If you’ve been paying attention to the discourse—I wouldn’t blame you for not doing so—around Silksong, you’ll have heard that it’s hard, and also kind of cruel. And while I personally wonder if the person who put that one bench in the Hunter’s March is doing okay and maybe needs to hash some things out with a therapist, I, a certified soulslike freak, am here to tell you that you aren’t wrong.
Silksong is hard, thorny, and vicious. It’s got that classic Dark Souls bite to it: Optional areas that’ll stomp you flat, punishing upgrade systems you’ll be too poor for if you die a lot, and that one jackass Savage Beastfly whose hurtbox is big enough to have its own postcode.
But I’m also here to tell you to stick with it. Having just gotten to Act 2 (I won’t be going into spoilers), a lot of those initial problems with the game have basically melted away. But you’ve got to put in some elbow grease to get there, and I don’t just mean in the traditional sense.
Silksong’s first act is actually riddled with killer upgrades, you’ve just got to root around a little bit. Crests and tools completely change your experience, and can be a lifesaver if put towards the right task.
Struggling with enemies in the air? The Reaper’s Crest has great reach, and the Straight Pin makes those buggers that interrupt your jumping puzzles into target practice. Keep getting whomped when you’re trying to heal? The mossberry druid’s got your back. Moorwing giving you grief? Complete the Lost Fleas quest and he won’t show up until way later.
If you’re short on rosaries, I also highly recommend buying the strings and necklaces when you can. It’s far more expensive to die and lose 200 rosaries (I’ve actually lost 999 rosaries once. No I’m not joking. Yes, it was agony) than to pay the 20-30 rosary tax to get your cash wad secured.
More than anything, I actually think the adage to “git gud” is actually bad advice here. Silksong rewards technical prowess, yes, but it actively punishes slamming your head against the same wall, while assuming it’s a skill issue:
No, you don’t need to kill the guard to the Hunter’s March before you get your dash. No, you don’t need to kill the Savage Beastfly right away. If you’re having trouble, decompress by going somewhere else and hitting some walls. What Silksong actually rewards, more than simply improving your technical skill, is curiosity, patience, and cleverness.
Digging into the nooks and crannies of its bloody massive world will net you upgrade materials and new tools. Having the patience to go cash in for some rosary strings will help you escape the economic doom spiral that, I will admit, is a little over-the-top in the game’s first few hours. And experimenting with your toolkit is a huge part of the intended design.
In other words, don’t try and shove a square peg into a round hole: Just go looking for the round peg for a bit.
None of this is to say you’re wrong if you feel fed up. I do think Silksong’s a little harsh at the start, and it doesn’t quite give you quite enough to show off its best qualities. But you are rewarded, windfalls do come, it’s just a real, real slow burn.
As for Act 2? Now that I’m here, I feel downright strong. I’ve got tools that are effective, I’m used to the way Hornet controls (and those goddamn pogos), and if whatever I’m using isn’t working, I’m able to equip a different set of kit for the job. Oh, and Team Cherry stops being a jerk about the rosary economy, trust me.
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