Sep 18, 8:23 PM
Hollow Knight: Silksong First Impressions
Anime Relations:
Made in Abyss, Made in Abyss Movie 3: Fukaki Tamashii no Reimei, Made in Abyss Movie 1: Tabidachi no Yoake, Made in Abyss Movie 2: Hourou Suru Tasogare, Made in Abyss: Retsujitsu no Ougonkyou
*** “Hollow Knight: Silksong” First Impressions ***
Usually now-a-days I only write game impressions that are for Japanese-made titles, as well as ones for us anime fans of course, but being that this for the long-awaited follow-up to one of my all-time favorite indie “metroidvanias”, even sitting within my personal top 20 video games of all time, I just had to do my initial impressions of it. Now, to get this out of the way first: Do you need to play the older “Hollow Knight” in order to get into “Silksong”? The honest answer is “yes”, but it’s really not fully mandatory due to they are completely separate stories even through SS takes place before the events of HK (and if you have finished the main story then you will definitely know that). The biggest reason I stated yes first is I more or less consider HK as the “tutorial” to get into SS and believe me, as much of the players are stating, this newer game will greatly challenge you and having a better grasp on HK’s moves and mechanics will heavily better prepare you on what’s to come in SS, even though I more or less think Team Cherry should make some difficulty tweaks to. In a sense think HK as the original “Devil May Cry” and SS as “Devil May Cry 3”, which is also a prequel, you technically don’t have to play either previous games (and why even bother with DMC2) to get into DMC3 but if that is your first entry into the hardcore action slasher series then you are NOT going to have a fun time because you haven’t gotten used to the in’s and out’s of the original, that is unless the developers put in an easier mode for new players which didn’t happen until they released a special edition of it. Now for these impressions I’m going to list down all of the positive, neutral and negative aspects that I have experienced after playing just a bit above 15 hours of gameplay, so let’s get to it:
* Positives *
- Artist Ari Gibson is a masterclass in making highly remember-able environments that really pop-out and wow you and his work on SS is absolutely no exception and this time they even gave it’s detailed and artistic environments much more depth and clarity and highly love it’s more 3D-like backdrops. I’m also playing this on the PlayStation 5 and the game always runs at a very smooth 60 FPS throughout all my time with it and hearing if you have a PS5 Pro, and if your TV supports it, you can play it at 120 FPS. Also confirmed the Switch 2 version will even play at 120 FPS in it’s hand-held mode!
- The game is supposed to take most players roughly 40 to 50 hours to get the first story ending, and many, many more to 100% it, and how they were able to compress that big of a game into just down to less than 3 gigs on the PS5 is beyond understanding, compared to 10 gigs for HK on PS4.
- New to this game are the various tools and crests you find and earn. The first are pretty much extra weapons to use with limited ammo that use up “shards” that drop from practically all normal enemies which you do not loose upon death. My favorite ones in my play-though were the daggers and the blade traps which both you will get very early on and will be even more damaging with certain charms equipped, like I found one that causes poison damage with both of them, and you can equip up to two with unlock-able upgrades. The crests you will get, which so far are within “chapels” and guarded by an enemy arena, actually will completely change Hornet’s move-set. When you first start the game you do not have a direct downward slash and you aim in a downward angle but once you get the “reaper” crest then your down attack turns into a wide downward arc and you can easily “Pogo” off enemies and some environment hangings for higher traversal. There’s also the “wanderer” crest that will change your moves to one that mostly match the ones from HK. Personally my fav so far is the “reaper” because of that wide down slash but also, even though it’s attacks are slower, you gain more “silk” from your strikes for healing and when you heal you glow for a short time and every attack during that will create a white orb which will heal up your silk meter a little more on pickup. There’s another crest called “beast” where your attacks are more like craw slashes and whenever you heal you have to attack enemies to get back your health but your attacks are stronger and have greater range although I think I’ll stick with the “reaper”.
- Death is less punishing where you do not have to kill off a dark spirit of yourself, instead you will leave a silk cocoon near where you last died and just hitting it once will gain you a full silk spool and all of your held rosary beads which is the main game’s currency. Also this can be used as a good tactic during arena and boss battles to leave aside until you need to heal and then slash it to get most of your silk back, just please try to not accidentally hit it.
- In HK technically there is no way on “banking” your currency, well, actually there was one way but that turned out to be a giant scam. In SS there is a method and with a pretty light cost: at some vendors as well as at certain machines in areas you can turn 80 beads into a 60 bead string item that will never leave your inventory upon death, yet later on you can turn 140 beads into a 120 bead string which is honestly a slightly better deal. That’s like converting runes in Elden Ring into those golden coins you occasionally pick up. Also it’s highly advised to have several of these always on hand in case you come across either a save point or fast travel area to unlock or you find the warrior that will sell you helpful area maps.
- Traversal is made much easier from the get-go as Hornet can vault up ledges if she can grasp them but shortly after the start you’ll get access to both a jump/leap dodge and an extremely helpful dash/run move which I really wished the older HK implemented (the jet dash move in HK was neat but only works in certain areas). Even wall climbing can be earned early on too although you’ll have to deal with pretty tough boss fight if you are not fully prepared for it.
- The world seems less linear than before and noticed a whole lot more branching paths to take and also shocked on how much secrets there are to find, even within the early areas. Also heard there are multiple ways in order to reach the higher Citadel but I’m very sure each one is not easy, I definitely know the one toward the upper left isn’t.
- A nice change is Hornet is not just another badass but silent protagonist and will converse with much of the friendly characters and is definitely an intelligent talker.
- Sherma is a world-wide treasure and must be protected AT ALL COSTS!
* Neutrals *
- Honestly, I have a love and hate relationship with SS’s healing mechanics. In HK once you have enough “bug juice” (I guess) you hold down the heal button shortly and fill up just one mask and can do this about 3 to 4 times before needing to attack more enemies. Here with a simple press of the heal button Hornet will go into an unstoppable animation for about three seconds and will use up one full silk spool without upgrades, this even happens if you only need to heal just one health mask! Yet the kicker is Hornet’s can heal up to 3 masks at a time at first and she can even do it while in midair! Yet if you get attacked during this healing animation you won’t heal anything and you will also loose that needed silk to heal again! Wouldn’t you be pissed if you started drinking an estus flask in Dark Souls and then a baddie whacks you during the heal sequence and now you have no juice to heal again!? It’s kind of a risk vs. reward mechanic although it’s a whole lot tougher to deal within closed arena and boss fights. Also damn sucks to press it accidentally and then waste that much needed silk. Yet what I’m hoping Team Cherry will change with a future update is once again make you HOLD DOWN the heal button to get more health so if you accidentally press it you will cancel out of it, also hoping it will only waste a full spool if you heal three masks where if you just heal one you will have a bunch silk left over for next time.
- I know this is how it was like in HK but it’s still kind of a bummer that you have to purchase each area map in order to draw out the areas you have traveled in, why can’t Hornet just draw on blank maps as you travel around new areas and when you buy those maps it may clue you in on some secrets or paths you may have missed?
- Fetch quests? More like meh’ quests. At least do the ones that do not only give you rosaries for helpful upgrades.
* Negatives *
- I know this has been addressed by many reviewers and the social media but the game is just damn freaking hard! Now, I will admit, even HK was no stroll in the park for sure but I really more thought that game was much more fair in difficulty and when you die then you can easier learn from your mistakes. In SS they really want you to be on your tippy toes at all times during the major boss fights and you have to pay attention to everything around you and the patterns those foes give off. Plus why for the LOG why (it’s big, heavy, it’s wood!) do practically all big baddies knock off TWO MASKS from anything that hits you!? Even just touching it while it’s knocked out will even shave off two masks! Also they are very hefty HP sponges and they all literally become high endurance tests. Recently Team Cherry released an early update that lessened the difficulty of just two early story bosses yet will definitely say the next major ones after those will push you to your limits and will just get harder and harder as you progress the story. Honestly I don’t believe TC will be changing much of these battles because this is what they wanted to do for the game but it sucks to play something that is hard for the sake of being hard, plus I’m about to be a 47 year old man and I really don’t have the time and patience to “GIT GUD!”
- I’m sure you defeated that big green wasp mini boss at the start of the story on your first try but how about attempting to defeat two at once and within a room that is twice as small as before!? (and thank friggin’ G it’s completely optional).
- The tall warrior that sells the maps and map tools (sorry, forgot his name) tends to disappear if you completely leave to a new area after you talk to him just once. One time I finally defeated a very tough arena mob fight within an area I do not have a map of yet and then when I found him I had zippity-do-dah in rosaries and had to go back and farm for some, then when I came back an enemy replaced him and now I had to find him within a brand new area in order to get the map of the previous area! Hoping TC will make a game change that the warrior will only move once you have bought all maps from him but anything else is optional.
Overall, I still love to applaud toward the small but highly mighty team of Cherry in making such a beautiful, grand and epic adventure even though it may cause throwing your controller at the wall. While it’s bosses, and mob fights, can and will be rage inducing just exploring these vast new environments is an absolute treat and love combing every nook and cranny to find what is hidden within and of course get those extremely helpful upgrades to make my trek a tad less difficult. Although even as is I still like to have TC work out much of the negative feedback from it’s players and give the game better changes to make it at least a bit more fair on it’s fan-base, like really lessening that boss damage, maybe give it another four months and hopefully we will get an experience well surpassing the original. Playing it right now I will only recommend it for gamers that have fully finished the original and if it’s been a long while since then it’s best advised to go through the old game once again! The game is literally out on EVERYTHING for modern gaming, except iOS and Android, and even in this economy it’s a shocking surprise that this game only costs $20, and if you haven’t played the original then SHAME ON YOU and DO IT!!
Usually now-a-days I only write game impressions that are for Japanese-made titles, as well as ones for us anime fans of course, but being that this for the long-awaited follow-up to one of my all-time favorite indie “metroidvanias”, even sitting within my personal top 20 video games of all time, I just had to do my initial impressions of it. Now, to get this out of the way first: Do you need to play the older “Hollow Knight” in order to get into “Silksong”? The honest answer is “yes”, but it’s really not fully mandatory due to they are completely separate stories even through SS takes place before the events of HK (and if you have finished the main story then you will definitely know that). The biggest reason I stated yes first is I more or less consider HK as the “tutorial” to get into SS and believe me, as much of the players are stating, this newer game will greatly challenge you and having a better grasp on HK’s moves and mechanics will heavily better prepare you on what’s to come in SS, even though I more or less think Team Cherry should make some difficulty tweaks to. In a sense think HK as the original “Devil May Cry” and SS as “Devil May Cry 3”, which is also a prequel, you technically don’t have to play either previous games (and why even bother with DMC2) to get into DMC3 but if that is your first entry into the hardcore action slasher series then you are NOT going to have a fun time because you haven’t gotten used to the in’s and out’s of the original, that is unless the developers put in an easier mode for new players which didn’t happen until they released a special edition of it. Now for these impressions I’m going to list down all of the positive, neutral and negative aspects that I have experienced after playing just a bit above 15 hours of gameplay, so let’s get to it:
* Positives *
- Artist Ari Gibson is a masterclass in making highly remember-able environments that really pop-out and wow you and his work on SS is absolutely no exception and this time they even gave it’s detailed and artistic environments much more depth and clarity and highly love it’s more 3D-like backdrops. I’m also playing this on the PlayStation 5 and the game always runs at a very smooth 60 FPS throughout all my time with it and hearing if you have a PS5 Pro, and if your TV supports it, you can play it at 120 FPS. Also confirmed the Switch 2 version will even play at 120 FPS in it’s hand-held mode!
- The game is supposed to take most players roughly 40 to 50 hours to get the first story ending, and many, many more to 100% it, and how they were able to compress that big of a game into just down to less than 3 gigs on the PS5 is beyond understanding, compared to 10 gigs for HK on PS4.
- New to this game are the various tools and crests you find and earn. The first are pretty much extra weapons to use with limited ammo that use up “shards” that drop from practically all normal enemies which you do not loose upon death. My favorite ones in my play-though were the daggers and the blade traps which both you will get very early on and will be even more damaging with certain charms equipped, like I found one that causes poison damage with both of them, and you can equip up to two with unlock-able upgrades. The crests you will get, which so far are within “chapels” and guarded by an enemy arena, actually will completely change Hornet’s move-set. When you first start the game you do not have a direct downward slash and you aim in a downward angle but once you get the “reaper” crest then your down attack turns into a wide downward arc and you can easily “Pogo” off enemies and some environment hangings for higher traversal. There’s also the “wanderer” crest that will change your moves to one that mostly match the ones from HK. Personally my fav so far is the “reaper” because of that wide down slash but also, even though it’s attacks are slower, you gain more “silk” from your strikes for healing and when you heal you glow for a short time and every attack during that will create a white orb which will heal up your silk meter a little more on pickup. There’s another crest called “beast” where your attacks are more like craw slashes and whenever you heal you have to attack enemies to get back your health but your attacks are stronger and have greater range although I think I’ll stick with the “reaper”.
- Death is less punishing where you do not have to kill off a dark spirit of yourself, instead you will leave a silk cocoon near where you last died and just hitting it once will gain you a full silk spool and all of your held rosary beads which is the main game’s currency. Also this can be used as a good tactic during arena and boss battles to leave aside until you need to heal and then slash it to get most of your silk back, just please try to not accidentally hit it.
- In HK technically there is no way on “banking” your currency, well, actually there was one way but that turned out to be a giant scam. In SS there is a method and with a pretty light cost: at some vendors as well as at certain machines in areas you can turn 80 beads into a 60 bead string item that will never leave your inventory upon death, yet later on you can turn 140 beads into a 120 bead string which is honestly a slightly better deal. That’s like converting runes in Elden Ring into those golden coins you occasionally pick up. Also it’s highly advised to have several of these always on hand in case you come across either a save point or fast travel area to unlock or you find the warrior that will sell you helpful area maps.
- Traversal is made much easier from the get-go as Hornet can vault up ledges if she can grasp them but shortly after the start you’ll get access to both a jump/leap dodge and an extremely helpful dash/run move which I really wished the older HK implemented (the jet dash move in HK was neat but only works in certain areas). Even wall climbing can be earned early on too although you’ll have to deal with pretty tough boss fight if you are not fully prepared for it.
- The world seems less linear than before and noticed a whole lot more branching paths to take and also shocked on how much secrets there are to find, even within the early areas. Also heard there are multiple ways in order to reach the higher Citadel but I’m very sure each one is not easy, I definitely know the one toward the upper left isn’t.
- A nice change is Hornet is not just another badass but silent protagonist and will converse with much of the friendly characters and is definitely an intelligent talker.
- Sherma is a world-wide treasure and must be protected AT ALL COSTS!
* Neutrals *
- Honestly, I have a love and hate relationship with SS’s healing mechanics. In HK once you have enough “bug juice” (I guess) you hold down the heal button shortly and fill up just one mask and can do this about 3 to 4 times before needing to attack more enemies. Here with a simple press of the heal button Hornet will go into an unstoppable animation for about three seconds and will use up one full silk spool without upgrades, this even happens if you only need to heal just one health mask! Yet the kicker is Hornet’s can heal up to 3 masks at a time at first and she can even do it while in midair! Yet if you get attacked during this healing animation you won’t heal anything and you will also loose that needed silk to heal again! Wouldn’t you be pissed if you started drinking an estus flask in Dark Souls and then a baddie whacks you during the heal sequence and now you have no juice to heal again!? It’s kind of a risk vs. reward mechanic although it’s a whole lot tougher to deal within closed arena and boss fights. Also damn sucks to press it accidentally and then waste that much needed silk. Yet what I’m hoping Team Cherry will change with a future update is once again make you HOLD DOWN the heal button to get more health so if you accidentally press it you will cancel out of it, also hoping it will only waste a full spool if you heal three masks where if you just heal one you will have a bunch silk left over for next time.
- I know this is how it was like in HK but it’s still kind of a bummer that you have to purchase each area map in order to draw out the areas you have traveled in, why can’t Hornet just draw on blank maps as you travel around new areas and when you buy those maps it may clue you in on some secrets or paths you may have missed?
- Fetch quests? More like meh’ quests. At least do the ones that do not only give you rosaries for helpful upgrades.
* Negatives *
- I know this has been addressed by many reviewers and the social media but the game is just damn freaking hard! Now, I will admit, even HK was no stroll in the park for sure but I really more thought that game was much more fair in difficulty and when you die then you can easier learn from your mistakes. In SS they really want you to be on your tippy toes at all times during the major boss fights and you have to pay attention to everything around you and the patterns those foes give off. Plus why for the LOG why (it’s big, heavy, it’s wood!) do practically all big baddies knock off TWO MASKS from anything that hits you!? Even just touching it while it’s knocked out will even shave off two masks! Also they are very hefty HP sponges and they all literally become high endurance tests. Recently Team Cherry released an early update that lessened the difficulty of just two early story bosses yet will definitely say the next major ones after those will push you to your limits and will just get harder and harder as you progress the story. Honestly I don’t believe TC will be changing much of these battles because this is what they wanted to do for the game but it sucks to play something that is hard for the sake of being hard, plus I’m about to be a 47 year old man and I really don’t have the time and patience to “GIT GUD!”
- I’m sure you defeated that big green wasp mini boss at the start of the story on your first try but how about attempting to defeat two at once and within a room that is twice as small as before!? (and thank friggin’ G it’s completely optional).
- The tall warrior that sells the maps and map tools (sorry, forgot his name) tends to disappear if you completely leave to a new area after you talk to him just once. One time I finally defeated a very tough arena mob fight within an area I do not have a map of yet and then when I found him I had zippity-do-dah in rosaries and had to go back and farm for some, then when I came back an enemy replaced him and now I had to find him within a brand new area in order to get the map of the previous area! Hoping TC will make a game change that the warrior will only move once you have bought all maps from him but anything else is optional.
Overall, I still love to applaud toward the small but highly mighty team of Cherry in making such a beautiful, grand and epic adventure even though it may cause throwing your controller at the wall. While it’s bosses, and mob fights, can and will be rage inducing just exploring these vast new environments is an absolute treat and love combing every nook and cranny to find what is hidden within and of course get those extremely helpful upgrades to make my trek a tad less difficult. Although even as is I still like to have TC work out much of the negative feedback from it’s players and give the game better changes to make it at least a bit more fair on it’s fan-base, like really lessening that boss damage, maybe give it another four months and hopefully we will get an experience well surpassing the original. Playing it right now I will only recommend it for gamers that have fully finished the original and if it’s been a long while since then it’s best advised to go through the old game once again! The game is literally out on EVERYTHING for modern gaming, except iOS and Android, and even in this economy it’s a shocking surprise that this game only costs $20, and if you haven’t played the original then SHAME ON YOU and DO IT!!
Posted by
GodHandGuts
| Sep 18, 8:23 PM |
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