This is to be expected. Silksong gained so much hype that now you have a bunch of people trying it who are finding out it's not their thing.

I know people these days are used to early access garbage being shoved out the door as a full release, and are ready to rush to the comments to explain why the game is wrong, but I promise you this is not one of those cases.

So far, every run back I've experienced in silksong has a purpose. If it's not something you enjoy, I recommend not playing the game. But don't be in that overlap of the Venn Diagram between people who are enjoying the game and people who are complaining they aren't enjoying the game. Either stop playing, or finish it and then we can talk about its design.

Did these people forget how ball-smackingly hard Hollow Knight was???

Every time a hard game gets made, we have to have this debate? Maybe the real easy mode is just not trying to please everyone.

A high difficulty is not inherently good game design. Making a game more approachable through lower difficulty settings with additional checkpoints doesn't make it worse for people who like a challenge. It just makes it enjoyable to more people.

Claiming it's down to "artistic vision" just feels dishonest. You could claim Studio Ghibli movies should never be dubbed or subbed. You just have to learn Japanese to enjoy them, just don't watch them if that's not for you... but why? How is it a bad thing if more people can enjoy something?

Cup Head is a great example. It's a fantastic game with an art style that younger kids love. But it's too difficult for most kids, which doesn't make the game better, it just locks them out from a game they'd otherwise love.

something that i think gets lost in the sauce in thrse discussions is whether fun is derived from playing or winning. people are comparing Silksong- and to get ahead of it right now i haven't played and am not criticizing either of the Hollow Knights- to old arcade and early console games and their legendary difficulty, but a lot of those games were meant to be complete and fun experiences even if you game over very early on. they also didn't have levels full of bespoke Stuff in them, it was the same few tiles and entities in different configurations., so being stuck on level 1 didn't mean you were missing out on a narrative and worldbuilding. with how the lines have blurred between games and narrative art forms in the last few decades, there are different incentives at play and someone stuck on world 1 of SMB isn't missing out nearly as much as someone stuck on whatever the first stage of Silksong is. it's all ultimately apples and oranges

Honestly, Hollow Knight 1, and what I've played so far of Silk Song have frustrating runback only if you feel that exploration should carry no risk. And also if you feel the consequences--dropping your resources and needing to abandon them--are game ending.

The devs make no attempt to hide the fact that the father afield you get, the more dangerous it gets, but that you can get stronger if you make the most of what you've already explored.

Resources are unlimited in the world, so you can always get back to where you were even if you abandon your cocoon/shade. You can also go back and spend the resources before you lose them.

Once I realized that venturing too far off carries a growing risk, I started looking out for the telltale signs that I'm entering a boss room. When this happens or even when I just feel like I'm going to lose all health, I just venture back and spend at the nearest shop or just prioritize finding a bench. Where I don't heed the warning and go in anyway, I take it as my fault I can't recover my shade/silk before I once again prioritize finding a bench.

All that said, at least so far I've found that whereas in Hollow Knight, if you die in a boss fight you're not equipped for, you MUST abandon it or try again. In Silk Song, the silk cocoon actually helps with the fight: instead of also trying to kill you, it's extra health that you can save until mid-way through the fight. Also, some boss rooms don't lock the entrance (at all or as quickly) so you can die closer to the entrance and safely recover your stuff.

After starting Silk Song, I went back and started replaying the original and some changes like this are actually actually a quality of life improvement over the first 😂😂😂.

(I'm just irrationally mad that they removed the cheeseable pogoing. It was so cheeseable but I get why they tweaked the mechanic to become harder to use in exactly the same way. I'm actually using the other offensive abilities more.)