Hollow Knight: Silksong

If i could give this game a neutral rating i would, but sadly my opinion is skewed more on the negative side (though temperarely, in which ill change the review to positive if the dlcs outweigh my current opinion). I've thought long and hard about SS since I've had very mixed feeling about it, I've waited the actual 6 years for this game (unlike most people who just wanted to trend hop, larp about being a fan of the games despite never playing the first one, and drop SS after getting to the second boss because its "too hard", then glaze the game like the second coming of Christ just cuz a streamer they watched played it, instead of you know, playing the game for themselves). I remember when SS was first announced, being extremely hyped for it and awaiting every major event they could announce any info about it, and attending different live streams just to catch a *glimpse* of new footage. It was to the point I've had *dreams* of playing SS and meeting the devs at a con, I was that much of a schizo about this game. hell, even watching Daily Silksong news since it's inception every day, I was one of his first viewers. TC has inspired me to create my own stories too, I cannot write into words how much i love anything TC makes, and excited I was when this game released, and how devoted I about the series in general. HK has been my favorite game, and still is ever since i got to City of tears. I was there before the major boom in popularity this game had as well, which if you knew me personally you would instantly be able to tell that, with my feats in the first game (which ill mention later), the amount of merch I have (3 plushes, 4 copies + collectors ed. bought of HK, 2 vinyls, 9 pins, 6 keychains, 1 book, 2 hoodies, 2 shirts) and just general knowledge Ive had about the game before the wiki was really ever a thing (the first song i ever learned on piano WAS the HK theme, I feel like I love HK more then most people, and modern SS fans ever could. My entire personality *was* influenced around HK for years, as well as A LOT of other things, though back to the review). With that out of the way and you know my extremely positive view of team cherry and HK (so you understand why I'm conflicted and feel bad in even writing this review) lets get into it. SIlksong is at it's best, a worser version of HK. Which feels like a complete insult to really vocalize, since I want to give the team as much praise as they can possibly get. First I'll start out with the bosses, they feel very watered down, not fleshed out at all and most can be beaten very easily unlike the first game where you could spend actual hours trying to get past their first phase. With SS I just had no real issue getting through the game anywhere, even biome wise (deep docks and bilewater was a cake walk). Second was the story, I really enjoyed what HK did with telling it's lore through the atmosphere and indirectly telling you information (the devs themselves even said there was no lore iirc back in the day, despite there clearly being a story), while with SS they just blatantly tell you everything that happens. IMO it should be show, don't tell, as thats what makes *good* story writing and gets you invested in the story, which i wasn't at all, i felt the same to the characters in SS too, which is what made HK so good as you got attached to any peaceful npc you saw. Third, this game's charm system is a more simplified version of the first game, which kinda ruined the fun of testing new charms/items. After getting wanderer's crest I felt no real need to change any of my loadout at all, most things just died extremely easily with a few simple dodges. Fourth, we have the bosses/enemy's moveset. I'm not sure if its just because of my skill in HK transferring over (I beat anyrad 1.0 back in the day/did P5 Hitless/used to speedrun, all for my own personal interest and not even for clout, purely because I loved HK so fking much and just wanted to consume more content even if it was modden or insanely challenging to try), but most, if not all the enemies in SS we're *extremely* easy to avoid and predict, only a few things actually challenged me (Groal, Karmelita, Gargant Gloom) but only for a few tries, I died *minimally* in this game, probably less then 10, while in HK it was in the hundreds which *was* why HK was so fun. I expected SS to actually be a challenge, but it fell short on even that. Next we had the music, I absolutely loved the first game's OST, been listening to it ever since i first played the game back in 2018 (different platform btw, which is why my hours are low on steam, its roughly 1.5k hours on other platforms), but silksongs... Just don't hit at all with the exception of cogwork core and Karmelita, I can recall a total of 0 other songs in SS that actual stuck with me. Which fking sucks since i love Christopher Larken's work, and it feels insulting to say I cant even remember any music in Silksong. I can recall almost all the songs in HK with just a few notes, thats how different the two games are to me. Fifth, baiting og fans with the shade lord only to do jacksh*t with it, felt really scummy. that was the only time in the game where I actually pogged and pointed at my screen, but it was so short lived. sixith, act 3 was so underwhelming, don't get me wrong I love the void, its my favorite lore aspect of the first game, but this game's rendition of it wasn't all that good, let alone act 3's final boss wasn't the best either. It didnt have that same impact and weight seeing radiance appear and fighting her for the first time did. rather LL just felt like a chore to get out of the way and get an achievement out of. Also why did the devs *have* to nerf the already very easy intro bosses, just make it a toggle so not *everyone* is affected. Also I forgot to mention that most of the enemies are damage sponges, that doesnt make something *hard*, it makes it annoying. personally I think if most bosses went to x3 or even x4 damage instead of x2 damage, my opinion would be different in a lot of places and that would actually be pretty fun. This game did have some pluses though, the way you "unlock" your save again after act 2 was amazing to behold, the platforming sections (not the difficulty) were stellar. the art was phenomenal, Verdania being my favorite biome and Red memory was my favorite part in the entire game, but thats because it tied into the original game's lore. There were other things as well that TC did very well. I just really hope they cook with the dlcs, I want my negative opinion in this game to change, i want to love silksong like i do with hollow knight but i just cant. Im not hating on SS *just* to hate on it, im giving criticism *because* its just so close to being perfect, but falls flat in a lot of areas i just cannot overlook. All in all, this game is a solid 9 for most other players but for me, its at most a 7/10. (for reference I gave HK a 10/10), I *want* to like silksong but i guess my exceptions were too high for it, in almost every way it disappointed me, from the easiness of the bosses, to the music, to even the lore, though I suppose you cannot catch lightening in a bottle twice like TC did with HK, which fking sucks to even think that way. If the pros outweigh the cons in a future update and my disappointment changes into amazement, ill gladly change it to a positive review, but for now, ill await the dlc so it can hopefully change my mind one day. Keep it up TC, even despite my opinion on SS, you left such a lasting impression on me with HK in feelings i cannot even put into words. Even though currently I am disappointed in the current state of silksong, thank you team cherry for making it, and for bringing a light into my life with HK all those years ago. Please continue to make even more stuff, I'll gladly stick around for any other adventures you may make.