Note: 32

About 7 hours into Silksong and here’s my first impressions! I’m currently in “Far Fields”, so please no spoilers past that point!

The combat is lots of fun.

The crests changing your fighting/movement seems like it’ll open up tons of mechanical possibilities. I’ve only got the Hunter’s crest so far, excited to see what else they’ve come up with.

It’s taken a while for me to get used to striking things diagonally rather than the traditional pogo sticking, but it feels like it’s working out. The enemies also seem to be designed to block your downward attack, which is nice, since it felt a bit OP in the original game.

The ant knight enemies are my favorites so far – they’re super dynamic and fun to fight.

I haven’t unlocked many of the traps/tools yet, I’m interested to see how much I’ll end up using them.

Unfortunately, the setting/worldbuilding isn’t doing it for me.

The game opening with Hornet being kidnapped to some other kingdom was jarring – there’s no exposition explaining what happened after the first game, nor how Hornet was captured.

I guess it works as a way to break ties with the previous setting completely, but I think they could’ve done something better. Maybe they could’ve had Hornet investigate where the Godseekers came from?

The new setting, Pharloom, feels pretty bland.

With the art direction, I get the vibe of a fallen Catholic church, with tarnished gold, bells, and pilgrims.

That kinda works, but the landscape and NPCs don’t really mesh with it. They feel like they could’ve been in any setting. And then the bosses are straight up forgettable.

One of the first bosses in Hollow Knight were The Mantis Lords, which were really well designed. They were distant, regal, and honorable, respecting your ability to best them in battle.

By contrast, I don’t remember the names or designs of any of the first few bosses I’ve fought in Silksong. The fights were engaging, but the characters didn’t really tell me more about the world.

Lace is the new Hornet, and she seems interesting, but unfortunately she’s the exception.

It’s still very early days, so I’m hoping the setting improves.

But even if it doesn’t, I’m still enjoying the fights and the exploration!