Hollow Knight: Silksong – Beginner’s Guide

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For those of you who have not yet ascended to the peak of this great mountain of a game, this guide will provide some crucial advice.

 

Section 1: The First 10 Minutes

Stop Crying. Look, I get it. The tears of joy are blinding you, and you’ve already died to the first enemy three times because of it. Pull yourself together, Hollow Knight veteran. This is Hornet, she doesn’t cry. You’re a hero now. A lethal, acrobat-spider-person-thing. Act like it.

Verify your purchase. No, you didn’t hallucinate it. The game is really in your library. Check your purchase history. Check your Steam wallet. Pinch yourself. Scream into a pillow if you must. This is real. It’s really, really real.

Don’t press play. Not yet. First, you must make a pilgrimage. Open your browser and go to the r/HollowKnightMemes subreddit. Take a moment to reflect on the long journey. Witness the final posts of a bygone era. Shed a single, resolute tear for the end of a glorious time. Okay, now you can press play.

Section 2: The Core Gameplay Loop (Or, “Why Am I Getting My Butt Kicked Again?”)
You are not the Knight. This is a critical lesson. You can’t just slap a Quick Slash on and hope for the best. Hornet is fast, agile, and has a much more elegant butt-kicking style. Embrace the acrobatics. Dashing is your new best friend. You will be dashing so much, you’ll feel like you’re training for the Bug Olympics.

The Silk is Your Life. The new healing mechanic is a trap. It’s fast, but it costs a lot of silk. You’ll instinctively try to heal like you’re playing the first game. You’ll die. You’ll come back and try again. You’ll die again. Stop it. Use your silk for your fancy new abilities. Trust me, the healing is for emergencies only. Like, “I have one HP and am about to get hit by a boss that does a million damage” emergencies.

Looting is a Lifestyle. You see an enemy? They drop some stuff. You see a corpse? They have some stuff. You see a shiny thing on a rock? It’s stuff. Pick it all up. You’ll need every single scrap. This game has more crafting and resource management than a bug-sized version of Minecraft. You thought getting all the geo was bad? Now you’re a hoarder.
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Section 3: Boss Strategies

The First Boss: I can’t tell you who it is, because of spoilers. But I can give you a hint: It’s the one that made you go, “Oh, so this is what the last seven years were for.” Just keep hitting it. It’s a Hollow Knight boss. The solution is always to keep hitting it.

The Second Boss: See above.

The Third Boss: You know the drill.

Section 4: The Path Forward

Don’t follow a guide (for now). You waited this long. Savor the experience. Get lost. Go the wrong way. Fall into a pit and get stuck for an hour. That’s the Hollow Knight experience. Don’t ruin it by knowing everything right away. You have the rest of your life to be efficient.

Remember the old world. As you progress, you will see glimpses of the old kingdom. A familiar tune here, a similar enemy type there. Take a moment to appreciate the journey. Look at how far we’ve come. From a small, humble knight to a powerful, acrobatic queen. We’ve earned this.

Enjoy the new memes. The great cycle of memes is renewed. We have moved from “Where is Silksong?” to “I can’t believe Silksong is actually here!” and “I am stuck on this one boss in Silksong.” The next generation of silksanity has begun. Join in. It’s tradition.

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