4 ms·

Would you recommend playing the first before diving into this or is it safe to just pick this up and go?

jsheard 1y ago
I don't think anyone has played far enough into Silksong to say for certain yet, but the first game is so story-light that I can't imagine you'd be lost if you skip ahead. You really shouldn't though, the first one is very good.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago
  I would go so far as to say the story from the first is obtuse. I had to read a few story synopses that pulled all of the threads together. Very much a show don’t tell situation.
cptroot 1y ago
No-one can know that for the next dozen hours or so. There were no early review copies, which means no-one knows if Silksong benefits from knowing the story, mechanics, or world of the first game
x0x0 1y ago
If you like metroidvanias, the first is an absolute gem. Whether you do it first or second, you shouldn't miss it.
runevault 1y ago
Hollow Knight is a great game, even with the fact from a story PoV you can probably skip it, I simply do not recommend it. To most (myself among them, and metroidvanias are one of my favorite genres), HK is one of the games at the pinnacle of the genre.
gms7777 1y ago
Not having touched Silksong yet, I'd recommend playing the Hollow Knight first. It holds up really well and is absolutely worth a play through. I think sometimes a sequel releases and it makes the original feel hard to go back to, if it's added new features or quality of life things. If I were in your position, I think having the "uncontaminated" experience of Hollow Knight is worth it. That is, unless you really want to feel like you're part of the conversation these first few weeks after Silksong comes out.
- nickthegreek 1y ago
  gog has it on sale for $7.50. So I'll give it a shot!
  - Jotalea 1y ago
    I love regional pricing. I can get this game for $4.99 (and maybe an extra offer if it ever has). But I already bought it on the Nintendo eShop for $0.15, so I will play it on there. As I previously said, I LOVE regional pricing.
IAmLiterallyAB 1y ago
Maybe, but the first one was so incredible, why not play it first?
ycombinete 1y ago
If you do, use a guide or something to get through Hollow Knight. If you 100% Hollow Knight you’ll probably be too burnt out to pick up Silksong for a while.
- heyheyhey 1y ago
  The whole point of the game and genre is the exploration. A guide kinda defeats that. If you don't like the backtracking (I hated it), then the game is probably not for you.
  - simlevesque 1y ago
    What a weird comment. The whole point of any game is to have fun. If someone enjoys playing a game with a guide, what's the problem exactly ?
    - dmonitor 1y ago
      How do you know if you enjoy playing the game without a guide if you don't do it? Looking something up to unstuck yourself is one thing, but following a guide from beginning to end is robbing yourself of the opportunity to enjoy the game as presented. "beating the game as quickly as possible" is such an obviously flawed reason to use a guide that I won't even respond to it. If you don't have the time to play the game, don't.
    - ranger207 1y ago
      It's the thing about type I fun and type II fun, where type I is "fun while it's happening" and type II is "not fun while it's happening but fun in retrospect": if you don't use a guide, the type II fun that results may be greater in quality and impact than the type I fun you'd get using a guide
  - bkcooper 1y ago
    I mostly agree, and would say you should just play it blind. If you care about getting 100% (112% after the DLC) there are probably a couple of things where looking them up would be useful. It is also a very big world, so trying to do cleanup once you have all exploration tools can be quite involved
jabroni_salad 1y ago
Silksong is supposed to be a standalone story so play order does not matter.
bkcooper 1y ago
It is very much worth playing but you could probably skip it. As others have alluded to, the storytelling is very influenced by Fromsoft (Souls games, basically) and is pretty oblique. But, even without following it exactly, the gameplay itself is still great, and the music and art do an excellent job setting up a melancholy vibe. The different zones have a lot of personality.
- bkcooper 1y ago
  Addendum: having now had the chance to start on Silksong, strongly recommend Hollow Knight first. That's not because of story, but because Silksong seems like it's geared to be noticeably more difficult than Hollow Knight was, both in platforming and in combat. (One of the things that I think Hollow Knight did really well was the spread of available difficulties. Beating the game isn't too hard; getting the true ending involves a few more specific difficult tests; and the DLC added boss gauntlets that let you go pretty crazy with how hard you want to make it.)
danaris 1y ago
In addition to what others have said, my understanding from Team Cherry's few reveals over the years since HK released is that Silksong takes place in a different location than Hallownest, the setting of Hollow Knight (though within the same world). Thus, given that most of the story of Hollow Knight is about Hallownest and what happened there, it is likely that you wouldn't miss much besides a few cool little connections by playing Silksong first.
michaelsbradley 1y ago
Hollow Knight is a classic. If you enjoy Metroidvania style games you’ll love (almost) every minute. The music and sound effects are great too, so it’s worth playing with headphones if your gaming setup is in an environment with heavy background noise. That being said, from what I’ve played of Silksong so far, it doesn’t seem to be crafted such that you’ll get the most out of the gameplay only if you played HK. Full appreciation of the in-game lore you’ll discover in Silksong is probably another matter, but even then I think playing them in either order will be a good time. Enjoy!
semiquaver 1y ago
No need to play the first plot-wise but Silksong is significantly harder. I’d strongly recommend playing HK first.

I don't think anyone has played far enough into Silksong to say for certain yet, but the first game is so story-light that I can't imagine you'd be lost if you skip ahead. You really shouldn't though, the first one is very good.

0cf8612b2e1e 1y ago
I would go so far as to say the story from the first is obtuse. I had to read a few story synopses that pulled all of the threads together. Very much a show don’t tell situation.

cptroot 1y ago

No-one can know that for the next dozen hours or so. There were no early review copies, which means no-one knows if Silksong benefits from knowing the story, mechanics, or world of the first game

x0x0 1y ago

If you like metroidvanias, the first is an absolute gem. Whether you do it first or second, you shouldn't miss it.

runevault 1y ago

Hollow Knight is a great game, even with the fact from a story PoV you can probably skip it, I simply do not recommend it. To most (myself among them, and metroidvanias are one of my favorite genres), HK is one of the games at the pinnacle of the genre.

gms7777 1y ago

Not having touched Silksong yet, I'd recommend playing the Hollow Knight first. It holds up really well and is absolutely worth a play through. I think sometimes a sequel releases and it makes the original feel hard to go back to, if it's added new features or quality of life things. If I were in your position, I think having the "uncontaminated" experience of Hollow Knight is worth it. That is, unless you really want to feel like you're part of the conversation these first few weeks after Silksong comes out.

nickthegreek 1y ago
gog has it on sale for $7.50. So I'll give it a shot!
- Jotalea 1y ago
  I love regional pricing. I can get this game for $4.99 (and maybe an extra offer if it ever has). But I already bought it on the Nintendo eShop for $0.15, so I will play it on there. As I previously said, I LOVE regional pricing.

IAmLiterallyAB 1y ago

Maybe, but the first one was so incredible, why not play it first?

ycombinete 1y ago

If you do, use a guide or something to get through Hollow Knight. If you 100% Hollow Knight you’ll probably be too burnt out to pick up Silksong for a while.

heyheyhey 1y ago
The whole point of the game and genre is the exploration. A guide kinda defeats that. If you don't like the backtracking (I hated it), then the game is probably not for you.
- simlevesque 1y ago
  What a weird comment. The whole point of any game is to have fun. If someone enjoys playing a game with a guide, what's the problem exactly ?
  - dmonitor 1y ago
    How do you know if you enjoy playing the game without a guide if you don't do it? Looking something up to unstuck yourself is one thing, but following a guide from beginning to end is robbing yourself of the opportunity to enjoy the game as presented. "beating the game as quickly as possible" is such an obviously flawed reason to use a guide that I won't even respond to it. If you don't have the time to play the game, don't.
  - ranger207 1y ago
    It's the thing about type I fun and type II fun, where type I is "fun while it's happening" and type II is "not fun while it's happening but fun in retrospect": if you don't use a guide, the type II fun that results may be greater in quality and impact than the type I fun you'd get using a guide
- bkcooper 1y ago
  I mostly agree, and would say you should just play it blind. If you care about getting 100% (112% after the DLC) there are probably a couple of things where looking them up would be useful. It is also a very big world, so trying to do cleanup once you have all exploration tools can be quite involved

jabroni_salad 1y ago

Silksong is supposed to be a standalone story so play order does not matter.

bkcooper 1y ago

It is very much worth playing but you could probably skip it. As others have alluded to, the storytelling is very influenced by Fromsoft (Souls games, basically) and is pretty oblique. But, even without following it exactly, the gameplay itself is still great, and the music and art do an excellent job setting up a melancholy vibe. The different zones have a lot of personality.

bkcooper 1y ago
Addendum: having now had the chance to start on Silksong, strongly recommend Hollow Knight first. That's not because of story, but because Silksong seems like it's geared to be noticeably more difficult than Hollow Knight was, both in platforming and in combat. (One of the things that I think Hollow Knight did really well was the spread of available difficulties. Beating the game isn't too hard; getting the true ending involves a few more specific difficult tests; and the DLC added boss gauntlets that let you go pretty crazy with how hard you want to make it.)

danaris 1y ago

In addition to what others have said, my understanding from Team Cherry's few reveals over the years since HK released is that Silksong takes place in a different location than Hallownest, the setting of Hollow Knight (though within the same world). Thus, given that most of the story of Hollow Knight is about Hallownest and what happened there, it is likely that you wouldn't miss much besides a few cool little connections by playing Silksong first.

michaelsbradley 1y ago

Hollow Knight is a classic. If you enjoy Metroidvania style games you’ll love (almost) every minute. The music and sound effects are great too, so it’s worth playing with headphones if your gaming setup is in an environment with heavy background noise. That being said, from what I’ve played of Silksong so far, it doesn’t seem to be crafted such that you’ll get the most out of the gameplay only if you played HK. Full appreciation of the in-game lore you’ll discover in Silksong is probably another matter, but even then I think playing them in either order will be a good time. Enjoy!

semiquaver 1y ago

No need to play the first plot-wise but Silksong is significantly harder. I’d strongly recommend playing HK first.