I lastly performed Hollow Knight: Silksong. No, I don’t imply to brag, however as an alternative discover myself having to sort it out simply to persuade my eyes that it truly occurred. Sure, it could have solely been for round 20 minutes, however the lengthy-awaited sequel exhibits little signal of disappointing.
Throughout my demo at gamescom 2025, I used to be confronted with a selection of two areas to play in: Moss Grotto or Deep Docks. After all, I used to be going to strive each, however first went for Moss Grotto — primarily based on nothing aside from inexperienced being my favorite color — which turned out to be the correct resolution. This sunlit grassy zone seems to be the very starting of Silksong, as I fell into it following a short cutscene by which a caged Hornet (the playable princess-protector protagonist) breaks free from the steel wagon she’s held captive in by collapsing the bridge it’s being paraded on. Developer Workforce Cherry appears eager on immersing us straight again into the world of Hollow Knight proper from the very starting, teasing lore through a passage of Conductor Romino’s Pharloom Folly.
As for Moss Grotto itself, it felt very very like a (re)introduction to the core mechanics of Hollow Knight. A combination of rudimentary platforming and easy battles was littered throughout its grassy flooring in a brief however candy part of Silksong’s presumably sprawling labyrinth of a world. All of it ended with a boss struggle towards a big queen-bee-like insect that tried to lock me in her lair. Moss Mom gave me little boss hassle, although, dispatching them by unlocking that lengthy-dormant Hollow Knight muscle reminiscence as I leapt over darting diagonal assaults and evaded crumbling rocks falling from the sky. It was motion platforming 101, however nonetheless felt extremely satisfying.
I then swiftly moved onto Deep Docks, which turned out to be a wholly completely different proposition. Instruments similar to kunai, which might be thrown horizontally to pierce foes, have been added to my arsenal, together with expertise similar to a well-known sprint skill. Issues naturally get extra advanced with extra objects to juggle, which is mirrored in Deep Docks’ degree design that includes a maze of clanking steel elevators and the quite a few semi-hidden levers that function them. I’ll have solely spent a handful of minutes there, however I might already see myself getting hopelessly misplaced with out assistance from one in all Cornifer’s ever-useful maps.
Upon unlocking a boss area, I used to be confronted by an enemy of far better risk than any I had encountered but. Lace, a balletic white insect, not too dissimilar in look to Hornet herself, dazzled me with intricate combos delivered at a pace my poor mind couldn’t compute shortly sufficient. Defeated, I moved on, figuring out this may be a battle for one more day and never one I notably needed the handfuls of individuals ready within the queue behind to witness me shedding many times.
Whereas it is too early to gauge the general problem of Silksong, the soar up on this later space was noticeable, with enemies able to way over easy prods and darts. I often welcome added complexity and evolution of fight with regards to sequels, so I’ve no nice subject right here. I simply hope that in totality, fights will not develop into too tiresome with exploration and progress being halted too usually. Discovering the secrets and techniques of Hollow Knight’s world was perhaps the purest of its joys to me; I would not need Silksong to really feel like operating right into a brick wall too usually.
There are concessions to make you’re feeling extra highly effective in comparison with the unique, although. Well being regain is now divorced from expertise, which means you may throw these kunai liberally with out having to sacrifice a possible life-saving heal. Assault remains to be the most effective type of protection, echoing a few of my favorite techniques from the likes of Management, Doom Everlasting, and, after all, the unique Hollow Knight. That is emphasised by the truth that you may solely set off well being regen when your silk-white bar is full, encouraging much more offensive maneuvers to construct that up shortly. Dodging will solely get you up to now in Hollow Knight Silksong.
All of those tweaks and modifications tie collectively to create a extra aggressive minibeast, and, though I definitely have a tender spot for the unique Hollow Knight, I’m discovering myself immediately drawn to Silksong extra. 2018’s recreation usually positioned you on the again foot, however right here I felt immediately extra empowered and able to go toe-to-toe with my aggressors. As somebody who historically enjoys the push of sooner-paced motion video games versus the pull of extra trendy examples of the style (I’m actually making an attempt my hardest to not use the time period soulslike right here), I’m left inspired. Creature design remains to be one of many highlights within the sequel, with the borderline lovable adversaries virtually being too cute to stab. At one stage, I received locked in a room with some flying nuisances with pots over their heads who lobbed molten rocks at me, in addition to a pudgy little spherical lad with a saucepan for a protect. I virtually felt dangerous killing them.
However in reality, fight was by no means the spotlight of Hollow Knight for me anyway, however quite the layers of exploration and discovery lurking beneath every of its superbly crafted environments. And whereas I’ve barely scratched the floor of what secrets and techniques Silksong has saved on this regard, preliminary impressions promise an identical bounty of nooks and crannies packed filled with insect mates and foes. Platforming by means of these mazes remains to be a pleasure; a carefully pleasant steadiness between precision and floaty leaping that exams your expertise, that crucially by no means feels unfair when dropping into a niche unwillingly. The addition of mantling within the sequel helps this massively, with edges freely inside grasp even when slight misjudgments are made.
I used to be immediately taken by how way more vibrant the environments are this time round. Cinders dance round caves dripping with lava and glowing inexperienced moss attire earthy overhangs, themselves floating precariously above swimming pools of glistening water. Hornet’s purple cape billows towards the painted backdrops, each appearing in concord to type the type of Saturday morning cartoon look you’d anticipate if one have been to hold within the Louvre. Hornet additionally feels greater on the display screen, dominating the body to a better diploma than her meeker-but-nonetheless-mighty forebearer. That visible design seems like a deliberate selection, one aimed toward creating extra of an influence journey sensation this time round. It is these concepts — from revamped fight design to its repainted world – that seem like appearing in live performance to a magical diploma, and spectacular proof, even on this small dose, of what Workforce Cherry has been brewing.
Sure, we have been ready many, a few years for this sequel, however all the pieces at this stage factors to it being price it. Every facet feels authored and prescribed to a transparent imaginative and prescient — a chunk of playable artwork that’s as enjoyable to wield as it’s to look at (I ought to know, the gamescom queue was very lengthy). It could have been the shortest of demos, however up to now, Silksong may be very a lot singing to me, perhaps much more than the unique.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can primarily be discovered skulking round open world video games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing on the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Comply with him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.