Hollow Knight: Silksong Speedruns: Records Shattered in Under 90 Mins
Last Updated: October 14, 2025

Just days after its highly anticipated global launch on September 4, 2025, Hollow Knight: Silksong has already fallen to the incredible might of the speedrunning community. While countless players worldwide are still grappling with the game's intricate mechanics and challenging bosses, dedicated speedrunners have achieved seemingly impossible feats, completing the game in under 90 minutes. This astonishing accomplishment highlights both the game's complex design and the unparalleled skill and dedication of its burgeoning speedrunning scene.
The current record-breaking runs demonstrate a profound mastery of game mechanics, exploiting glitches and shortcuts to shave precious seconds off their times. Available day one on Xbox Game Pass and also launched on Steam, Silksong quickly captivated players with its challenging yet rewarding gameplay loop, sparking numerous online discussions regarding its difficulty. Yet, even as many players are still navigating the game's intricate world, a dedicated community has already pushed the boundaries of what's thought possible.
Speedrunning Silksong: A Testament to Skill and Strategy
These rapid completions aren't simply a matter of brute force; they represent a deep understanding of Silksong's mechanics, enemy patterns, and meticulously crafted level design. Speedrunners have quickly identified and exploited glitches, discovered optimal shortcuts, and mastered advanced movement techniques to achieve these incredible times. This requires countless hours of practice, meticulous planning, and a keen eye for detail. Each second shaved off the clock is a testament to their skill and relentless dedication.
The Difficulty Debate: Perception vs. Reality
The stark contrast between these lightning-fast speedrunning achievements and the struggles of many casual players highlights an interesting aspect of game difficulty. While Silksong undoubtedly presents a significant challenge to newcomers, the speedruns demonstrate that a deep mastery of the game's systems can drastically reduce the perceived difficulty. The speedrunners' accomplishments don't diminish the overall challenge; rather, they showcase the profound depth and complexity embedded within the game's systems.
Strategies Employed by Speedrunners
Speedrunners utilize a sophisticated variety of strategies, including but not limited to:
- precise movement techniques to avoid damage
- exploiting specific enemy AI patterns for quick traversal
- utilizing glitches to bypass entire sections of the game
- mastering the exact timing of abilities and attacks
Specific routes and techniques are constantly being refined and improved upon by the community, leading to ever-decreasing completion times. The collaborative nature of speedrunning allows for the rapid dissemination of knowledge and the development of increasingly efficient and daring strategies.
The Impact on Game Perception
The speedrun community's achievements significantly influence the overall perception of Hollow Knight: Silksong's difficulty. While the game remains undeniably challenging for the average player, the existence of sub-90-minute runs provides a different perspective. It highlights the vast potential for mastery and demonstrates that with sufficient skill and dedication, even the most challenging games can be conquered in surprisingly short amounts of time. This serves as both inspiration for aspiring players and a powerful testament to the game's intricate yet profoundly rewarding mechanics.
The Future of Silksong Speedrunning
The speedrunning community for Hollow Knight: Silksong is still in its early, vibrant stages, with new strategies and optimal routes constantly being discovered. As more players delve into the game's depths and share their findings, the potential for even faster completion times is almost limitless. The ongoing competition and collaboration within the speedrunning community will continue to push the boundaries of what's possible, ensuring that Hollow Knight: Silksong's speedrunning scene remains dynamic and engaging for years to come. The pursuit of perfection and the relentless quest for faster times will undoubtedly lead to further surprises and record-breaking achievements, cementing Silksong's place as a premier title in the speedrunning pantheon.