The long awaited “Hollow Knight” sequel, “Hollow Knight: Silksong”, has been released by independent game developer Team Cherry on Sept. 4, 2025, after years of waiting. The game is set in the land of Pharloom where players control Hornet, the former Princess of Hollow Knight’s fallen kingdom of Hallownest. The story starts by following Hornet as she is captured and transported to the mysterious new land of Pharloom. She then must explore the vast interconnected open world environment. The player must complete puzzles, fulfill wishes, this game’s form of quests, and fight bosses in order to progress in the game.
Graphics: 10/10
The graphics are incredible with their unique hand drawn look and grim appearance, few games can be compared to the Hollow Knight art style. Every detail of the game adds to the overall mood, and it really feels like playing in a painting. The animations are fluid and well-polished, especially for a game released so recently. This makes the whole experience look and feel like a AAA game made by a multi-billion dollar development company.
Combat: 10/10
No “Hollow Knight” game would be complete without breathtaking combat. “Silksong” adds onto the original game’s combat system making it much more acrobatic, fast and fluid. While at first the combat starts off simple, it evolves as you get further along unlocking new abilities such as Swift Step, which allows the player to sprint and dash mid air allowing for quicker movement and more versatile dodging in boss fights. At the start, you have five hearts and one heal that you charge up by hitting enemies. The heal also can be used as a weapon. The player has to decide between healing and attacking, forcing the player to make split second decisions that make the combat feel unique compared to other games.
Music: 10/10
The original game is renowned for its amazing music, so it only makes sense that “Silksong” would have incredible music as well. “Silksong’s” music lives up to the original games giving off the same feelings as the original, while having a higher diversity and more music than the original game. The music is incredibly well-composed and feels perfectly paced with the bosses, challenges, as well as the mood of the sections of the map, which really helps set the pace of the game in all environments making it feel even more immersive.
Exploration: 8/10
“Silksong” is approximately 50% bigger than the first game, leaving tons of room for puzzles, settlements, and wishes to complete creating a diverse environment for players to explore. At the start, the map system is very confusing as the player must purchase the map and all the functions of it with in-game currency, making it hard to figure out for new players. This is why it does not score higher, but once you figure it out, it makes sense. While the game is extremely big, there is a fast travel system for convenience, allowing for quick travel across the entire map using Bellways, making it easy to go between the parts of the world you have explored.
Community: 9/10
“Silksong” is rated overall positive on Steam, with 89,249 English reviews at the time of writing this review. 81,186 are positive. Many reviews praise the game for its very high quality and relatively low price in today’s game market, costing only $19.99 with most AAA games costing around $60-70. The original game’s price is also pretty low at $14.99, meaning both games together are half the price of most AAA titles with the same if not better quality. With the low price and the game’s ability to run on almost any device and platform, it is a great option for pretty much anyone into gaming.
Overall: 47/50
I would say “Hollow Knight: Silksong” lives up to the incredibly high standards of the first game, and it is safe to say that waiting all those years has paid off. With the beautifully written music, highly detailed open world, and engaging combat mechanics it is hard to get bored playing. I myself have already played nearly a hundred hours in the game and haven’t even scratched the surface. So if you like the sound of fast-paced action combat games, with a vast world to explore and secrets to unravel, be sure to check out “Hollow Knight: Silksong” and the original game for yourself to see just how great the games are.
