Hollow Knight: Silksong Difficulty: Team Cherry's Balancing Act

Last Updated: October 20, 2025

Team Cherry’s long-awaited sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, has finally arrived, and with it, a firestorm of community discussion. While praise for its stunning art, deep lore, and intricate world is nearly universal, one topic dominates the conversation: its formidable difficulty. Before release, the developers spoke of balancing the game's challenge with unprecedented player freedom. Now that players are exploring the kingdom of Pharloom, we can see how that philosophy has been put to the ultimate test. This is a deep dive into the design choices behind Silksong's difficulty and whether its promised freedom truly mitigates the game's punishing nature.

The Developer's Promise: Challenge Tempered by Choice

Leading up to launch, Team Cherry acknowledged that Silksong would feature moments of steep, demanding difficulty, fully in line with the reputation of its predecessor. However, they consistently emphasized that the sequel was being built with a higher level of player freedom to counterbalance these challenging sections. The core design goal was to prevent players from feeling "stonewalled"—the frustrating experience of being completely stuck with no way to progress.

The proposed solution was a more expansive and less linear world. By providing numerous branching paths, optional areas, and secrets to uncover, players who hit a wall against a particularly tough boss or platforming sequence could, in theory, simply go somewhere else. This would allow them to explore, gather new tools and abilities, and return later, better equipped and more skilled for the challenge. This design philosophy prioritized player agency, empowering them to choose their own path and tailor their journey through Pharloom.

The Reality of Pharloom: Hornet's Aggressive Grace

In practice, Silksong's difficulty is every bit as intense as advertised, if not more so. The enemies are faster, more numerous, and feature more complex attack patterns. The bosses are spectacular, multi-phase encounters that demand near-perfect execution. This heightened challenge is intrinsically linked to the new protagonist, Hornet.

Unlike the stoic Knight, Hornet is a fast, acrobatic warrior. Her gameplay is built around fluid movement, aerial combat, and aggressive offense. Her healing mechanic is a prime example of this design shift. Instead of pausing to Focus Soul, Hornet uses a full spool of Silk to Bind and instantly recover three masks of health. It’s a rapid, clutch-save maneuver that can be used mid-combat, but it consumes all her resources, forcing a more deliberate and high-stakes approach to survival. This change fundamentally alters the rhythm of gameplay, pushing players to be proactive and aggressive rather than patient and reactive.

Freedom vs. The Roadblock: The Heart of the Debate

The central question for many players is whether the promised freedom effectively balances the brutal difficulty. The community is currently locked in a familiar debate, echoing the "Git Gud" discourse common to Soulslike games. While Pharloom is undeniably vast and filled with alternate routes, many critical-path bosses remain immovable roadblocks. The ability to explore another corridor offers little comfort when the main story's gatekeeper is defeating you for the twentieth time.

Player discussions are filled with arguments about punishing boss runbacks and whether the game respects the player's time. For veterans of the genre, this is the rewarding loop they crave: learning, adapting, and finally achieving a hard-won victory. For others, it can feel like a frustrating impediment. Team Cherry’s design choices successfully prevent players from being stuck in a single, tiny area, but they have not eliminated the feeling of being halted by a towering skill check. The freedom is in choosing which challenge to face, but the necessity of overcoming them remains absolute.

Ultimately, Hollow Knight: Silksong delivers a challenging and deeply rewarding experience that builds upon its predecessor's foundation in every way. The difficulty is an intentional and integral part of its design, meant to test player skill and resolve. The added freedom provides more avenues for exploration and empowers players with a greater sense of control over their journey. However, the effectiveness of this balancing act has proven to be subjective, sparking one of the most significant gaming debates of the year. Team Cherry has created a game that is both demanding and fulfilling, ensuring that the triumphant feeling of conquering Pharloom's obstacles is an accomplishment truly earned.