The Siren’s (silk)Song

Over the course of the past few months, I finally took some time to play a few things that really stood out and since the months are winding down, I wanted to throw some of my thoughts out there so when year-end wrap-ups start, I’ve done my due diligence.

Metroidvanias are probably my second favorite genre behind fighting games. I have consumed every GBA/DS Castlevania game multiple times and then again with their recent collections. I probably play Symphony of the Night at least a little bit once a year. I’m always looking for one that does something special (Yoku’s Island Express..). While the world has been waiting for Silksong for a while, and I definitely bought it day one, I honestly didn’t expect to be quite as enraptured with it as I am. Truth be told, I don’t know that I ever actually “completed” the endgame of Hollow Knight. I liked the game, but I bounced off of it a couple of times before it actually grabbed me.

What’s odd is Hollow Knight has so much of what I love. It’s got a dash of Dark Souls, a fun NES Duck Tales pogo, and its style is playfully grim and dark. Weirdly enough, the problem was I just thought that it was HARD. In so many of these types of games you are in communication with the developer/designer to go in vaguely some sort of defined path. “Get the missile to open the door” then the rest of the path opens up. The “problem” for me is that, much like with Silksong, in Hollow Knight I went the “wrong way” for far too long.

This is not a developer/Team Cherry problem. This is a me problem. When I hit a hard area, but it feels like I have everything I need to progress (except for maybe skill-wise), I never assume I should turn back and explore elsewhere. If I CAN get through it then surely this is where I SHOULD be. It wasn’t until I was talking about the game’s difficulty with a friend that he explained that I basically took the “wrong” route the whole game. The fact that the game and level design allows this to be possible EVENTUALLY left me with a massive amount of appreciation for it.

The problem is I did it again with Silksong…spoilers ahead…

I honestly don’t even know how it happened again. I don’t know at what point I set myself on the path. I’ve listened to a chunk of podcasts about the game and primarily became informed through ReMap’s discussion around the game. I know that people’s initial friction point seems to be Hunters March, but the only time I actually left an area was after spending far too much time beating my head against the wall in Bilewater and what is EASLIY the worst runback/arena/boss combo in the game (and maybe any game). But that’s not where my issue occurred. I had somehow finished most of Act 2, found all of the elevators, beat the First Sinner, all before I realized I had never been to the Blasted Lands.

If you’ve played the game, you know this is problematic. The end of Act 1 is supposed to be through the Blasted Lands and into the Last Judge, a boss that is difficult, but whose real difficulty comes from the frustration where if you do die, the run back to the boss is awful. The problem is for me I think he was technically an optional boss, as I had already found the other side of the map that he leads to. By the time I fought him I had most of not all of the traversal powers so even the runback was nothing. I had heard its name on podcasts, but it wasn’t until it popped up that I realized I had made a mistake. What’s refreshing is that on the ReMap podcast Patrick Klepek mentions the same thing happened to him, although it sounded like he figured out the issue earlier than I did. Again, for this to even be possible is an incredible testament to Team Cherries incredible design and it was a blast to find out.

All of that is to say I don’t think I have played a Metroidvania in a long time that has gripped me even close to this and I think it iterates on Hollow Knight in a positive way on every front. Silksong’s player expression expands on the previous games Charm system and ups the ante to include Crests (basic move sets which includes the original Hollow Knight move set), Tools, and Passive abilities (which invoke the charm system). By the end of the game, I was changing from the initial crest’s dive kick to the previous games pogo to get around and do most of the game, but when I got stuck on a boss, I would just change over to Architect build that granted extra tools which I used to summon bugs and just throw/shoot until my hearts content.

Your ability to adapt to so many different play styles gives you the ability to confront the different boss strategies that Silksong presents to you. One of the best things about the game is how “Fair” most of these bosses really do feel which lends itself to the “one more try” mentality that pushed me to 100% the game (that’s 100% the game, not 100% achievements…I’m too anxious for no death speed runs). The true final boss was a joy to fight and finishing the game left me incredibly impressed with the whole package and satisfied in a way that I hadn’t felt with one of these games in quite a while.

I have a feeling this is going to be high on most game of the year lists this year and I think it is going to be hard to knock it out of the top 2 slots for me. Hopefully I’ll get some time to dig through my notes on my other top 2 game soon and I can start dreading having to decide which order to slot them. For now, maybe it’s time to give Hollow Knight another solid run and maybe this time I’ll do it in the right order and actually complete it too.