There’s No Hurry To Finish Hollow Knight: Silksong (Or Any Game) Right Away

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On September 4th, I was excited, like many other Hollow Knight fans, to check every online store for the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong. The stores initially crashed due to high demand, but I was eventually able to download and start playing Silksong on my Nintendo Switch 2.

I’ve barely touched the game since.

It’s been over three weeks since the game came out, and I’m falling behind my friends. They’ve already finished it, and their discussions about the game on Discord are full of spoilers I’m trying to avoid. I’m still pretty early in the game – I just beat the Bell Beast, which is one of the first major bosses.

I often buy new video games, but I usually only play them for a short time before losing interest. I’ve wondered for a while why this happens, and I finally figured it out with Silksong: I’m actually afraid to start playing it.

It’s not the monsters or creepy visuals in Hollow Knight that bother me-the game isn’t really scary. What I *am* afraid of is getting lost. I worry about the unknown as I explore the confusing areas like Pharloom, and the difficulty of choosing the right path. Mostly, I’m anxious about running out of safe places to rest, because the further I go, the more likely I am to die and lose all my progress.

I often find myself getting strangely anxious when playing metroidvania games. Even when I *think* I’ve hit a dead end, I’ll sometimes give up playing for a while, which is odd because it’s actually one of my favorite genres! Games like Ori and the Blind Forest and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown are fantastic because they offer huge, beautifully crafted worlds to explore. There’s a special feeling of accomplishment when you get a new ability that lets you access previously unreachable areas, or discover a shortcut that makes getting around much easier. I even enjoy revisiting old areas with my new skills – it’s rewarding to see familiar places from a fresh perspective and use cool new movement abilities.

Okay, so my brain is a little… particular. I need to take things at my own pace, or I get really anxious. And honestly, the Hollow Knight games are the *worst* for this! They’re huge, and just figuring out where to go feels like a ton of work. You’ve got to collect stuff, upgrade things, and basically build your map piece by piece, and it’s just… a lot. It’s amazing, but it really stresses me out if I try to rush it.

Despite everything, I’m still eager to fully explore Pharloom, carefully map out every detail, and experience all it has to offer. I’ve become a more patient gamer, preferring to observe what others discover and share before diving in myself, and I’m perfectly happy with that approach.

A group of gamers calls themselves “patient gamers” – they deliberately wait a year or more before playing new, popular games. I’m not one of them, but I appreciate their approach. Waiting allows developers to fix problems, improve gameplay, and add extra content – we’ve already seen this with *Silksong*, which is shaping up to be a better game thanks to updates and new features. Personally, I like waiting because it means there will be more guides, tips, and walkthroughs available to help me enjoy the game when I finally play it.

I hadn’t played Hollow Knight in ages, but when I started hearing rumors about Silksong finally coming out, I jumped right back in! I’d given up about a year ago, totally stuck on the Soul Master. It took a lot of tries – and honestly, a lot of help from YouTube – but I finally beat him! Honestly, playing now feels so much better. Having things like interactive maps and all those tutorial videos and forums available makes me feel way more confident and like I can actually conquer the game.

I might not be playing Hollow Knight in the traditional way, but I think it’s a perfectly good way to enjoy it-or any game, really. While I do rely on guides and watching others play, I’m still actively engaged with the game and using what I learn to build my confidence and tackle challenges in my own way.

Team Cherry, the developers of Hollow Knight and Silksong, carefully designed their games to create specific feelings and encourage certain ways of playing. While some argue that meticulously planning my progress with maps and guides ruins the intended experience, I still find moments of genuine surprise and wonder. I view it as essentially playing the game with a self-imposed ‘easy mode’ – I’m making it less challenging for myself, but still enjoying the journey.

So, I’ve only gotten a little bit of time with Silksong so far, but I walked into one room and immediately saw Skarrgard, that tough mini-boss, waiting for me. I’d already read a bunch about that fight online, and honestly? I just turned around and left! No way was I ready for that yet.

Read enough online discourse to know to stay the hecking heck away from this dude

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— Chris Compendio (@compenderizer.bsky.social) September 26, 2025 at 2:45 PM

It’s similar to how I look up horror movies before seeing them – I want to be braced for anything scary or graphic. While that might ruin a surprise or two in a game like Weapons, it also means I’m prepared for the impact, and I can still feel appropriately unsettled when it happens. I can still enjoy it as part of the bigger picture. Ultimately, how I experience art is personal, and even if I play a game in a way the creators didn’t expect, I can still find it rewarding and satisfying.

I really respect people who are so excited about a new game that they’ll even take time off work to play it immediately and explore everything it has to offer without any spoilers. But for games like Silksong, I prefer to take things at my own pace, and I think that’s perfectly fine.

These days, there’s a lot of pressure to rush through games, whether we put it on ourselves or feel it from the constant stream of new releases. But it’s important to remember that you get to decide how and when you play. While it can be fun to be among the first to experience a new game and share thoughts with others, that excitement shouldn’t control how you play or spend your money.

I plan to dive back into playing Silksong eventually, but I’ll be more mindful of my time. However you choose to enjoy games like Hollow Knight: Silksong, remember that all options are valid, and you should play in a way that’s fun and fulfilling for you.

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2025-09-26 22:10