I was chomping at the bit to play Hollow Knight: Silksong when it finally landed in 2025. After years of waiting, I dove in headfirst, ready for a tough-but-fair Metroidvania—the kind of thing the original Hollow Knight delivered so beautifully. But man, was I in for a rude awakening. What I got instead was a game that frequently felt less like a challenge and more like a slap in the face. And now, even after a handful of developer patches, I can’t shake the feeling that Silksong has done something dangerous: it made me question whether we’ve all been tricked into equating suffering with quality.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m no stranger to hard games. I’ve bashed my head against Elden Ring, danced with the bosses in Sekiro, and got my butt handed to me more times than I can count in classic soulslikes. I love that rush when you finally beat a boss after a dozen attempts. But Silksong often left me feeling hollow—and not in a poetic, tragic sort of way. It was the little things that piled up like a snowball rolling downhill. Dying and realizing you don’t recover your ammo? That’s a real kick in the teeth. You’d have to trudge back through areas you’ve already cleared, grind for resources, just so you could take another shot at the boss with a fighting chance. By the time I’d get back to the arena, my mood was already sour, and my fingers were tensed up for all the wrong reasons.

And the bosses themselves—oh boy. Some of them, like the infamous Last Judge, had me literally throwing my hands up. The screen would flood with smaller enemies, and the attacks felt less like a pattern to learn and more like a chaotic RNG party. I’d sit there, controller in hand, thinking, “This isn’t teaching me how to be better—it’s just rubbing my face in the dirt.”

The Breaking Point: When “Tough” Became “Trollish”

At first, I tried to chalk it up to a skill issue, and honestly, a lot of it probably was. But then I started noticing these design decisions that felt less like a deliberate ramping up of difficulty and more like the game was gaslighting me. Rest points that trick you into a false sense of security before an off-screen enemy jumps you mid-animation? C’mon. That’s not clever—it’s cheap. When a game prides itself on difficulty, like Silksong clearly does, it’s supposed to give you the tools to learn from your mistakes. It should make you think, “Aha, I dodged left when I should have dashed right,” not “Why the hell do I even bother?”

After one particularly brutal session with the Fourth Chorus boss, where Hornet’s graceful dance was replaced by a frantic scramble through a sea of projectiles and minions, I just sat there staring at the death screen. I wasn’t mad. I was just… tired. Tired of backtracking, tired of farming ammo, tired of feeling like the game was actively rooting against me. I called up a friend who’d also been playing, and we spent a good fifteen minutes just commiserating. He said, “It’s like the devs forgot that challenge is supposed to be the seasoning, not the whole meal.” And that hit me like a ton of bricks.

Re-evaluating the Cult of Difficulty

Ever since that conversation, I’ve found myself rethinking the whole landscape of difficulty in games. Don’t get me wrong—I still believe a hard game can be an absolute masterpiece. But somewhere along the line, we, as players, started worshipping difficulty for difficulty’s sake. Developers caught on, and now every other game wants to be the next Dark Souls, slapping “brutal combat” and “punishing bosses” on their marketing tags. The thing is, Silksong’s difficulty doesn’t always feel earned. It’s like they cranked the punishing dial up to eleven and forgot to balance it with the joy of discovery and fluid combat that made the first game so special.

Yes, Team Cherry has released patches since launch to smooth out some of the roughest edges—toning down the ammo grind, tweaking a few boss arenas. But damage has already been done. The core identity of Silksong still oozes this “look how hard I am” vibe, and that’s a crying shame. It’s pushed away folks who might have adored Hornet’s story and the gorgeous, melancholy world of Pharloom. I’ve seen friends shelve the game after five hours, not because they couldn’t cut it, but because they weren’t having fun. And isn’t fun the whole point?

A Bitter Aftertaste and a Lesson Learned

Looking back, I did finish Silksong. I beat those ridiculous bosses and unlocked some of the secret endings. But the sense of triumph I felt was undercut by a kind of resentment. I’d been put through the wringer not to emerge stronger, but to simply survive a gauntlet designed to make me suffer. The original Hollow Knight asked me to get back up after a fall, learned with me, and rewarded my persistence. Silksong too often felt like it was laughing at every faceplant.

So here I am, in 2026, with a slightly bad taste in my mouth and a new mental checklist every time I hear a game marketed as “punishingly difficult.” I’ll still pick up my sword and dodge incoming attacks—of course I will. But I won’t let anyone tell me that struggle without substance is something to celebrate. Difficulty in games should be an invitation to grow, not a brick wall to bang your head against until you’re too numb to care. Hollow Knight: Silksong taught me that lesson the hard way, and honestly? I wish it hadn’t.

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