Hollow Knight: Silksong – We Finally Touched It, And The Magic Is Real (According to One Lucky Scribe)
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
After years of magical anticipation, a lucky IGN journalist finally got to play Hollow Knight: Silksong at Gamescom 2025, revealing a more aggressive, visually vibrant sequel that might just be worth every moment of our collective impatience.
Right, so buckle up, because I've got a tale wilder than a rogue portal gun trying to turn your fridge into a black hole. For years, we've all been collectively whispering about *Hollow Knight: Silksong* like it's some sort of mythical beast, a digital unicorn that only appears in fever dreams. We've squinted at every single tweet, analyzed every fleeting glimpse, and frankly, I was starting to think it was all just an elaborate, very well-executed prank by Team Cherry. But mate, guess what? Someone actually got their hands on it. No, really. An intrepid soul, Simon Cardy from IGN South Africa, managed to clock about 20 minutes of playtime at Gamescom 2025, and apparently, our long-held prayers might just be answered.
I've been tinkering with this news all morning, and bloody hell, it's wilder than it first appeared. Imagine the scene: Gamescom 2025, the air thick with the usual corporate buzzwords and the faint smell of overpriced hotdogs. Amidst all that, a miracle. A playable *Silksong* demo. Simon’s account, which you can find over on IGN, painted a picture that genuinely has me buzzing. It’s like discovering a new dimension of gaming you only ever dared to dream about.
Our brave pioneer, Simon, was faced with a classic adventurer's dilemma right off the bat: a choice between two distinct areas – Moss Grotto or Deep Docks. Naturally, like any good wizard experimenting with an unknown spell, he aimed to try both. First up, Moss Grotto, chosen purely because green is apparently his favourite colour. Fair dinkum, you’ve gotta appreciate that level of scientific rigour. This sunlit, grassy zone seems to be the very beginning of Hornet’s latest adventure, kicking off with a brief cutscene where our beloved princess-protector breaks free from a rather inconvenient cage by simply collapsing the bridge she’s being paraded on. Talk about an entrance!
Moss Grotto, it turns out, felt very much like a gentle (re)introduction to the core *Hollow Knight* mechanics. Think rudimentary platforming, some simple scraps against critters, all wrapped up in a short, sweet section that hints at the sprawling labyrinth to come. It all culminated in a dust-up with a queen-bee-like insect known as Moss Mother. Simon dispatched her with relative ease, thanks to that deep-seated *Hollow Knight* muscle memory kicking in, dodging diagonal attacks and evading falling rocks. It sounds like action platforming 101, but the kind that still feels incredibly satisfying, like perfectly executing a simple charm spell.
Then came the real test: Deep Docks. This, Simon noted, was an entirely different beast. Here, Hornet’s arsenal expands with tools like throwable kunai and that ever-so-familiar dash ability. Things naturally get more complex when you’ve got more toys to juggle, and the level design in Deep Docks reflects that, featuring a maze of clanking metal elevators and those delightful, semi-hidden levers you just *know* will lead you to some secret or another. Simon only spent a handful of minutes here, but he could already feel himself getting hopelessly lost without the aid of a trusty map from our old friend Cornifer. And honestly, finding the secrets was always the purest joy in the original, so I reckon that familiar sense of spatial disorientation (in a good way!) is a welcome return.
Upon unlocking a boss arena in the Docks, Simon was confronted by Lace – an enemy far more threatening than anything he’d encountered yet. Described as a balletic white insect, not too dissimilar to Hornet herself, Lace apparently dazzled with intricate combos delivered at a speed that would make even a seasoned spellcaster’s brain short-circuit. Simon was defeated. And honestly, who can blame him? Facing a new, brutal boss with dozens of people queueing behind you, watching your every stumble? That’s pressure, mate.
While it’s too early to make a definitive call on *Silksong*’s overall difficulty, that jump from Moss Mother to Lace sounds noticeable. Enemies in later areas are capable of far more than simple pokes and prods. I usually welcome added complexity and evolution in combat for sequels, so no great issue there. My only curious thought, the one that buzzes like a trapped fly, is whether these tougher fights will become tiresome, halting exploration and progress too often. Discovering the world’s secrets was *the* highlight for many of us, and you wouldn’t want it to feel like running into a brick wall every ten steps.
But here’s where *Silksong* sounds like it truly steps into its own. There are smart concessions designed to make you feel more powerful. The big one? Health regain is now divorced from skills. This means you can throw those kunai liberally without having to sacrifice a potential life-saving heal. The game seems to be leaning into an aggressive playstyle, echoing some of my favourite systems from games like *Control* and *Doom Eternal*. Your attack is truly your best form of defence, emphasised by the fact that you only trigger health regen when your ‘silk-white bar’ is full, actively encouraging more offensive manoeuvres to build that up quickly. Dodging will only get you so far, apparently.
All these tweaks and changes tie together to create a more aggressive minibeast in Hornet. And honestly, while I certainly have a soft spot for the original *Hollow Knight*, I’m finding myself instantly drawn to *Silksong* more just from Simon’s description. The 2018 game often placed you on the back foot, relying on measured caution. Here, Hornet feels instantly more empowered and ready to go toe-to-toe with her aggressors. As someone who traditionally enjoys the push of faster-paced action games – yes, I’m trying my hardest not to use the ‘soulslike’ tag here – I’m left feeling incredibly encouraged.
Creature design is still a highlight, too. The borderline adorable adversaries are almost too cute to stab, which is a classic Team Cherry conundrum, isn't it? Simon mentioned being locked in a room with flying nuisances with pots over their heads lobbing molten rocks, and a pudgy little round lad with a saucepan for a shield. Almost felt bad killing them, he said. But in truth, combat was never the absolute pinnacle of *Hollow Knight* for me; it was always those luscious layers of exploration and discovery lurking beneath each beautifully crafted environment. And while Simon barely scratched the surface of *Silksong*’s secrets, initial impressions promise a similar bounty of nooks and crannies packed full of insect friends and foes.
Platforming through these mazes still sounds like a joy – that delicately delightful balance between precision and floaty jumping that tests your skills, but crucially, never feels unfair when you drop into a gap unwillingly. The addition of mantling in the sequel helps this massively, with edges freely within grasp even when slight misjudgments are made. A wizard’s trick to smooth out those frustrating moments, eh?
Visually, Simon was instantly taken by how much more colourful the environments are this time around. Cinders dance around caves dripping with lava, glowing green moss dresses earthy overhangs, themselves floating precariously above pools of glistening water. Hornet's iconic red cape billows against the painted backdrops, both acting in harmony to form the sort of Saturday morning cartoon look you'd expect if one were to hang in the Louvre. Hornet also feels bigger on the screen, dominating the frame to a greater degree than her meeker-yet-still-mighty forebearer, the Knight. That visual design feels like a deliberate choice, one aimed at creating more of a 'power trip' sensation this time around.
It's these ideas – from revamped combat design to its repainted world – that appear to be acting in concert to a magical degree. Even in this small dose, it’s impressive proof of what Team Cherry has been brewing. Yes, we’ve been waiting many, many years for this sequel, enough time to brew a thousand pots of tea and then some, but everything at this stage points to it being worth it. Each aspect feels authored and prescribed to a clear vision – a piece of playable art that is as fun to wield as it is to watch. Simon Cardy, writing for IGN South Africa, sounds genuinely smitten, even claiming he’s 'instantly drawn to Silksong more' than the original. And that, mate, is a heck of an endorsement for a game that’s been shrouded in more mystery than a wizard’s lost spellbook. So far, *Silksong* is very much singing to me.
Tags: Hollow Knight, Silksong, Metroidvania, Indie Games, Team Cherry
Original article: IGN South Africa