Silksong Review (2026): Pharloom Punishes, Then Pays Off

Hornet does not inherit Hallownest. She inherits its debts. Hollow Knight: Silksong drops you in Pharloom, a pilgrimage kingdom that treats curiosity as a tax, and Team Cherry still refuse to hold your hand while they empty your wallet of rosaries.

This is a scored review, not a recap of someone else's. I played on Switch and PC, died in the same stupid places on both, and came away convinced the seven-year wait produced a real sequel instead of a skin.

What Silksong actually is

You play Hornet: faster, more aerial, more combative than the Knight. Silk is a resource you spend and a lifeline you earn. The map is a vertical sermon — citadels, moss, bells, cages — and the comedy of bugs remains intact even when the combat is not being funny at all.

If you want the first-hours texture without a score, we already published a Silksong first-hours preview. This piece is the full verdict. For the "should I tap buy on eShop" version, see Is Silksong worth buying in Australia?.

Combat and the early wall

The opening hours are the review's only real warning label. Hornet's kit is expressive — dive, bind, crest loadouts later — but Pharloom's first biomes assume you already speak Hollow Knight. New players will bounce. Veterans will grin, then bounce anyway.

Bosses are the thesis. Telegraphs are readable; patterns still ask for humility. When a fight finally clicks, the room design around it usually deserved the attempt count.

I never felt a boss cheat. I often felt a bench placement make a political argument.

Exploration, economy, benches

Silksong's best trick is making traversal feel like an argument you are winning. Shortcuts are earned. The rosary economy is tight enough that a careless run back actually hurts, which is the point. Side wishes give Pharloom a civic texture Hallownest mostly implied.

The map does not cheat. It judges. That is Team Cherry being Team Cherry, and it is why the high score is not a 10 — the early spike will lock some players out of a game that later becomes generous.

How it compares to Hollow Knight

Hallownest was melancholy space. Pharloom is industry and faith with sharper teeth. The sequel is denser: more systems on screen, more quest texture, less empty corridor. It is also less immediately kind. That is a design choice, not a bug, and it will split the audience the original united.

For the original's place in the catalogue, start at the Hollow Knight hub. For Hornet's game, stay on the Silksong hub.

Consensus, credited

I do not need other outlets to form a score. I do use them as a temperature check.

According to IGN's Tom Marks, Silksong is "a bigger, bolder, and even more impressive adventure than the original," scored 9/10. That lines up with the shape of my playthrough: more game, more demand, more payoff. Marks is kinder on the early spike than some Australian threads I have read; I am slightly less forgiving there, and still land in the same buy-it band.

Australia: price, platforms, should you?

On AU storefronts this remains an indie-priced download, not a $79–$129 first-party event. That matters. A vicious Metroidvania at that price is an easier recommend than another $120 live-service.

Play on Switch if you want handheld death loops on the tram. Play on PC if you want the cleaner frame pacing I saw in longer sessions. Either way, buy it if Hallownest still lives in your thumbs. Skip it if you bounced off the original's runbacks and never made peace with them — Silksong will not convert you.

Score: 9.2 / 10.