Hollow Knight: Silksong

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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Review:

When developer Team Cherry announced in 2019 that 2017’s Hollow Knight would be getting a successor, fans were absolutely on the edge of their seats to get their hands on the game. And they would continue to be on the edge of their seats for the next six years. Silksong was originally envisioned as an expansion to Hollow Knight, then a spin-off, and by this point I think it’s fair to call the game a full-fledged sequel, as scope creep grew the game to be something in some ways arguably more ambitious than its predecessor, albeit in other ways less.

Well, the wait is over, and everyone can put away the Silksong clown makeup (yes, the wait for this game became so memetic that said meme even has a name). The game finally saw release in 2025 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. So now everyone needs to ask themselves, is the wait worth it?

That’s kinda’ a tricky question to ask me personally, because I happen to be in the minority who felt that the original Hollow Knight was overrated. A very good game, to be sure, but punishingly difficult in a way that I felt limited its playability, and I felt that there were numerous other Metroidvanias on Nintendo Switch more deserving of the praise that Hollow Knight got. So be sure to head into this review with that in mind.

Silksong follows the character of Hornet, a major secondary character from the original Hollow Knight who in this game has found herself captured and forcibly taken to the land of Pharloom. Finding herself freed through a stroke of luck but greatly weakened by her confinement, Hornet heads out to explore Pharloom, both to regain her lost power and also to get answers about why she was kidnapped and brought here in the first place.

One thing many players loved about Hollow Knight was its “lived in” world, steeped in personality and full to the brim with lore, and Pharloom and its anthropomorphic bug populace seems just as strong in this area. From some sort of corrupting influence turning otherwise peaceful bugs feral and hostile, to a pilgrimage to a summit that many bugs are undertaking for reasons that aren’t exactly clear but seems either religious or cult-like in nature, this is a place that clearly has an interesting story to tell.

Once again, the presentation here is absolutely lovely, with wonderfully-animated hand-drawn 2D visuals with a palette that is at times lush and at times somber, and with this game using numerous planes to add depth of field to these environs, and in some areas with fields of objects jostling around in the foreground and background. This definitely feels like a step up from Hollow Knight while still remaining faithful to that game’s art style.

This is joined by some outstanding sound design that has sound effects echoing through the caves you’re exploring until you can find their source, including the nonsense-speak and singing of various friendly (and at times unfriendly) characters. This is joined by a lovely somber instrumental soundtrack with some really beautiful tunes enhancing the lonely beauty of the places you explore, as well as delightfully intense themes for tougher battles, with these themes including Silksong, Moss Grotto, Fourth Chorus, Lost Lace, High Halls, Choral Chambers, The Choir, Songclave, Skarrsinger Karmelita, Bilewater, Awakening, Lost Verdania… this soundtrack is absolutely magnificent.

When it comes to the gameplay, some things have changed while other things are much the same. As far as new stuff is concerned, the first and most obvious is that Hornet’s move set is more acrobatic, with a down-attack diagonal dive that makes for more interesting and fun combat, but quickly becomes vital for the game’s platforming.

Another major change is that Hollow Knight’s revolutionary upgrade system has been replaced with a slot system where different types of upgrades fit in specific slots, but you can only have one of that type in at a time. I’ve gotta’ be honest, I preferred the way Hollow Knight did it.

In addition, the one currency you collected in the original game has become two types of currency here used for different purchases, though thankfully neither require nearly as much farming as Hollow Knight required. There’s also a new quest system, which is fine, but I can’t say it felt quite as revolutionary as the creators seemed to have hoped for.

As for what’s the same… well, just about everything that I disliked about the first game. The difficulty is overly-hard and unforgiving, now both for combat and for platforming. In one early area, to get to a tough boss fight from the nearest save point, I had to travel through a long stretch of extremely hazardous terrain filled with tough enemies and precision jumps… and because this is one of those games where you need to get back to where you died if you want to get back your stuff, I had to do that over and over and over again or lose a huge portion of what I’d collected, rather than just leave that fight for later after I’d explored some more. Oh, and after I finally beat that tough boss fight? I still had to wander around some more looking for the next save point.

Metroidvania exploration is dependent on a lot of one-way doors and passageways that need to be opened from one side, rather than terrain naturally gated off by abilities you haven’t gotten yet. New abilities were encountered every once in a while, but the hidden secrets I came across were just currency caches or quest goals (usually also to earn currency), which wasn’t especially exciting.

Also like Hollow Knight, Silksong is still extremely stingy with maps, making you first buy a map in each area from an NPC you need to find, as well as buying the ability to map new areas you visit, as well as buying the ability to see your location, as well as buying the ability for the map to save the locations of important points of interest… and even after you buy all the upgrades to create the same sort of functional map you get for free in most other games in the genre, it won’t update until you make it to a save point.

I say all of this because it’s important to understand that when I say “the game is tough and that made me like it less”, this isn’t just a matter of “git gud”, it’s a matter of deliberate design choices this game makes that make the game more frustrating or less rewarding, or both.

And yet despite all of those frustrations and complaints… yeah, this is still a pretty great Metroidvania, just like Hollow Knight was. Not one I would name as one of the best Metroidvania games of all-time, and it may not even be my favorite Metroidvania this year. Sorry, but it still has many of the problems of the first game, and in at least one area (the upgrade system), I actually think Silksong is a bit worse. However, even with that being the case, that doesn’t change that this is a must-have Metroidvania that any fan of the genre should consider a must-have unless they avoid particularly tough games in the genre.

tl;dr – Hollow Knight: Silksong is the long-awaited sequel to the original Hollow Knight, and it is a fine successor, with an absolutely beautiful presentation and a fascinating new world to explore. Unfortunately, it still has many of the problems the first game had, including a punishing difficulty level and frustrating design choices. Still, even with these issues, this is a game not to be missed for any fan in the genre who isn’t opposed to a challenge.

Grade: A-

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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Hollow Knight: Silksong – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1

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Review:

When the Nintendo Switch 2 was given its full unveil, Hollow Knight: Silksong was right there… nestled in a sizzle reel. An odd choice for one of the most hotly-anticipated games on the platform, but nevertheless another welcome addition to the Nintendo Switch 2’s upcoming game library. That said, we didn’t really know much about this version of the game until just before it launched later in 2025.

Well, now we have a fuller picture. Hollow Knight: Silksong has a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition with graphics and performance enhancements, and those who own the Nintendo Switch version of the game can upgrade for free using a free Upgrade Pack. That means if you’re looking for the ideal way to get this game on Nintendo platforms, you should get the Nintendo Switch version of the game and then get the free Upgrade Pack, which ensures you’ll be able to play the best version of the game on both platforms.

To my knowledge, this upgrade doesn’t include any content, it’s just graphics and performance, but trust me when I say that is plenty. The Nintendo Switch version of the game runs at 720p resolution with a 60FPS framerate both in docked and handheld mode, which I can assure you is absolutely fine. However, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrades docked mode performance to 4K resolution while maintaining the 60FPS framerate, resulting in a much smoother, cleaner look.

But that’s not all – this version also includes in the settings an optional 120Hz mode. This mode drops the resolution down to 1080p (still better than the Nintendo Switch version), but raises the framerate to 120FPS, and this works in handheld mode too, also running at 1080p 120FPS. This makes Hollow Knight: Silksong, to my knowledge, the first Nintendo Switch 2 game that can run completely in 120FPS.

Personally, I was worried I might not see the difference. Despite the framerates being doubled, the difference between 60FPS and 120FPS is nowhere near as dramatic as the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS. But despite my reservations, I definitely saw a difference, especially when it came to the scrolling backgrounds, which look much smoother in this mode.

That’s just the most advertised upgrade, too. I noticed significant improvements to the loading times as well. The Nintendo Switch version loads to the opening logos in 12 seconds, and loads a save file in 13 seconds. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times are cut down to 4 and 7.

In other words, Hollow Knight: Silksong absolutely looks better, runs more smoothly, and loads faster on Nintendo Switch 2, and all it costs to upgrade from the Nintendo Switch version of the game is… nothing. And while this doesn’t ultimately affect my grade for the game because the issues I have with Silksong are still present here, make no mistake – this is absolutely an improvement over the version of the game on the original Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Hollow Knight: Silksong is the long-awaited sequel to the original Hollow Knight, and it is a fine successor, with an absolutely beautiful presentation and a fascinating new world to explore. Unfortunately, it still has many of the problems the first game had, including a punishing difficulty level and frustrating design choices. Still, even with these issues, this is a game not to be missed for any fan in the genre who isn’t opposed to a challenge.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2025 Game Awards:

Winner:

Best Music (Christopher Larkin) – Silksong’s quiet, somber soundtrack with harp, piano, and violin, and its powerful, stirring choral melodies for major battles makes everything about this game seem so epic. It makes it easy to forget it’s a game about cartoony anthropomorphic bugs, and make it truly feel like something far more. I don’t think any other game was as well-served by its soundtrack in 2025 as Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Best Sound Design – The sound design in this game is so insanely good. You have obvious stuff like the way your walk sounds different on different materials, the way distant sounds echo through the halls and caves you walk through, the great crunchy and whooshy combat sounds, but even the way you can hear the air moving in a location seems to tell you something about that place. It all combines to make this game’s world seem like a very real place, even as it’s depicting anthropomorphic bugs in a simple hand-drawn art style.

Best Graphical Style – Like the original Hollow Knight, Silksong has fairly simple-looking cartoony characters, but they are gorgeously-animated, and the world they move through is impeccably detailed with lots of little environmental interactions, and an overall incredible design that makes this dark place exude a quiet, sad, dangerous beauty. Silksong was absolutely a feast for the eyes, surpassing even its predecessor.

Runner-Up: Best Metroidvania, Best Value

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