Silksong Runbacks keep it from getting to the next level

While it has been considered a worthy, and even superior, successor to 2017's indie darling in many ways, Hollow Knight: Silk Song is certainly not perfect. Critics have pointed out a number of perceived flaws with Team Cherry's second edition since its launch earlier this fall, with the most common complaints relating to difficulty. Specifically, it seems that most Hollow Knight: Silk Song Criticism centers around what some players consider to be artificial or inflated difficulty, such as benches or hard-hitting ambushes.

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And where there are discussions of artificial or unfair difficulty, there will always be mention of boss runbacks whenever applicable. Indeed, action-adventure games, and especially those that draw inspiration from the likes of Dark soulsas both Hollow Knight games do, are notorious for these drawn-out and often boring penalties, forcing players to trek through familiar territory time and time again after dying to a boss. Naturally, games with brutal combat, such as Hollow Knight: Silk Songtend to have the most maligned boss runbacks, as they take up a larger portion of the playtime pie chart – after all, more deaths mean more runbacks. Boss runbacks, which many players perceive as an unnecessary addition Silk songs already significant difficulty, are undoubtedly the albatross around the game's neck.

Egregious Boss Runbacks Remain Hollow Knight: Silksong's most controversial practice

Arguments in favor of Silksong's Boss Runback Design

As with most things in this world, Silk songs boss runbacks – and boss runbacks in general – are not universally maligned. Sure, you can find any number of players who actually appreciate it Silk songs dedication to its difficulty and the stakes that an intense or challenging boss runback can add to the larger gameplay loop. For these players, the process of navigating back to a boss, avoiding enemies and environmental hazards along the way, is an integral part of Silk song formula.

Take maybe Hollow Knight: Silk Songs most infamous boss runback: Last Judgement. It can take about a full minute to navigate from the nearest bench back to the Last Judge's Lair, a process that involves chaining together multiple traversal maneuvers, memorizing paths and avoiding mistakes; even the slightest miscalculation in a jump can mean starting the circuit. Defenders of this much-discussed section argue that, rather than being frustrating padding between boss attempts, this repetitive movement segment is actually its own meta-challenge: you can learn new, optimal ways to complete the runback more efficiently, either by discovering shortcuts or exploiting movement mechanics. From this point of view, Silk songs runbacks are an enriching part of its game loop, rather than just the cost of doing business.

Battle the final Judge in Hollow Knight Silksong

All the Same, Hollow Knight: Silksong's Boss Runbacks are likely to remain controversial

While the aforementioned argument has merit, these repeated game passages are unlikely to win over many Silk song fans. Ultimately a game that Silk song already has many challenges; if a player wants to increase the difficulty or experience additional, tertiary challenges, there are ways to do that as well. As such, including what is seen as the redundant and tedious task of traversing the same location multiple times, only to be rewarded with yet another gigantic challenge in the form of a boss fight, can make for an experience that is more frustrating than fun. This is to say nothing of the particularly exasperating feeling of dying during a boss runback, which is enough to make even the most zen of players quit.

Conversely, if a boss runback is straightforward and simple, it can become even more boring.

In a game that Silk songboss runbacks can be particularly controversial due to the presence of other penalty factors, such as loss of player currency or experience upon death. The cost of death can sometimes be excruciatingly high in these games, and features like boss runbacks can therefore feel like extra, hidden costs.