Hollow Knight:Silksong

Hollow Knight:Silksong Hollow Knight: Silksong delivers fast 2D platform action with acrobatic movement, tool-based combat, and relentless enemy and boss fights. Explore ruins, earn rewards, upgrade gear, and face tougher challenges.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong is a fast-paced action-adventure where you set out on a pilgrimage through a strange, interconnected world. Expect hard fights against 200+ enemies and 40+ legendary bosses. Use your weapons and precise movement to defeat foes, collect valuable rewards, and keep upgrading your arsenal as you progress.

As the journey continues, you’ll unlock new and mysterious abilities, gradually uncovering deeper truths tied to the game’s origins. Explore broken ruins, hunt for treasures, and push through increasingly difficult encounters. Once the finale approaches, the game raises the challenge even further—typically with fewer lives and tougher enemy pressure—so you can test your skills and enjoy the climb.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Hollow Knight: Silksong follows the same core style as its predecessor, Hollow Knight, blending 2D platforming with combat. The main character feels more agile than before: movement is more acrobatic, and healing happens faster than in the earlier game.

Side content (“Wishes”) is logged in a journal. You can receive these tasks from non-player characters or discover them on quest boards.

Tools, Crests, and combat loadout

You can equip Tools, grouped into three categories. Blue and yellow Tools are mostly passive and support-focused, while red Tools tend to be offensive. Red Tools are triggered manually, but they come with limited charges. When you run low, you’ll need to replenish them using Shell Shards at Benches.

Hornet can’t equip unlimited quantities of every Tool type. The maximum number of Tools per color is tied to her current setup, and it changes when you switch between different gameplay styles called “Crests”. Not only do Crests affect what you can carry, they also influence how Hornet attacks—specifically the speed and attack reach of her move set. Each Crest also includes a distinct mechanic, such as:

• Increasing damage when you avoid getting hit
• Allowing Tools to refill without needing to rest at a Bench

Silk, healing, and Silk Skills

During combat and when interacting with certain objects and locations, Hornet gathers “Silk”. Silk is used for healing, restoring three hit points at once (referred to as Masks).

You can also spend Silk to perform “Silk Skills”—extra attacks that are unlocked by finding remnants of the Weavers and their society as you explore deeper into the game.

Benches are important everywhere: you can adjust Tools, Crests, and Silk Skills there, and they also act as healing points. If you lose all hit points, Benches serve as respawn locations.

Movement upgrades

Throughout the game, Hornet gains new ways to move that help her explore and fight more effectively, including:

• Clawline: a grappling-hook style mobility tool



• Drifter’s Cloak: catches wind currents to travel upward over updrafts or fall more slowly
• Cling Grip: wall climbing support
• Silk Soar: a vertical leap that propels her upward using her Needle

Features

Acrobatic needle-and-silk combat

Hollow Knight: Silksong leans heavily on timing, spacing, and mobility. You’ll string together dashes, wall climbs, counters, and fast, accurate thrusts to deal with aggressive enemies in cramped areas. The fights are clear and learnable, but they demand focus—success comes from studying patterns and staying calm under pressure.

Silk abilities and tool customization

You’ll gain Silk techniques that open up new paths and create additional options mid-fight. Crafting further expands what you can do, letting you rethink routes through levels and solve platforming challenges in different ways. As your loadout grows, places that once blocked your progress can become quicker, more efficient shortcuts.

Connected areas and smarter route planning

The world is built as a large network of interconnected biomes, including mossy caverns, coral groves, gilded streets, and mist-covered hills. With landmarks and shortcuts, you can plan travel routes that reduce backtracking as your abilities improve. Each time you return to a location, what you notice can reveal a cleaner route forward.

A huge roster of enemies and tough bosses

You’ll battle 200+ enemies and face 40+ bosses that test your recognition of patterns and your ability to manage resources. Boss repeat fights encourage small refinements until your strategy matches the arena and the attacks. There’s also an optional Steel Soul mode for players who want even higher stakes.

Strategies

Check for hidden walls and secret entrances

From the first screens onward, Silksong encourages you to look for suspicious walls. One early secret room can be found by jumping into the wall. Inside, you’ll discover currency, and there may be additional hidden spaces too—like jumping behind the rightmost wall again to locate another concealed room where you can challenge a difficult enemy for a Beast Shard.

Hidden areas show up often, sometimes in rooms that seem pointless at first. Make a habit of hitting questionable walls, jumping into dead ends, and watching for subtle visual hints that something doesn’t look quite right.

Understand the Bind mechanic

Healing is handled a bit differently in Silksong. Instead of restoring one Mask at a time, you build a Silk meter and use Bind to recover multiple health units in one action. Early on, this can let you heal three Masks at once—but keep in mind (and adapt to) how this system affects your timing and resource planning.