‘Hollow Knight: Silksong’ is too difficult, say fans

Hollow Knight: Silksong fans are complaining the long-awaited sequel is too difficult, while others are defending the “punishing” game.

Originally planned as an expansion for 2017’s fiendishly difficult metroidvania Hollow Knight, developers Team Cherry later decided to turn it into a full-blown sequel. Hollow Knight: Silksong was originally set to launch in 2023 but was delayed several times before finally being released last week, much to the excitement of gamers. 

Hollow Knight: Silksong was so popular at launch, it crashed multiple digital storefronts and saw more than 500,000 people playing concurrently on PC (via SteamDB). Over the weekend, that number hasn’t dropped below 250,000. 

However some fans have been complaining that Hollow Knight: Silksong is too difficult. 

I think I’m working through at a decent pace but Silksong is HARD. And no it’s not “you just need to adjust” hard, legit way more challenging that the original.

Feels like half the enemies hit for 2 pips, environment dangers mid boss fight, bosses have adds, etc.

— FightinCowboy (@Fightincowboy) September 5, 2025

“Is it just me, or are some of the things that make Silksong difficult, just cruel,” one fan asked on Reddit. “By now it’s obvious that Silksong is overall more difficult than Hollow Knight but I feel like a lot of the things meant to make it harder are just tests of patience rather than skill. I feel like I’m being bullied by the game most of the time, and that sucks, because I know we were all so excited for the game to come out and I really want to love it. I desperately don’t want it to be a disappointment,” they continued.

“Every boss has me wondering if I’m missing upgrades,” replied one gamer. “Don’t get me wrong, I still like the game but all the two damage hit enemies and the run back to bosses has me like… ‘do they WANT me to keep playing’? It doesn’t feel like it sometimes,” said another. 

Another popular thread reads “Silksong isn’t too difficult, it’s just too punishing,” with gamers taking issue with bosses not dropping rewards, the amount of damage dealt by enemies and a reworked health system. “It’s genuinely a gorgeous game! I just wish it wasn’t so frustrating,” replied one player. “It’s still such an amazingly beautiful game, I just feel like it could be hard while also being more rewarding,” said another. 

However plenty of gamers have been praising Hollow Knight: Silksong. “Is it hard? Yes absolutely. If it was easy, I wouldn’t want to play the game,” wrote one fan. “I find it pretty bizarre. When I take a break from the constant dopamine rush of Silksong to check Reddit, it’s mostly people saying they’re not having fun. It’s just Elden Ring all over again. Angry people are always the loudest, most people are too busy playing the game,” explained another.

Earlier this year, players complained about the difficulty of Elden Ring: Nightreign and developers quickly released a series of updates to make it easier. Last week, they confirmed an ultra-difficult mode was coming.

In other news, Borderlands 4 is set to launch later this week and now developers Gearbox Software has confirmed exactly when you’ll be able to play the long-awaited sequel.