Is Silksong „cruel” and „artificially difficult”? Devs respond to fans’ accusations

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The team behind Hollow Knight: Silksong acknowledges the new game is more challenging than the original, but they explain there’s a deliberate reason for the increased difficulty.

The launch of *Silksong*, the second game from Australian studio Team Cherry, has been a big win, though it’s proven challenging for some players. Aside from issues with the Chinese translation and a lack of explanation for those unfamiliar with the ‘metroidvania’ genre, *Silksong* is noticeably more difficult than the original *Hollow Knight*.

It’s common for players to debate whether *HKS* is truly unfair, too hard, or even cruel, as some suggest. While everyone agrees the game is challenging, discussions about *Silksong*’s difficulty are still popping up online, even two weeks after its release.

Quick and deadly Hornet

Team Cherry developers Ari Gibson and William Pellen directly responded to concerns by attending the Game Worlds exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), as reported by Dexerto and IGN.

The developers of *Silksong* have said the game is more intricate than *Hollow Knight*, partly to give players more options and control over their experience. This means if a challenge feels too hard, you can always explore elsewhere, learn new skills, or simply come back to it later. As one developer explained, players can adjust the difficulty by choosing how and where they play.

What’s really important to us is giving players the freedom to explore however they like. Some might stick closely to the main story, while others can wander off and discover hidden content and alternative paths.

Silksong can be quite challenging at times, but the game gives you a lot of freedom to explore and decide how to progress. It’s okay if players find certain parts difficult – they can overcome these challenges by exploring the world, learning enemy patterns, or even finding ways around them altogether, instead of hitting a dead end.

Enemies at your level

Developers explained that the new game is more challenging than the original. Hornet is quicker and more agile than the Knight from *Hollow Knight*, and she also has access to abilities and tools that the Knight never had.

Because of this, even the simplest enemies needed to be a bit more challenging and complex. According to Pellen, they actually built one basic enemy around the boss fight with Hornet from the original *Hollow Knight*. The team faced a choice: they could have made Hornet easier, or they could have made all the other enemies stronger to be as difficult as she was.

Okay, so here’s the deal with healing in this game. It’s a little different. You can’t heal for just a tiny bit of health – you always use a full silk bar and it restores three HP. But honestly, that’s not a bad thing! It means you can top up *really* fast, and the best part? You can even heal while you’re in mid-air, which is a lifesaver when things get hectic. It keeps you safer overall.

Tools of destruction

Healing improvements have already made the game significantly easier, and the addition of tools is a major benefit. Unlike the first game, Silksong features tools that allow players to attack from a distance, quickly eliminate weaker enemies during boss battles, and inflict substantial damage in a short time.

And honestly, there’s this one upgrade that’s *so* powerful, it almost turns the game into easy mode – and it does it in two different ways! It’s gotten to the point where some players have actually stopped using tools altogether, because they think it makes the game too easy. As a fan, it’s a bit strange to see!

It’s interesting that the game’s tools might be contributing to the feeling that *Silksong* is more difficult than expected. This could be because players aren’t used to them – the original *Hollow Knight* didn’t have these – and many people, including myself at first, don’t use them often, if at all.

It’s important to remember that *Silksong* initially started as a paid expansion for *Hollow Knight*. This suggests the game was designed for players who had already finished the original, so making it too easy wouldn’t appeal to them. This idea is supported by the fact that the opening area of *Silksong* was added later in development; the developers wanted to provide a gentler, more accessible beginning (according to Games Radar).

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2025-09-22 11:03