchase the sequel crashed major storefronts upon its release. But is the game worthy of its elongated wait and the sheer hype surrounding it?

When booting up Silksong for the first time, you'll not be greeted by the eponymous Knight but their nemesis, Hornet – a far slimmer, nimbler vessel.

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Her journey begins being transported by mysterious, cloaked captors to a new realm named Pharloom, a land cursed by silk and song. While being escorted, a small insect lands on Hornet's cage, breaking its seal and sending it crashing down a ravine into the starting area, Mossy Grotto.

Who would want to capture Hornet? And why did they want to bring her to Pharloom? With so many questions and very few answers, Hornet sets out to navigate these dangerous lands and climb up to the Citadel to interrogate its leaders for answers.

In similar style to the original, you'll begin the game with nothing but your basic jump and needle slash attack; you'll have no tools at your disposal and no map for navigation. This is where the game is very challenging in its opening hours as you try to adjust to the new environment, enemies, and Hornet's new moveset.

Although Mossy Grotto is a forgiving tutorial section – with plenty of spiky caterpillars and moths to slaughter – you won't have as much luck in the areas that follow if you don’t purchase a map and compass promptly, with your newly earned rosary beads currency.

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Once you have a map in hand, though, the gameplay loop stays much the same as the original and that’s no bad thing. You'll explore the vast environment, mapping it out piece by piece – all while slaughtering the enemy bugs and dastardly bosses that stand in your way.

Add in Silksong’s new minigames, quests, crests, and collectibles and the sheer amount of content will last a casual player upwards of 50 hours, which is an unbelievable value for your measly $20.

The aforementioned currency is scarce throughout Pharloom and is a much-wanted commodity among the Pilgrims making their journey to the Citadel. So much so that they will scam you out of your beads in any way possible, often leaving your pockets empty.

This can be especially frustrating when you reach a checkpoint on minimal HP, requiring an extortionate 80 rosaries for a single sit on the bench that folds away the moment your scrawny butt leaves its cold steel.

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This lack of currency will likely prevent you from purchasing new tools and pendants since shops and merchants set stingy prices of their goods at hundreds or even thousands of rosaries a piece.

We often felt we had to return to an early game area just to farm this currency rather than progressing the story.

However, the developer has taken some measures to address this with certain pendants increasing income and the added ability to string your beads together into necklaces to avoid losing them on death.

Despite this, currency scarcity still appears to be a prevalent issue preventing enjoyable build experimentation.

As you traverse Pharloom, you'll notice that Hornet feels entirely different to control in comparison to the previous protagonist of the series.

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With her higher agility, she is far nimbler than the Knight, allowing her to jump higher, sprint faster, flip, and diagonally slash enemies beneath you. We didn't have any problems with the controls, and we appreciated the way you’ll even notice her footsteps through the DualSense – a small but welcome detail.

You may also recognise how talkative Hornet is since her predecessor never uttered a single word. Hornet will engage with other NPCs in full blown conversations making the world feel more immersive and the story of Silksong far more tangible than in the original game.

Crests are by far the most interesting new addition to Silksong: these adjust your needle's attacking style, from short and fast-paced slashes to curved wide-range attacks. They can also change your downward diagonal attack to directly down; this can be a lifesaver when it comes to the precarious pogoing parkour required throughout the campaign.

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Crests even have several different coloured slots for equipping tools, amulets, and pendants. Each item you collect is assigned a colour and can be equipped based on the layout of your crest.

For instance, you start off with the Hunter's Crest, which allows you to equip one utility of each colour. But others have different slots, allowing for a lot more customisation when it comes to your build.

Tools vary from throwing knives and boomerangs to spiked traps and explosives, each allowing for a different approach to combat. The variety on offer is impressive, evolving the core combat from the original game.

However, these enjoyable weapons are tied to an almost redundant alternative currency, named shards. You’ll have to collect or farm shards to automatically craft tools when you sit on a bench, which feels like a bizarre design choice considering you're already charged an arm and a leg to purchase them in the first place.

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Fortunately, the Wishwalls are a huge improvement to the original game. Now, instead of just receiving items from certain characters, you'll have wishes to fulfil instead.

These are presented like bounties on boards located in the main towns throughout the game – Bone Bottom being the first. Requests can be as simple as collecting a handful of berries for a druid or as difficult as eliminating a group of enemies and retrieving their dropped resources.

But the boss fights have always been a highlight of Hollow Knight and Silksong is no different, with over 40 new beasts to best.

An early game highlight is the Bell Beast. Based on the biggest bug to ever crawl the earth, it dashes from side to side and digs up large bells for you to dodge.

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If you can learn its pattern of fast dashes, jumps, and bell launching attacks long enough to defeat said beast, it'll join your quest by aiding in fast travelling between major locations.

Another notable boss for us is The Last Judge, a large devout that swings a large thurible made from a bell. Reaching his second phase sees him light his thurible, swinging it further and faster than before spreading fire across the battle arena. This encounter requires some precise timing and dashing to avoid being burnt to a crisp.

Although The Last Judge is a worthy opponent, it's made ten times harder by the lengthy trek preceding it from the nearest checkpoint. Having to repeat the same five-minute section of jumps and enemy slaying can be a slog and result in many loud expletives.

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It should be noted, no difficulty options are available and Silksong sets a higher bar than its predecessor with more intricate platforming and more intense combat encounters throughout.

Mastering Hornet's new downward diagonal slash to pogo off enemies and environmental objects to gain height while platforming can take time. Meanwhile, combat trials have also been ramped up with many more waves and a wider variety of enemies spawning in each.

Mix in multiple locations where you must pogo while avoiding flying enemies and it is obvious the sequel has taken things to a whole new level. Although equipping different crests can negate some of the pogo problems, you’ll still have to obtain the crests first.

Fortunately, exploring the beautifully hand-drawn visual environments is an absolute marvel. Fire particles float through the foreground in Deep Docks, while bells ring and bounce around as you sprint through piles of them in Bellhart. The various layers of scenery in the background further emphasise the strength of Team Cherry's art direction.

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And to bring the entire game together are some gorgeous soundtracks by Christopher Larkin, which hit all the right notes, creating tension before bosses and soothing tunes for the heart-warming settlements.

Conclusion

Hollow Knight: Silksong is a marvellous Metroidvania, splitting at the seams with new content. But in having so many ideas it sacrifices some of the balance that made the original such a huge hit. With run backs to bosses often feeling a chore and currency scarcity preventing tool experimentation, it’s fair to say there’s still some tweaking for Team Cherry to make.

Nevertheless, the love, care, and attention that's gone into this game is already very evident in its vast array of gorgeous environments, earworm audio, and delicately designed boss battles. Pharloom is a land we just can't get enough of, but it demands patience to be enjoyed to its fullest.