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

The developers of Hollow Knight: Silksong admit that their extremely successful metroidvania is more difficult than its predecessor, but there is a good reason for it.

The release of the second Hollow Knight is undoubtedly a success for the Australian Team Cherry, but it cannot be denied that the game gave some players a hard time. Even disregarding the problems with the Chinese translation and the lack of information for some players (who likely didn't even know what a metroidvania is), it's undeniable that the difficulty level of Silksong has somewhat increased compared to the first game.

Of course, as is usually the case, players argue whether HKS is actually "unfair," "too difficult," or even "cruel," as some claim. No one denies the game is challenging, but even now, two weeks after the release, fresh posts praising or criticizing the difficulty level of Silksong keep appearing on the internet.

Quick and deadly Hornet

The developers had addressed the matter personally. As reported by Dexerto (via IGN), Ari Gibson and William Pellen from Team Cherry appeared at the announced Game Worlds exhibition organized by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).

Developers admitted that Silksong is "more complex" than Hollow Knight, partly to allow everyone to choose their own "path". This freedom means that you can always go somewhere else if the current challenge is too overwhelming. As Gibson put it, players can mitigate difficulty by exploring, learning or even skipping the challenge.

Enemies at your level

Developers also pointed out why the sequel is harder than its predecessor. Hornet is not only "faster and more skillful" than the Knight from Hollow Knight, but also has tools at her disposal that the previous protagonist could only dream of.

As a result, even basic enemies had to be somewhat more demanding and "complicated". As Pellen admitted, one of the basic enemies was based on Hornet's very own boss fight in the first Hollow Knight. The developers had two options: either to weaken Hornet or to strengthen all the opponents to "match her level."

All this adds up - just see how Hornet heals. Yes, you can't choose how much healing you need exactly - you always need to use an entire silk bar and heal for three HP. However, this means you can recover health much quicker and even heal in the air, which is much safer.

Tools of destruction

Changes to healing already make the game much easier, and then there's also tools. They didn't exist in the first game, while in Silksong they are extremely useful. They let you fight at range, quickly take out minions during boss fight and deal huge burst damage.

That's not even mentioning an extremely broken upgrade, which at some point pretty much switches the game to easy modein two different ways. Some players even gave up on tools entirely, thinking they make the game too simple.

Curiously, the tools can partly explain why Silksong seems harder in places than it should be. This could be due to habit, as the first Hollow Knight didn't feature them, but many players don't use tools at all, or do so very rarely, especially early on (like I did).

It's also worth remembering that Silksong was originally supposed to be a paid expansion to Hollow Knight. This means the game was meant for players who have completed their journey already - making it easier wouldn't satisfy them. This is further confirmed by the fact the first area of Silksong was a late addition, as the devs wanted a calmer, easier introduction (via Games Radar).

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Hollow Knight: Silksong

September 4, 2025

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• Overview
• Review

• level of difficulty
• platformers
• metroidvania
• Team Cherry
• Hollow Knight (series)