Suffering is part of the fun, right?

 

I wanna preface this by saying that I loved Hollow Knight, it came during a very dark time in my life and helped me cope with mental health issues and the pandemic when it first started. Like many, I was so excited over the next installment of this adorably dark world that each year Silksong got delayed, I simply put it in the back of my mind and hoped for better news the next year. 

Then in 2025, the gaming world got the news it was waiting for: a holy grail to the community that seemed more myth than reality finally got a trailer with a release date.

To say I was excited was an understatement. Every single scene in the trailer made me question what was going on in the lore, what made Hornet go to this new kingdom, and whether we will see The Knight ever again.

When I finally bought the game early this year, around February or March, booting up the game felt like meeting up with an old friend after not seeing each other for so many years. The music, the setting, the cute, deadly enemies in the starting sections made me feel such an immense sense of joy that the game was not able to do since playing Like a Dragon early last year. However, after a couple of hours moving around the first sections and discovering the layout of the new kingdom, something hit me. "Oh fuck, I'm playing Hollow Knight".

 

In that disturbing scene, Hornet has reached the town of Bellhart. She stumbles upon a scene that stuns her as all the residents seem to be trapped in silk, but what's more disturbing is that they seem  to be in a trance of both agony and jubilation. It was after this section of the game that the difficulty started to spike heavily for me. Granted, I'm not a player who thrives on the whole "git gud" set of mind. I will complain, I will want to throw my controller against the wall, but of course, I don't do the latter and simply turn off the game and revisit it the next day. 

By the way, this was all ACT 1!

Two fuckers stood out to me as the most rage-inducing fights in the first Act: Widow and The Last Judge. Widow is the one who curses the settlement of Bellhart, and beating her was a battle of attrition. Her movements at first were simple to read, but her second phase fucked me up so many times I had to take many breaks just to avoid screaming in holy shit this fucking sucks rage!

Then, after liberating Bellhart, and making it all the way to the end of the Blasting Steps and reaching the doors of the Citadel...fucker number 2 shows their fucked up face, the Last Judge. This fuckers move set relied heavily on slamming hard with an incense burner, throwing it towards me, and swinging it in circles to both defend themself and also hurt me. Then came the second phase, everything I just said, but also fire and explosions everywhere. BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK NOT!

Once I finally beat the fucker, ACT 2 starts, the Citadel of Song. The difficulty ramps up even more, and the creepy vibes are slithering their way through each nook and cranny of this new section of the kingdom. As of writing this, I'm currently stuck in Act 2, and I'm wondering to myself, "Should I just stop for a while and revisit it months later?" I mean, I could, and maybe I will. But, here's the thing, I still love this game, the rage, the lore, the characters, the agility and grace of Hornets movements compared to The Knight in the first game. 

So take this with a grain of salt, my dear reader. Do you love hating yourself and cursing your hand-eye coordination? Is masochism your thing? Then play this game, go on, enjoy it, you sick fuck. Because guess what, you're not alone. I, too, am a fellow sick fuck. I will continue to play this wonderful, hard, shitty, gorgeous masterpiece of a game. Because sometimes, enduring the obstacles and finally reaching the next step in this adventure is one of the most satisfying and horrifying feelings I have felt while playing this game. 

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Have a good day, and have a good one, dear reader. Take care!