[polishgenius]

I think I might end up liking Silksong even more than HK, though only replays will tell - it's so rewarding, and once you get past a certain point you get way more customisation and ways to engage with the difficulty than the first game ever gave you. But it does take a lot of blood sweat and tears to get to that point, and there is one questionable decision in the game's structure that is definitely gonna put a lot of fans off.


Like, I don't think it's actually more difficult than HK, but the ways to mitigate the difficulty are harder to find than the difficulty which you just run face-first into.


It's very, very satisfying though. Hornet moves like a dream.

[champ]

 Tiste Simeon, on 25 September 2025 - 06:17 PM, said:

 champ, on 25 September 2025 - 02:10 PM, said:

I don't say this lightly but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the greatest games I've ever played.

The story, the music, the combat and gameplay mechanics, I am just totally blown away. It's one of those games that everyone should play and if you cannot play it, watch a playthrough of it.

It'll be a tragedy if it doesn't win GOTY though I think Hades 2 could have something to say about that.

I've seen some gameplay for it and I think it looks stunning but I would be TERRIBLE at the combat. I may just watch a full gameplay of it like I would watch a TV show or something.

I wouldn't rule it out straight away.

There is a story mode (easy) and it is designed for beginners to be able to pick up and play through the game. It makes any dodge/parry window very forgiving and with some levelling half the time enemies don't even get a go as it's still turn based combat.

Watching it would still be an awesome experience though if you preferred not to play.

[Tiste Simeon]

Thanks man I think for me it'll be a "keep an eye out for it on sale" type thing!

[Maark Abbott]

polishgenius, on 25 September 2025 - 07:01 PM, said:

I think I might end up liking Silksong even more than HK, though only replays will tell - it's so rewarding, and once you get past a certain point you get way more customisation and ways to engage with the difficulty than the first game ever gave you. But it does take a lot of blood sweat and tears to get to that point, and there is one questionable decision in the game's structure that is definitely gonna put a lot of fans off.


Like, I don't think it's actually more difficult than HK, but the ways to mitigate the difficulty are harder to find than the difficulty which you just run face-first into.


It's very, very satisfying though. Hornet moves like a dream.

I actually played HK very close to the release date (started roughly in April) and the difference in the early game is very pronounced - it reminds me to some degree of Metroid Prime 2 which is noticeably harder than Prime 1 (given it expects players to know what they are doing already), but at the same time the difficulty curve in Prime 2 is more of a steady incline with a couple of spikes here and there (the infamous one is the Boost Guardian, although he's never given me any issue personally). The comparison is not great, I'll admit, but it's the best I have. A lot of the issue with Silksong is that because the opening is so very punishing, it felt like exploration was discouraged (a common thing in romhacks to gate players out of areas the developer doesn't want them in yet is to just make it horrible to go to that area), and so I never felt like I could go off of the beaten path without being slapped for it. For some context, the first part of HK I found sweaty was the Mantis Lords - but I still got past them first try, then went straight into Deepnest. With no upgrades. Because I didn't find that city place until after I had the monarch wings and the crystal dash.

It does bring back the dialogue around difficulty options, I guess - whilst I'm not interested in Clair Obscura, seeing that it has a mode that makes it at least accessible to play for people who don't really care about parry based gameplay is neat. I would have liked it if Silksong had done that but in its current state it was the least fun I have had in a game in a very, very long time, and given that HK was as good as it was it's a very bitter aftertaste left by that. Maybe I'd try it again if the developers made it more reasonable on the early game difficulty, but in its current state? No chance.

Anyway, on my end I'm in my retro PS2 horror era. About to starty on the second Fatal Frame game. The first was neat, if janky as heck, so I'm looking forward to the second.