Released in February 2017 by Team Cherry, “Hollow Knight” was a Metroidvania-type game that had charmed audiences with its unique art style, challenging gameplay, and different abilities for movement. With the success of the game, Team Cherry then announced a sequel a year later to the series, titled “Hollow Knight: Silksong,” which was anticipated to release around the summer of 2023. 

But the development team soon didn’t share much updated information about the game’s progress, so some fans believed that the game was cancelled. But on April 2, 2025, Nintendo Direct released a little snippet of footage of “Hollow Knight: Silksong,” sparking excitement in the community. And on August 21, Team Cherry officially released a trailer giving the release date for the game, September 4. Seven years since its announcement, Hollow Knight: Silksong has finally been released, bringing new quests, challenges, and abilities in its adventure.

I played as Hornet, a major character in the first Hollow Knight game, who has been kidnapped and caged so she can be taken to the kingdom of Pharloom. She eventually finds a way to break free and is now set to ascend the kingdom and learn its secret past. Along the way, Hornet gains new abilities by the power of silk, which has ties to her ancestors. These new powers can assist Hornet’s pilgrimage to the Citadel, a city where worship occurs to the main antagonist, Grandmother Silk. The story is divided into two acts, which are the areas before you unlock the citadel and then the citadel itself.

Like the first game, Silksong is hand-drawn in a beautifully made environment. The characters that the players can interact with are charming, whether they have a welcoming appearance or a mysterious look. The enemies can also look cute, and yet still feel threatening. The bosses can have a terrifying appearance, like the Fourth Chorus boss found in the Deep Docks region. This specific boss menacingly looms over Hornet over a vast lava lake. Situations like this help make the game feel intense and harsh at times.

Much like its predecessor, Silksong does not show mercy in its difficulty. Even in the early areas, difficulty can be expected to be so hard if you are inexperienced or don’t have a tool set that players aren’t comfortable with. In this case, you should expect to die many times throughout the game. There are new hazards, including spikes, lava, acid, pollen, and over 200 enemies roaming different parts of Pharloom, as well as over 40 bosses that guard specific parts of the kingdom. Fortunately, when Hornet dies, items that she loses when death occurs can be saved in a cocoon, which players can backtrack to their previous death to reobtain what was lost. 

Fortunately, Silksong provides various abilities at the player’s disposal. One of the main abilities is a healing ability, which allows the character to take a couple more hits. The game also has Hornet defend herself against enemies with one weapon, but also gives the chance to obtain traps and other weapons at the player’s disposal, like spike traps or kunai. Hornet is also able to obtain new skills for movement, including but not limited to: wall-jumping, dashing, running, gliding, and double jumping. Besides movements, Hornet can also gain combat abilities, like a spear that has a good range in the direction she faces, or an attack that damages enemies in a radius around her. Abilities like these are able to help face challenges in Pharloom. 

Although Hornet is given various acrobatic abilities, it will take a while to go from place to place on foot. Luckily, there are fast travel locations scattered throughout the kingdom. Unluckily, to unlock this, she has to go through a boss fight against the one thing that lets her fast travel: the Bell Beast. This is a major boss fight to act as a tutorial for Silk Spear, a skill that the player can obtain at the start of the game. When you reach the boss arena, you’ll find the beast trapped in silk, which is unbreakable by Hornet’s weapon, forcing her to use Silk Spear. Once she uses the ability, the boss fight begins. And when you eventually defeat it, you unlock the ability to travel to different locations.

Currency is also an integral part of Silksong. You’ll be using rosaries and shell shards to purchase various items. Bell Beast locations require payment to be kept permanently, and some benches to save and rest require players to pay a fee. Maps can be purchased for areas to explore, helping to keep track of where Hornet has been and where to explore next. There are also map markers for areas of interest or future boss fights you can’t beat yet, or bench markers and fast travel points. Many of these items are obtainable from shopkeepers. This is how Hornet also obtains some tools or weapons, like a compass to keep track of where Hornet is on the map or a tool pouch to hold more items. Players can also get items by completing quests, also known as wishes. Main wishes just progress the game, but side wishes can help Hornet on her journey. For example, there’s one wish in Far Fields that has the player defeat specific enemies that drop items that must be collected, and in return, Hornet gains a cloak that lets her glide in the air, and also go up windy directions.

With all that said, Hollow Knight: Silksong is a beautiful challenge for fans of Hollow Knight to beat. With new movement, weapons, and a captivating art style, this game is punishing every time players mess up, but very rewarding when the challenge is finally beaten. With the option to also complete wishes for characters, it helps breathe life into the game and its world. As a person who has not played any Hollow Knight game before, this game was a challenging experience, but still a fun one at that. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to beat the final boss of Act 1, the Last Judge, to get to Act 2, which is the Citadel, so I haven’t completely finished the game yet. Even so, the journey so far has been exciting and enjoyable.