verdict
Team Cherry did not possible. Faced with enormous expectations, it stuck the bottle twice. Silksong is a masterpiece. Not because they are bigger and better than before, but because they don’t lose themselves by trying to escape the shadows of Hollow Knight. Its massive range will become the definitive Metroidvania epic that goes beyond the initial influence of Team Cherry and challenges players to take this opportunity to stand up.
Seven years is a long time. The couple’s counselor talks about itching after seven years. The philosopher talks about the seven-year cycle. The average age of cells in the human body is claimed to be 7 years old. nevertheless, Hollow Night Silk SongThe existence of all Nintendo Direct and Gamescom ONL is defined by their seven years of absence. Team Cherry’s silent vacuum, clown’s nose and old refrain: “Today’s Skong?” Finally. yes. Today’s Scon.
The arrival of Hollow Knight Silksong has a sense of loss that comes with it. The predictions rose to such a heat pitch over seven years of development that not only enveloped fans, but also surpassed the concept of Hollow Knight itself. The truth is that Metroidvania’s formula is So The stiffness that the sequel really has to work to justify his existence. Ori and Will of the Wisps introduced a more robust combat system and combined it with the best movements of the original, but for all intents and purposes, it’s the same. The Blasphemous 2 introduced extensive customizations and mechanical improvements, but its sophisticated visuals disinfected the dirt and grit that characterised its predecessor.
“Same but Good” isn’t the worst purpose of the sequel, but Metroidvania Games requires more substance to maintain the repetition that is burned into the formula. Don’t make a mistake, Team Cherry follows that formula, but it also changes the trajectory of the blank knight above his head. Instead of digging deep into the Earth like a very stag beetle modeled by a knight, the Hornet’s spider sensibility tilts the Silkson world towards verticality.
Gravity has always been the greatest enemy of the platformer’s protagonist – between spikes, lava and deep by, not at risk of the environment – but in Falroom it becomes a marker of progression itself. Team Cherry will provide this lesson early on. A leap of faith in the moss cave ditch has returned to the bottom of the bone. A few hours later, an inadvertent fall from a whisper will become UG-Official when seriously lands you in the poisonous pit of the seriously prolonged poison. However, in general, you can remove all the resonances of purposes, signs and themes from Silkson, and understand the basic conceit of climbing the tower.
Metroidvania level designs often lean towards the abstraction of platform games, with Silkson calling for themes that are too familiar to you, such as forests, lava, and snow. The lower level is a glorious corpse hole, and the path from it is paved with the remains of pilgrims. The Citadel above is a monument to Team Cherry’s ability to weave storytelling through exploration. Its majesty, marked by the choir at the zenith of Christopher Larkin’s epic soundtrack, is dramatically etched over the greed and exploitation built into the structure itself. The corpses get caught up in the machinery of the industrial underbelly, but the benches demand small wages that live workers earn to use. The area within the Citadel was not just pulled out of Team Cherry’s mood board. They are built with the aim of reflecting their diet structure.
Pharloom is significantly larger than Halloweenst, but there is only one additional fast moving point. This is a problem. This is especially true because Metroidvania’s map size is not large and equal. One of the singular joys of the Metroidvania game is the epiphany after picking up new abilities. “Finally!” You’re “I can reach that shelf!” Silkson has a lot Shelves and passes that aren’t hard to track everything. Instead, this victory moment will be replaced by the potential anxiety that there is something you’ve forgotten, like the video game equivalent to leaving the oven on top.
This isn’t too much of a problem in the first half of the game, but that’s the simplest part. When the player’s relentless momentum of advance is redirected to itself, it is the most difficult heel turn to pull apart in Metroidvania. Silksong’s custom map markers are symbolic devices with no subject and a collection of other icons that are meaningless beyond what the player attributes. This is no different to other Metroidvania map markers, but when applied to this large map, it becomes a problem. Silksong would certainly have benefited from the screenshot style pins pioneered by Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
Clearly, this means that a world where it’s big tends to leave players to their devices. If you have a personal army of cartrop or poison cogfly, combat gauntlets may be painless, but to utilize such tools you will need to find them first. Conversely, it’s a platform issue. Technically Unlocking crossing abilities waiting elsewhere can make it a manageable (if not emotional) cakewalk. In such cases, the player only has two takeaways. Either there is a fatal imbalance in the encounter, or Team Cherry has one or two isolated needles in the underground hay stack, trusting to ease the burden. While fans of the established Hollow Knight are more leaning towards that trust, Silkson doesn’t offer such promises to the newcomers.
That being said, hollownite difficulties are the subject of collective amnesia, usually seen in childbirth. If you understand based on public protest following Silksong, you’d think Hollow Knight was a relaxing game on par with Yoku’s Island Express. The truth is that the Hollow Knight is (and has always been). It struggled to beat a soul-like allegation, not just portraits of the plague-stricken world. Its combat-driven gameplay doesn’t compromise and compromise, especially in the face of bosses and gauntlet challenges.
Silkson’s Difficulty teeth A step up from Hollow Knight, but a natural progression from what came before. The spikes of that difficulty are often a symptom of inadequate preparation. If Metroidvanias block progress behind traditionally locked doors, Team Cherries routinely keep them wide open and invites players to use their own judgment as to whether or not something on the other side is ready. This level of autonomy is not completely unprecedented in Metroidvania. But that is rare enough, and I have to consciously remember it when I am stuck in the mud of Billwater, or when I am saved infinitely by the Mookrach of the Sinner’s Way. The decision to repeat the same path over and over is often not imposed on me, not just me.
Combat encounters repeat themselves, but are closely related to the design of the world. Citadel residents are easiest to dispatch on a downward strike. This is a careless practice for bouncing off countless sprockets and springs at the core of a cogwork. The bird swiping and swipes in Greymore’s Hornet is a muscle memory exercise for the fight against the Moore Wing. Plus, Silkson’s enemies aren’t just attacked until they die. They are pitcher machines for Silk Farms, Rosary Banks, makeshift platforms, and even indiscriminate projectiles. Again, this is not a novel concept of Metroidvania, but Team Cherry’s intentionality with enemy placement reflects meticulous attention and attention.
Silksong continues the team cherry trend against bosses with limited but powerful move sets that strengthen complexity in multiple stages, but can do more work during these encounters. Crest and Tools replace Hollow Knight’s charm system, placing new depths of build diversity and granular synergy. To aid map exploration and currency agriculture, you may load a utility-driven yellow tool into one coat of arms. Another crest is in a sanctuary with damage buffs and faster healing made to match boss encounters. Still others can disperse the crowd by throwing explosive bombs and rings.
Seven years of development have paid a gorgeous attention to Silkson animation. If the Knights’ movement economy speaks to the vacant interiority and Team Cherry’s own limited budget, the Hornet is a flame of dynamic mobility. Her pogo flip and quick turns are interrupted by wild skittering of the spindle’s feet as she struggles to stand upright under the direction of the player. This extends to the entire Silkson world. Consider a battered curtain sliced into a ribbon by a hornet. A procession of small red ants carrying the rosary and Miss Kerania. Even the flimsy protrusions that soak under the weight of the Hornet. These tiny touches don’t make any significant difference in how Silkson plays, but cumulatively provide a world that feels tactile and even variability.
Hornet’s body constraints make her far more united with the world around her, as is her dialogue. She trades the provocation for anti-billin races, urging the pilgrim Sherma to consider what she can do for her suffering brother rather than seeking higher power, resulting in a quick slap on familiar bugs that are too close. Her involvement in Falroome’s people and politics makes Silkson’s story very easy to follow. The story of Hollow Knight, where Hollow Knight is often relegated to lore videos for everyone except the most discerning fans, the story of the weavers and Wyrms of Silksong, the story of mothers and daughters, earth and gods, does not need such external help. It is, in a sense, a sequel that enriches the course revisions from the story from Sov provided through intentional dialogue and non-anteriors, in a sense, what came before.
Not all of Silksong’s story beats are equal. Where Hollow Knight had a highly curated quest, its sequel has a literal message board of hope to meet. The objective of these unrelated tasks, apart from chopting boxes, could invite players struggling with rosary counting to spend a little time and earn a fair amount of money for relatively minor chores to clear some trash mobs, but they remain chores on the base. Of course, there are a few exceptions. The fantastic taste of the Farroom incorporates a Courier Time Trial, a throwback to the delicate flowers of Hollonite. Similarly, supporting Shelwood’s ascetic root frame unfolds parasitic alg stories of pregnancy at Bloodborne’s home.
However, these are the few bright spots among collectibles, rehashed bosses and roundabout ways to save the Rosary. Instead, it’s an accidental moment Strangeness At Silksong, I really enjoy it. The flea caravan spa is hosted by prejudices that peer into the hornet from the balcony as she bathes. After resting on the bench of the ghost bench, something more ominous than reloading your save will discover that the hornet fallen into the widow’s silk thread is twisted and tied.
Silksong plays with conventions and expectations, but rarely persecutes players. Certainly, “rarely” is not the same as “never.” The fatal explosion in the finale of Hornet’s showdown with the finale of the final judge is self-evident, but its inclusion is mean. Still, most of the time, that’s it teeth Playfulness. Even the infamous swing ax straps equipped on the only bench on the Hunter’s march are not a measure of Team Cherry’s sadism. Even the “end of Silksong” adopts Hollow Knight’s principle that breaking the final boss is just the beginning of the end and is based on it, hiding the entire additional story action behind the Void Choked Save file.
Silkson is the best Metroidvania ever made. Its only perceptible flaw is the scale of Team Cherry’s ambitions, but it is difficult to justify it as a strike against it in a framework rooted in rules and practices. The stunning interaction of Team Cherry’s levels, combat and story game design elevates Silkson on top of Hollow Knight as well as its genre. When you taste like an open world game, it’s the best – not a dashing focus jumping over endless corridors of platforms and obstacles, but with contemplation and curiosity. Even the most terrible complaints about the difficulty of laborious runbacks and spikes are reduced as you spend time thrust into the corners of that world, excavating new shortcuts, new tools, and new pieces of puzzle boxes. Hollow Knight sets the gold standard for modern metropolitan areas. Silksong indicates:
