By 2026, I had heard every horror story about Silksong's Cogwork Core. White Palace? Path of Pain? Cute little warm-ups. Pharloom apparently looked at those and said, 'Hold my silk.' The upper Cogwork Core is a vertical gauntlet of spikes, grapple points, and enemies that seem personally offended by your continued existence. And at the top? A music puzzle. Because of course it is. I climbed it, I died a lot, and I solved the Architect's Melody puzzle so you can suffer slightly less. You're welcome. ?

What You Need Before You Start Climbing

Before you even think about yeeting yourself into the upper Cogwork Core, you need three things. I'm putting them in a tidy table because my brain is still recovering from the platforming and it likes boxes now.

Requirement
Why it matters

Defeat the Cogwork Dancers
Opens the way and proves you can tolerate spinning death

Acquire Clawline from The Underworks
Grapple points are non-negotiable; without it, you're just a very determined falling object

Access the upper-level doorway
You'll need to platform back up the right-hand side of the room to hit the levers from the bench at the start of Cogwork Core



The first two requirements mean you should explore Coral Chambers and The Underworks properly. I know, I know — exploring. Terrible. But the Clawline is the difference between 'skilled platforming' and 'a comedy routine performed by a corpse.' Once you've got it, unlock the doorway to the upper level, then take a deep breath. Or several. You'll need them.

The Platforming Gauntlet: A Love Letter to Spikes

Starting from the first grapple point, hook on and cross to the other side of the room. Jump to unhook so you don't eat damage, then head left past the spiked flying enemies to the middle platform. This is the part where I learned that 'just jump' is a lie adults tell children. You need to aggro the running enemy to the edge and push them off, then carefully deal with the steaming enemy. Carefully. That word is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Next jump is the irritating one. Jump — but not to the peak — then dash to the wall on the left. Climb up, avoid the nearby enemy, and at the top jump, grapple, and head right. While attached, hop over the spikes, grab the grapple on the other side, and keep going right. Hop off early, attach to the wall, and climb while avoiding the spikes that slide in and out. At the top, jump, grapple, and go left.

On that grapple, ride it all the way, let go, glide down slightly, and catch another grapple just below. Then hop quickly to the nearby platform. Avoid the spiked enemy above, wall-jump right, then up. Here you'll fight a steaming enemy and a shielded one. Aggro the steam enemy first and beat it, then use pogo attacks on the shield enemy. With luck, you'll get enough silk to heal. A safety net is always nice when the ceiling wants you dead.

Head right, go up the wall, grapple left, hop over the middle spikes, and catch the same grapple again on the other side in midair. Then hop from wall to wall to climb higher, avoiding rotating spikes and the spikes on top of each wall. At the top wall, glide over and let yourself fall until you spot a grapple. Glide right, then immediately left, and cling to the wall just after. Climb to the top and you'll see two rotating spikes on the right. Time your leap for when they're about to appear, then pogo on each to reach the wall on the right. Finally, jump from the top of that wall, grapple twice in quick succession to reach the middle spikes, pogo on the large spiked cogs, glide to the other side, catch the grapple, and end this platforming section. ?️

My death counter is now a lifestyle brand. If you hear a faint scream in Pharloom, that's me.

The Architect's Melody Puzzle: Music Theory Meets Pain



At the top of the Cogwork Core, you'll find the puzzle for the Architect's Melody. It's a sheet-music alignment nightmare: multiple pillars, notes everywhere, and the goal is to line up the notes so there are no broken lines. Sounds simple. It is not. The hard part is getting each pillar started, and I spent an embarrassing amount of time rotating things and whispering 'please' at my screen.

The solution is visual, not verbal. You need to align the notes on each pillar until the staff lines connect cleanly. I've included the solved-state image above because my explanation would sound like a raccoon trying to explain jazz. Use it as your reference, rotate the pillars, and don't try to brute-force it while listening to actual music. The notes do not care about your playlist. ?

Here's the short version:

? Align each pillar so the broken note lines become continuous.

? Get the starting position right; that's the real boss fight.

? Use the image above for the final configuration.

? Do not throw your controller. It's not the controller's fault.

After completing the puzzle, you'll be one-third of the way to unlocking the path to The Cradle and the end of the game. One-third! That's almost progress. Congratulations, you beautiful disaster. Now go lie down and think about what the Cogwork Core has done to you. You've earned it. ⚠️

Once you’ve peeled yourself off the floor, a low-stakes way to unwind is to window-shop PC game discounts instead of staring at another pillar. DealNest is a handy spot for that, with a steam sale tracker that keeps current deals in one place, so you can browse without opening a dozen store tabs.

It’s a quieter kind of challenge: checking whether the games on your wishlist finally dropped, then deciding whether your reflexes can handle another one. After the Cogwork Core, that’s probably the safest kind of scrolling you can do. ?

In September 2025, Hollow Knight: Silksong did more than dominate conversation. It absorbed the attention of the entire indie scene, pushing many planned releases away from its launch window. Adventure of Samsara, a 2D Metroidvania from developer Ilex Games and publisher Atari, chose a different path. It held its September 4 release date and went directly against one of the most anticipated indie games of the decade. By 2026, the results look less like a bold gamble and more like a cautionary tale.

The numbers are stark. According to SteamDB data cited in launch coverage, Adventure of Samsara reached a concurrent player peak of just 12 during its first five days. The peak arrived the day after launch, and the game failed to crack double figures after that. Its review profile tells a more complicated story: 14 user reviews, all positive. More people wrote reviews than played the game at the same time. That gap is the painful part.

The game did not fail because players rejected it. It failed because almost nobody found it. A positive review ratio cannot compensate for a launch buried under a cultural event. Silksong hit the 17th highest concurrent player count in Steam history during its launch weekend. Every stream, post, and recommendation seemed to point in one direction. Adventure of Samsara was left with a tiny audience and a very public data point.

Metric
Adventure of Samsara

Release date
September 4, 2025

Developer
Ilex Games

Publisher
Atari

Genre
2D Metroidvania

Peak concurrent players
12

Reviews at launch
14, all positive



The decision to launch alongside Silksong was almost certainly not made by the developers alone. Release scheduling involves publishers, platform holders, marketing plans, and contracts. A small team can spend years on a game and then watch its fate be decided by a calendar. That context does not make the outcome less disappointing, but it does make the easy jokes less useful. The people behind Adventure of Samsara did not set out to release a game that almost nobody would play. They built something that reviewers liked and then watched it disappear.

The contrast with the rest of the industry is sharp. Several games that might have launched in the same window moved out of Silksong's way, including Baby Steps, Demonschool, and Clover Pit. Those delays may have frustrated players, but they protected the games from an unwinnable attention war. Adventure of Samsara became the example of what happens when a release stays put. For Atari, the result is an awkward chapter in a broader effort to become relevant again. The publisher's revival plans, including its attempts with Bubsy, will need better timing if they are going to reach an audience.

There is also a human cost that the numbers hide. A 12-player peak is not just a statistic. It is a signal to a team that years of work arrived in the world and was barely seen. Positive reviews can soften that blow, but they cannot replace players. The game's fate was likely sealed before launch, when the calendar was set. In hindsight, moving the date would have been the obvious choice. In practice, the choice may never have belonged to the developers.

The case also challenges a common assumption about indie launches: that quality will eventually find an audience. Adventure of Samsara may still find players through word of mouth, discounts, or later platform releases. Yet a launch window is when most games earn their first and sometimes only burst of visibility. Steam's recommendation systems, streamers, and press coverage all cluster around release day. A game that misses that window can spend months climbing uphill. The positive reviews suggest that the underlying work is solid. The missing audience suggests that solid work is not enough when the market is saturated.

For developers planning 2026 releases, the practical takeaway is not to fear every large launch. It is to respect the difference between a crowded week and a genre-defining event. Silksong was not a normal competitor. It was a phenomenon with a dedicated audience that overlapped directly with Adventure of Samsara's potential players. A two-week delay might have changed everything. A same-day launch changed almost nothing for Silksong and nearly everything for the smaller game.

By 2026, the lesson is clear for small and mid-sized studios. A release date is not a neutral detail. It is part of the product's strategy. A Metroidvania launching beside Silksong is like a small boat crossing a shipping lane during a storm. The water is not hostile on purpose, but the wake is still overwhelming. Adventure of Samsara deserved a better chance. It did not get one.

For players, the release calendar also shapes the decision to buy. A game that arrives in a quiet stretch may be worth picking up at full price to support the team, while one buried under a mega-launch often makes more sense after a discount or a later platform release. Using a game price comparison service like DealNest can make that choice less impulsive, especially when a title’s visibility has less to do with its quality than with the week it launched.

That does not mean every small release should be treated as a waiting game. It means players now have more ways to weigh timing, price, and support for the studios they want to see succeed. A quick check before buying can turn a vague intention to “pick it up eventually” into a more informed decision, whether that means buying early or waiting for the right moment.

In 2026, Hollow Knight: Silksong no longer feels like a myth whispered across gaming events. It is a real, massive, handcrafted sequel that took Team Cherry's Kickstarter promise and inflated it into something that rivals the original in size, scope, and emotional weight. I played it on PC, and even with Steam's servers groaning under the launch, the experience was unmistakable: this is not a victory lap. It is a second masterpiece stitched from the same silk, then pulled tight until it cuts.

Silksong began as a playable Hornet in Hollow Knight and ballooned into a project that took roughly three times the development time of the original. Fans wore clown wigs at every major showcase, waiting for news, and when the game finally arrived, it broke Steam top-seller records. By 2026, the conversation has shifted from 'Will it ever come out?' to 'How does it hold up?' My answer: like a fencing match inside a collapsing clock tower—elegant, precise, and constantly one misstep away from disaster.



A Sequel That Rewires Every Thread

Silksong shares Hollow Knight's base gameplay, but it reworks almost every component. Charms are gone, replaced by tools that occupy dedicated slots, and they feel balanced within their categories. The compass no longer eats a charm slot. Combat is quicker, healing is faster and more viable, and movement chains beautifully: run follows dash, dash follows jump, and every option flows into the next. Exploration becomes fun on its own, which is the mark of a great platformer.

The quest system is a quiet revelation. Getting four quests done gradually as I explore, returning to town, and collecting rewards gives backtracking a purpose beyond map completion. The economy is tighter, too. In Hollow Knight, I often felt either grindy or suddenly rich. In Silksong, money gain feels measured, so purchases matter. The dive kick is awkward at first, then addictive. The platforming is incredible, and it turns simple traversal into a rhythm game played with Hornet's needle.



The Dance of Death—and the Missteps

Silksong kicks your ass faster and harder than the original. Enemies deal two masks of damage as early as the first area, but your improved healing compensates. The message is clear: learn the mechanics, master the dance, or die. Boss fights feel like a dance with death where you learn the steps on the spot. When you finally master a pattern and claim a reward, the satisfaction is immense.

The game is not always fair, though. The Moorwing offers alternate routes if you think smarter, not harder, which reminds me of Outer Wilds: knowledge is a weapon. But standard enemies, especially flying ones in the Citadel, become annoying rather than challenging. They screech, back away from swings, and dodge projectiles, landing them in my top ten of video game enemies I would love to punt across a football field. Bench placement can also be cruel. One boss required me to use a distant bench, climb a steep mountain, and dodge a dozen enemies just to try again. Sometimes the runback is an entire area, ending at a bench that pranks you and refuses to work.



A Feast for Eyes and Ears

The visuals are immaculate. Silksong takes Hollow Knight's hand-drawn art, polishes it, adds animation frames, and layers in better lighting and effects. It is a feast for the eyes. I adored wandering through vibrant, varied areas. The Fourth Chorus fight, Hornet binding to crests and weaver statues, the Citadel's ambience, and Greymoor's sorrowful solitude all left me staring. Greymoor feels like the City of Tears and Deepnest had a melancholy child. Ari Gibson's talent is almost enviable to the point of being rude. Pharloom itself is a cathedral built inside a wasp nest: sacred, hostile, and humming with hidden violence.

The soundtrack is a step up. Instruments are lifted to the forefront, matching Pharloom's vibe. Bilewater's melancholic track gives beauty and purpose to an area made of filth. Cogwork Core might be my favorite, even if it plays in a small location. Sound design is chunky and heavy, with voice lines everywhere. Christopher Larkin handled music and sound design, and the result feels like a massive production. It is easily one of the best video game soundtracks, and I will be listening to it half the time I drive.



Story Woven in Silk and Scripture

The story strikes the same perfect balance as the original: a foreground narrative and deep lore. You can rush through and still get attached to Hornet and Sherma, the best character. Or you can dig into enemy logs, flavor text, and environmental details to find an entire world beneath your feet. Every species has a purpose, every society has history, and every area feels real. The Weaver society's timeline and the Citadel's religious undertones are worth hours of reading. The lore is a tapestry woven by spiders who also keep meticulous footnotes. I will stay vague to avoid spoilers, but take your time. The effort in every word is obvious.

The Verdict

Silksong is a rollercoaster. At its best, it is the best game I have ever played. At its worst, it is Bilewater, an area that makes me consider legal action because it feels immoral to endure without compensation. It was on track for my first-ever perfect score for twenty hours. Then the runbacks, grab attacks, and flying enemies reminded me that mastery comes with friction.

Aspect
Verdict

Combat
?????

Exploration
?????

Difficulty
Brutal, mostly fair, occasionally cruel

Visuals
Immaculate

Soundtrack
Superb

Runbacks and benches
Frustrating

Overall
A flawed masterpiece

If you welcome the challenge, Silksong is the best game of 2025 and still a benchmark in 2026. Pace yourself, stand up, touch grass, and do not let frustration win. After 30 hours and a final boss, I still felt like I had barely scratched the surface. I love it with all my heart, but if you are not willing to endure intense difficulty, it may not be for you. For everyone else: the dance is worth every scar.

Part of what makes a game like this worth committing to is knowing you are getting it at a price that matches the experience. Silksong is the kind of title you will sink dozens of hours into, so it is worth a few minutes of browsing before you commit — checking a game price comparison can reveal that the same title costs noticeably less on one storefront than another, especially once seasonal sales start overlapping across platforms. It is a small step that takes almost no time and leaves more room in the budget for the DLC and soundtracks you will inevitably want afterward.

For anyone still deciding whether to take the plunge, a quick look at DealNest before checkout is a sensible habit rather than a hassle. The difficulty curve means you will be replaying areas more than once, and paying full price on a whim when a cheaper listing exists elsewhere is the kind of mistake that stings almost as much as Bilewater. Get the deal first, then let the scars begin.

In 2026, Hollow Knight: Silksong is no longer a rumor whispered in YouTube comment sections or a punchline about delays. It exists, it is brutal, and it has left at least one devoted Hollow Knight player frozen at the gate. That player, a stubborn soul with questionable time management, has spent months wandering Hallownest, dying to the same optional Dream Realm boss, and refusing to look up how much of the game remains because the mere thought of spoilers makes their shell crawl.

The fan's journey through Hollow Knight is not a speedrun. It is a slow, meditative loop of failure. They know the combat can be difficult, especially when a boss seems designed to test patience rather than reflexes. They also know they are extremely stubborn. Rather than skip an optional Dream Realm boss, they will happily spend an entire afternoon getting killed by it, repeating the same doomed cycle until the controller creaks in their hands.



Part of the reason the fan still has not finished Hollow Knight is simple: they are not very good at it. Plenty of players are not very good at Hollow Knight. Its combat can be punishing, especially against bosses that feel like moving brick walls with spikes. The fan also tries to maintain some semblance of a social life on weekends, which cuts into the hours required to bang their head against the same wall. The result is a save file that has become a monument to bad time management and stubborn pride.

The Sequel That Hits Twice as Hard

When Hollow Knight: Silksong launched in 2025, it did not take long for the conversation to turn toward difficulty. The long-awaited sequel racked up negative reviews on Steam, many of them citing combat that felt less like a challenge and more like a cruelty. Almost every boss, and even some basic enemies, deal double damage with each hit. The difficulty scaling is painful. Some bosses have no benches nearby, so players must repeat platforming sections and clear rooms all over again just to get wrecked once more by a fight they have not yet memorized.



There is also an adjustment period for Hollow Knight veterans. Hornet is a more agile and mobile protagonist, and her enemies are faster and have more varied attacks as a result. Healing is faster, but it requires more charges. Muscle memory from the first game does not always help in the second. In fact, it can actively hurt, making platforming and combat feel unfair when the player's instincts are calibrated to a slower, heavier knight.

Element
Hollow Knight
Silksong

Boss damage
Often one mask per hit
Many bosses and basic enemies deal double damage

Bench placement
Usually generous enough
Some bosses have no nearby bench, forcing repeated platforming

Protagonist
The Knight, slower and more grounded
Hornet, agile and mobile

Healing
Slower, hold to heal
Faster, but requires more charges

Enemy design
Telegraphed and fair
Faster, more varied attacks

Hard but Fair, or Just Hard?

Yet a big strength of Hollow Knight is that although it can be hard, it rarely feels unfair. The fan can count on one hand the number of times they died and wanted to blame the game. Usually, they are frustrated with themselves for making a platforming mistake or for failing to dodge an attack that was clearly telegraphed. That self-directed frustration is oddly comforting. It means the game is demanding, but it is not cheating.

The fan cannot say yet whether Silksong feels unfair. After all, they are still working their way through Hollow Knight. Still, they would not be surprised if Silksong really is more difficult. Metroidvania sequels often crank up the difficulty to give experienced players more of a challenge, and Team Cherry has never seemed interested in making things easy. The difference is that Hollow Knight's difficulty built trust over time. Silksong, by many accounts, asks for that trust upfront and then punches the player in the mask.



Going into Silksong after intentionally honing skills in Hollow Knight might mean a really tough time learning the ropes of the new installment. The fan is terrified to finish the first game and then jump into a potentially even more punishing experience. At the same time, they are hungry for more of this world. The bluster about Silksong's difficulty has scared them off for now, but they are trying to get good.

Maybe once they finally beat that damn Dream Realm boss, they will feel ready to join everyone else in getting Hornet where she needs to go. Until then, they will keep dying, keep refusing to look up spoilers, and keep telling themselves that one more attempt is all it will take. ?️⚔️?

Anyone weighing whether to grind through Hallownest first or leap straight into Pharloom usually ends up doing the same thing: refreshing store pages and waiting for a sale. Team Cherry's games are priced fairly, but regional pricing, bundle deals, and seasonal discounts vary enough that it's worth comparing before committing. Rather than hopping between a dozen storefronts and hoping the price you saw last week still holds, it helps to check game prices in one place first — especially if Silksong is going to be sitting in a wishlist for a while anyway.

There's something fitting about that kind of patience. Waiting for a discount is its own small test of restraint, not unlike resisting the urge to look up a boss strategy after the tenth death. Both reward the player who holds out just a little longer, and both make the eventual payoff feel earned. Until the next attempt — or the next sale — the mask stays cracked and the determination stays intact.

As a regular player who has been waiting for Hollow Knight: Silksong since the original game ate my entire summer back in the day, I still remember launch week like it was yesterday. It was 2025, and the internet basically melted. Steam crashed. The Switch eShop crashed. I think even my fridge would have crashed if it had a store page. Team Cherry dropped Silksong without sending out review codes, so critics and players were all starting from zero at the same time. That was a bold move, and honestly, I loved it. No spoilers, no early hot takes, just pure chaos and discovery.

Then the reviews started trickling in. And wow. ? At the time of that early snapshot, Hollow Knight: Silksong had 10 reviews on OpenCritic, with nine perfect scores and one 98/100. That gave it a 98 average. On OpenCritic, that made it the highest-rated game on the platform, ahead of heavy hitters like Super Mario Odyssey, Baldur's Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Grand Theft Auto 4, Elden Ring, Astro Bot, The Last of Us Remastered, God of War (2018), and Persona 5 Royal. I remember staring at that list and thinking, 'Wait, seriously? My little bug game?'



Now, in 2026, I can look back with a clearer head. That 98 was never going to last forever. Ten reviews is a tiny sample. As more outlets turned in scores, it was almost guaranteed to drop. Some critics were always going to bounce off the difficulty, the boss runbacks, or the sheer size of the map. And OpenCritic has its own quirks: it mostly covers games from 2013 onward, with rare exceptions like GTA4. So Silksong wasn't being compared to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which sits at 99 on Metacritic. That's a different era with far fewer reviews counted. Still, even with those caveats, a 98 debut is absurd.



Not gonna lie, Silksong kicked my butt. ? I'm not a speedrunner. I'm just a person with a controller and too much free time. Some of those boss runbacks had me talking to my screen. I died to one late-game boss so many times that I started recognizing the background music's loop points. 'Boss runbacks' became a meme for a reason. Team Cherry said they were looking at updates to address some of the criticism, and modders did what modders do: within days, there were mods to make the game easier, remove runbacks, or tweak damage. That's the beauty of this community. If the developers won't fix it, someone will.



Here's the early score picture, just to show how wild it was:

Early OpenCritic Snapshot
Detail

Reviews counted
10

Perfect scores
9

One score
98/100

Average
98

Platform ranking
#1 at the time

What I love most is that Silksong didn't need review codes to succeed. It didn't need a giant marketing campaign. It had years of hype, sure, but Team Cherry delivered a game so dense, so gorgeous, and so brutally satisfying that people couldn't stop talking about it. It smashed records, crashed storefronts, and immediately entered the Game of the Year conversation. In 2026, that conversation hasn't really ended. You still see people arguing about their favorite bosses, sharing clips, and begging for DLC. I'm one of them.



So, should you play Silksong? If you love Metroidvanias, yes. If you hate difficult games, maybe watch a let's play first. But for me, the pain was part of the point. Every victory felt earned. Every bench felt like a hug. And every time Hornet did that little sit-down animation, I felt a weird sense of peace before the next nightmare boss. The 98 average might have been a snapshot, but the game itself is a monument. It's 2026, and I'm still thinking about it. That's the real review score. ?

There's a practical side to all this too. After the credits roll and the hype settles, most of us go looking for the next fix — another Metroidvania, a roguelike that punishes just as hard, or something completely different to decompress with. That's usually when I start digging through my wishlist to see what's actually worth buying versus what can wait. Keeping an eye on a steam sale tracker helps with exactly that, so you're not paying full price for a game that goes on discount two weeks later.

DealNest is one of those tools I wish I'd found before spending full price on half my library, and it's genuinely useful if you're the type who buys a lot of games and wants to know when prices actually drop. It won't make Silksong's boss runbacks any kinder, but it might soften the blow of your next impulse purchase.

I have watched the Hollow Knight: Silksong review saga unfold with a mix of fascination and frustration. Even in 2026, the conversation around Team Cherry's long-awaited sequel is still shaped by the review bombing campaign that began shortly after launch. What started as one of the most hyped indie releases in years quickly became a case study in how localization, difficulty, and player expectations can collide. The game's global rating continues to reflect that collision, and the negative reviews have not stopped.



From Overwhelmingly Positive To Mostly Positive

I remember the early excitement. Silksong launched to an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam, a result that felt earned after years of waiting. But according to SteamDB, that rating plummeted quickly. After being on the market for just a handful of days, the game sat at a Mostly Positive global rating. Only 76% of its reviews were positive, while 23% skewed negative. That is a significant drop for any game, let alone one with Silksong's pedigree.

Here is the breakdown as I understand it:

Platform
Launch Rating
Later Global Rating
Positive Reviews
Negative Reviews

Steam
Overwhelmingly Positive
Mostly Positive
76%
23%

That table is not just numbers. It represents a flood of reviews from players around the world, especially in China. Team Cherry offered assurances, but the negative reviews kept coming on platforms like Steam. So I have to ask: when does a review score stop being a snapshot and start becoming a verdict?

Fans In China Still Aren't Happy With Silksong

The biggest point of contention has been the game's poor Chinese localization. This is not a minor complaint about a few awkward phrases. It is a fundamental issue that affects how players understand the story, the world, and the combat systems. Matthew Griffin, the head of marketing and PR for Team Cherry, confirmed on X that fixes to the localization are coming. That confirmation was welcome, but it has not stopped the negative reviews.

Why? Because trust, once broken, is hard to rebuild. Players who felt ignored or disrespected by a rushed localization are not necessarily going to change their reviews just because a patch is promised. They want action, not just words. And in 2026, that lesson still echoes across the industry.



Difficulty, Design, And The Rosary Problem

Localization is not the only reason people dislike Silksong. A lot of complaints surround the game's difficulty, specifically how unfair it can feel. Some boss fights and enemy encounters pushed players past frustration and into resignation. There is a difference between a hard game and a game that feels hostile, and many reviewers argued that Silksong crossed that line too often.

There are also criticisms of certain design decisions, such as Silksong's rosary problem. For players who wanted to love the game, these issues compounded. They did not just make the experience harder; they made the experience less rewarding. I can understand why some fans felt that the sequel had lost the elegant balance of the original Hollow Knight.

Team Cherry Says A Fix Is Coming, But Is It Too Late?

Team Cherry did respond. The first major update was positioned to make the game a lot easier, especially early on. The Moorwing and Sister Splinter bosses were set to become less challenging, and mid-game Bellway and Bell Bench prices were to be decreased. A handful of other tweaks were also planned to make the overall Silksong experience feel more balanced.



That sounds like a meaningful patch. But here is the problem: the upcoming patch would not address the Chinese localization, which was Silksong's biggest point of contention. If Team Cherry has aspirations for Silksong's rating to return to Overwhelmingly Positive, then it needs to fix this issue as soon as possible. Until then, Hollow Knight: Silksong will likely continue to get negative reviews, and its global rating could decrease even further.

So, is the fix too little, too late? For some players, yes. For others, the patch is a sign that Team Cherry is listening. I think the answer depends on what happens next. A balanced patch can repair gameplay frustration, but it cannot repair a localization disaster by itself. The studio needs to treat the Chinese localization not as a side quest, but as a main objective.

In 2026, Hollow Knight: Silksong remains a brilliant but bruised game. Its review bombing story is a warning to every developer: launch day is not just about servers and bugs. It is about language, respect, and the trust of a global audience. If Team Cherry wants the rating to climb back, it must finish the fight it started. ?

Moments like this also shape how players spend their money. A rocky launch makes people cautious, and caution usually means waiting for a discount before committing to a full-price purchase. That instinct is healthy — it turns your wallet into a kind of review, and it rewards studios that ship polished, respectful releases instead of patching their reputation after the fact.

If you would rather let the dust settle before diving back into Hallownest, or you simply want to stretch your gaming budget further while you wait for the next update, keeping an eye on best game deals at DealNest can help you pick up titles you have been eyeing without paying launch-day prices.

After more than six years of teasers, delays, and half-joking April Fool's theories, Hollow Knight: Silksong finally arrived, and its release landed like a key turning in a lock that had rusted shut. For one longtime player, every session with Team Cherry's sequel is a joyride—beautiful, brutal, and occasionally humbling—but the real surprise is what it did to their patience for other long-awaited sequels. If Silksong can emerge from the void, then perhaps the next Mass Effect can too.



A Sequel That Refused to Stay Silent

Silksong was announced with a trailer over six years before it launched, then faded behind the curtain while Team Cherry kept working. Many fans assumed it had become an elaborate prank or a casualty of impossible expectations. Instead, the studio was simply having too much fun developing it—a better fate than a rough development cycle. When the game finally materialized, it proved that a long silence does not always mean a project is dead. Sometimes it means the creators are polishing something until it gleams.



The Elephant in the Gaming Room

That lesson matters because another sequel has been waiting in the dark. The Elder Scrolls 6 is the obvious elephant in the room, the one Todd Howard acknowledged years ago. Many players have learned to put it out of their minds until official news arrives. But there is a different sequel that has burned in the hearts of Mass Effect fans for even longer: the next Mass Effect game.

The next Mass Effect was teased more than five years ago, and Mass Effect 3 launched more than a decade before that. Mass Effect: Andromeda arrived in 2017, but it was a side story, not a continuation of the original trilogy. The next Mass Effect appears to be different. With Liara T'Soni positioned as its face, the project seems poised to pick up after Mass Effect 3 rather than after Andromeda. Whether it is called Mass Effect 4, Mass Effect 5, or simply Mass Effect, the distinction matters less than the promise: a return to the story that began with Commander Shepard and ended with a galaxy-changing choice.



The Canon Problem and the Cost of Hope

Continuing that story has always meant confronting the canonization problem. Mass Effect 3 offered multiple endings, and choosing one as official would make other players' decisions feel trivial. For years, that dilemma seemed like a locked door. Now, however, many fans have stopped caring about the lock. They want more Mass Effect, not more Andromeda, and Liara is one of the most beloved characters in the franchise. Seeing her headline the next chapter is enough to keep excitement alive.

The only problem is that excitement has been idling in a garage for years. The next Mass Effect has reportedly spent around five years in development, much of it in pre-production. BioWare and EA have also weathered layoffs and internal turbulence, which has made the road bumpier than anyone wanted. The wait for the next Mass Effect has become a sealed letter in a drawer: the ink still wet with possibility, but the address fading.



Why Silksong Changes the Mood

Silksong's release works like a thawing river, cracking the ice of cynicism that had frozen around other delayed sequels. Hollow Knight launched in 2017, and its sequel took over eight years to arrive. By comparison, it has been roughly the same amount of time since Mass Effect: Andromeda. That symmetry does not guarantee anything, but it does offer a strange comfort. A game is not canceled just because it is quiet.

Game
Last Major Entry
Approximate Wait by 2026
Status

Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hollow Knight (2017)
8+ years
✅ Released in 2025

Next Mass Effect
Mass Effect 3 (2012)
13+ years
?️ In pre-production

Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect 3 (2012)
8+ years since Andromeda
Spin-off, not a direct continuation

Hope, in this case, is like a garden on a comet—beautiful, improbable, and impossible to schedule. Yet Silksong proves that improbable gardens can bloom. Team Cherry's sequel is not just a product; it is a signal that patience can be rewarded when a team is allowed to build something with care. If the next Mass Effect receives even half that devotion, the result could be extraordinary.



A Reason to Keep Waiting

As of 2026, the next Mass Effect still has not shown enough to calm every fear. BioWare's recent history has been rocky, and the industry's layoffs have made long development cycles even more precarious. But Hollow Knight: Silksong's arrival is a reminder that no game should be written off until it is officially canceled. It took over eight years after Hollow Knight for its sequel to materialize. The next Mass Effect has now been in that same waiting zone, and that at least gives fans a reason to keep looking toward the stars.

The galaxy may still be silent, but silence is not the same as emptiness. With Liara waiting in the wings and a legacy stretching back to Mass Effect 3, the next Mass Effect remains one of the most tantalizing possibilities in gaming. Silksong finally crossed the finish line. Perhaps Mass Effect will too.

In the meantime, waiting does not have to mean staring at an empty release calendar. Long gaps between sequels are a good excuse to revisit the games that made the wait worthwhile in the first place — replaying the original Mass Effect trilogy, finally finishing that RPG sitting in the backlog, or trying something new from a genre you have never touched. A slow year is often the best time to catch up, especially when older titles and hidden gems can be picked up for far less than a full-price release.

For players who would rather spend the wait exploring than refreshing rumor threads, sites like DealNest track PC game discounts across storefronts, making it easier to find a deal on something worth playing while the galaxy stays quiet. Whether you are rebuilding your Shepard or discovering a new world entirely, a cheaper way in makes the long haul a little more bearable.

Hidden merchants are some of the most rewarding secrets in Hollow Knight: Silksong. They offer tools, upgrades, and rare goods that can transform Hornet's journey through Pharloom. One such figure is Jubilana, a wandering merchant whose whereabouts are tied to the Wandering Merchant side quest. Why should players bother tracking her down? Because the quest does not just reward a few Rosaries; it permanently adds a useful shop to Songclave. The following guide explains how to start the quest, locate Jubilana in the Choral Chambers, and make the most of her inventory in the current 2026 version of the game.



? Starting the Wandering Merchant Quest

The Wandering Merchant quest becomes available after Hornet defeats the Cogwork Dancers. That boss fight takes place in the Cog Core area of the Choral Chambers region. Once the Cogwork Dancers fall, the path forward opens. Players should continue right until they reach Songclave, a small safe haven that functions much like Bellhart.



When Songclave is first reached, it feels quiet. Only one NPC, the Caretaker, is available for conversation. Speaking to him and exhausting his dialogue is important for understanding the area. After that, the First Shrine bell inside the large building must be activated. This costs 80 Rosaries and unlocks the bench interaction.



Then, leave Songclave, rest at a save bench, and return. A Wish Board will have been constructed. Interacting with it reveals several quests, including the Wandering Merchant request. Accept it to begin the search for Jubilana.

?️ Finding Jubilana in the Choral Chambers

The quest has a single objective: find Jubilana. Fortunately, she is not far from Songclave. She hides in a small room within the Choral Chambers, the Citadel's largest area. The fastest route is through the room where the Cogwork Dancers were defeated, then downward. Alternatively, if Hornet is elsewhere, fast-travel to the Bell Beast station in Choral Chambers and head west.



Once the room is entered, enemies will be present. Jubilana will not reveal herself until they are defeated. Clear the room, then speak to her and exhaust her dialogue. This completes the Wandering Merchant quest. On the next visit to Songclave, Jubilana will have moved in and set up shop next to the Wish Board.



? Rewards and Jubilana's Inventory

The true reward is not a one-time payout. It is permanent access to a new merchant. Jubilana sells several items that can improve Hornet's combat and exploration efficiency.



Item
Price
Effect

Ascendant's Grip
350 Rosaries
Allows Hornet to stick to walls for as long as desired.

Mask Shard
750 Rosaries
Used to increase maximum health.

Simple Key
650 Rosaries
Opens a locked door.

Spool Extender
720 Rosaries
Increases the length of the Silk meter.

Rosary String
80 Rosaries
Consumable that grants Rosaries.

Among these, the Ascendant's Grip is the strongest early purchase. Silksong includes difficult platforming sections that demand wall jumps and extended wall cling. Having the Grip can make those challenges far less punishing. The Spool Extender is another excellent choice for players who rely on Silk skills, while the Mask Shard is a long-term investment in survivability. The Simple Key is situational but can unlock optional rewards. Rosary String is useful only when players need a small Rosary top-up.

? Tips for a Smooth Quest in 2026

Defeat the Cogwork Dancers first. The Wish Board will not appear before that milestone.

Save 80 Rosaries for the First Shrine bell in Songclave.

Exhaust every dialogue with the Caretaker, Jubilana, and the Wish Board.

Rest at a bench and return to Songclave if the Wish Board does not appear immediately.

Clear all enemies in Jubilana's room. She stays hidden until the room is safe.

Use the Bell Beast fast-travel station if the route from Songclave feels confusing.

Buy Ascendant's Grip before luxury purchases. Movement upgrades often matter more than raw stats.

✅ Why the Wandering Merchant Quest Matters

Hollow Knight: Silksong rewards curiosity. The Choral Chambers is enormous, and missing a single side room can mean missing a permanent merchant. The Wandering Merchant quest is a perfect example. It asks for a short detour, a small Rosary investment, and one room clear. In return, Hornet gains access to tools that support many different playstyles.

Is it worth completing in 2026? Absolutely. The quest remains one of the most efficient side activities in the Citadel. It combines exploration, combat, and a lasting upgrade path. For players who want to make Songclave feel like a true hub, finding Jubilana is an essential step.

That same instinct for getting maximum value out of every Rosary is worth carrying over to the real world of buying games. Anyone who enjoys squeezing the most out of a single purchase tends to appreciate a well-curated list of game deals today, where discounts on titles across platforms are gathered in one place instead of scattered across a dozen storefronts.

DealNest keeps things simple: current price drops, bundle offers, and limited-time sales, all organized so players can spot what is actually worth their money. For anyone building a backlog of indie metroidvanias or waiting for a sale on a bigger release, the site is a straightforward place to check before paying full price.

In 2026, Hollow Knight: Silksong is no longer the fresh, impossible dream it once was. It has been out for well over a year, and its post-launch life has settled into a strange rhythm: part victory lap, part endurance test. The sequel from Team Cherry launched in 2025 to a historic reception for an indie game, proving that the long wait was not wasted. Yet even now, players are still debating its sharpest edges. One of those edges is a mid-game ability called Clawline. It is brilliant, it is necessary, and it can be an absolute headache.



Getting Clawline is already a tough task. Players do not receive it until they reach The Cauldron in the Underworks. Once acquired, it becomes essential for Hornet's journey to the Citadel. The skill transforms Hornet's Needle into a harpoon-like grappling tool. In theory, it is a dream: swing, zip, chain, survive. In practice, it can feel like trying to thread a needle while the floor is falling away. Clawline has a mind of its own, and it does not always care about a player's carefully planned route.



Then there is the Silk problem. Clawline consumes Silk, Hornet's source of energy. That design choice is what makes the ability so controversial. Silk is precious. It fuels healing and offensive tools. Using it to grapple can feel counterproductive, especially when the game demands precise chains of movement. Yes, Clawline replenishes a small sliver of Silk when used, allowing grapples to be linked together. But that tiny refund is not always satisfying. When a section requires players to chain Clawlines, timing is everything. And timing, as the community likes to say, is easier said than done.



The frustration is easy to understand. Clawline asks players to manage a resource while also executing tricky aerial movement. That combination can turn a simple traversal puzzle into a stress test. Some players may master it without issue. Others will find it one of the most frustrating aspects of Silksong. Team Cherry loves to push difficulty to new heights, so the annoyance may be deliberate. The studio has never been shy about making players earn every inch of progress. Still, if any skill is worthy of being streamlined and made more approachable, Clawline is a strong candidate. It sits at the intersection of creativity and cruelty. It gives Hornet a wonderful toy, then charges her for every swing.

Clawline's strengths
Clawline's drawbacks

Turns Hornet's Needle into a versatile grappling tool
Consumes Silk, the same resource used for healing

Enables dramatic chained movement
Demands strict timing under pressure

Feels rewarding when mastered
Replenishes only a small sliver of Silk

Opens routes to the Citadel and beyond
Can stall progress for struggling players



Put simply, Clawline is a mechanic that divides the community. For every player who gracefully swings through The Cauldron, there is another who misses a grapple by a fraction of a second and plummets. That is not necessarily a flaw. Silksong is built on challenge, and its predecessor was no pushover. But Clawline is unusual because it is both essential and awkward. It is not an optional badge of skill. It is part of the critical path. When a core ability feels this finicky, the debate is bound to linger.



Context matters, too. Even before Silksong's release date was announced, 2025 was already shaping up to be a massive year for games. Split Fiction, Doom: The Dark Ages, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Death Stranding 2, and Ghost of Yotei were just the tip of the iceberg. September alone was packed, and with Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7 on the way, 2025 became one of the industry's biggest years. Now, in 2026, the dust has settled, and Silksong's reputation has only grown. It is still discussed as a near-perfect Metroidvania, even with its hiccups.

It feels surreal that Silksong is finally here and already part of gaming history. After years of theories and anticipation, it shook the industry in a great way. The Game Awards have come and gone since its launch, and its awards-season run was watched closely. Whether or not it took home Game of the Year, its influence is undeniable. As of 2026, Silksong has proven to be something special. Clawline may remain less than ideal, but it is also unforgettable. And in a game built on challenge, maybe that is exactly the point.

That same packed release calendar has a practical side effect for anyone still working through their backlog. Between Silksong, the heavy hitters of 2025, and whatever 2026 has lined up, few players can afford to buy everything at full price. Keeping an eye on how quickly a game's price drops has quietly become part of the hobby, whether you are hunting for a Metroidvania you missed or waiting for a big-budget release to settle into a more reasonable range. Timing a purchase well can mean the difference between playing two games this season and playing five.

For anyone who would rather spend less and play more, DealNest is worth a look. The site gathers PC game discounts in one place, making it easier to spot a price drop before it disappears. It is a low-effort way to stay ahead of the sales cycle, especially useful when the release schedule keeps filling up and the wishlist keeps growing. Silksong may demand patience from its players, but building a library around it does not have to.

In the annals of gaming history, few moments have sparked as much buzz as the debut of Hollow Knight: Silksong on Metacritic. When the long-awaited sequel finally launched on September 4, 2025, it didn't just meet expectations—it shattered them, at least initially. As of its first few reviews, Silksong achieved a perfect score of 100 on Metacritic, making it the highest-rated game of all time on the aggregator, dethroning the legendary The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which sits at 99. ?



Now, in 2026, that perfect score may have settled as more reviews poured in, but the achievement remains a feather in Team Cherry's cap. It's not every day a game—especially an indie Metroidvania—shoots to the top of the charts. Let's dive into the details of this monumental debut and what it means for the gaming landscape.

The Perfect Score That Shook the Gaming World

At the time of its debut, Silksong had only four critic reviews on Metacritic, but that was enough to give it a flawless 100. While it's likely the score will drop as more reviews come in (and indeed, it may have by now), the fact that it ever reached 100 is a testament to its quality. For context, Ocarina of Time has long been considered untouchable with its 99, so Silksong briefly stood alone at the summit. ?

Game
Metacritic Critic Score
Year

Hollow Knight: Silksong
100 (at debut)
2025

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
99
1998

Other top-rated games
97-98
Various

But the critic score isn't the only story. The user score for Silksong stood at an impressive 8.7 based on 851 ratings, showing that fans were largely on board. Interestingly, the highest user score of all time belongs to another 2025 release, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. So both 2025 games made history in different ways. It's a banner year for gaming, folks! ?

A Six-Year Wait That Paid Off

Hollow Knight: Silksong was in active development since 2019, and Team Cherry's reason for the long delay was simple: they kept having fun adding more content. That dedication shows. The game has been praised for its smooth platforming, iconic challenge, and the beloved protagonist Hornet. However, the difficulty was a sticking point for some, leading to the game's first update that lowered the difficulty. That move sparked debate, but it also showed Team Cherry's willingness to listen to players.



The game's release was a bit of a surprise—the release date was only revealed two weeks prior, on September 4. That didn't stop it from becoming a smash hit. Despite some review bombing over its Chinese localization, Silksong has remained a critical and commercial darling.

The Dark Side: Review Bombing and Difficulty Debates

No launch is without its hiccups. Silksong faced a wave of review bombing over its Chinese localization, which some players felt was subpar. This led to a flurry of negative user reviews, but it didn't stop the game from achieving a high user score overall. Meanwhile, the game's difficulty was a hot-button issue. Many fans loved the challenge, but others found it too punishing. Team Cherry responded with an update that lowered the difficulty, a move that was both praised and criticized. It's a classic case of "you can't please everyone," but Team Cherry handled it with grace.

What Critics Are Saying

While we only have a handful of critic reviews to go on, the early consensus is overwhelmingly positive. Here's a quick rundown of what reviewers are praising:

?️ Smooth platforming: The movement feels fluid and responsive.

? Iconic challenge: The game offers a tough but fair experience.

? Art and atmosphere: The world of Pharloom is stunning.

? Music and sound design: A hauntingly beautiful soundtrack.

And the criticisms? Mostly about the difficulty spike and the localization issues. But overall, it's a winner.

The Metacritic Milestone

Let's put this into perspective. Metacritic has been aggregating reviews since 1999, and in that time, only a handful of games have ever reached a 99 or above. Ocarina of Time has been the gold standard for decades. For Silksong to debut with a 100—even with only four reviews—is like hitting a grand slam in your first at-bat. It may not last, but it's a moment that will be remembered.



The Road Ahead

As we move further into 2026, the question is: will Silksong maintain its legacy? Even if its Metacritic score has dipped, the game's impact is undeniable. It's already one of the biggest talking points of the past year and will likely be remembered as a high-water mark for indie games. Team Cherry knocked it out of the park, and fans are eating it up.

In the end, a perfect 100 on Metacritic—even if fleeting—is the kind of achievement that makes headlines. It's a feather in the cap for Team Cherry and a reminder that indie games can go toe-to-toe with the big boys. So here's to Silksong: may its legacy continue to soar. ?

Final Thoughts

Whether you're a longtime fan of the original Hollow Knight or a newcomer, this game is worth checking out. It's a testament to what indie developers can achieve with passion and dedication. So if you haven't played it yet, what are you waiting for? Get on it! ?

If all this talk has you eager to dive into Pharloom yourself, or to finally catch up on the original Hollow Knight before you do, it's worth knowing that indie gems like this rarely stay at full price forever. Between seasonal sales, publisher bundles, and regional pricing quirks, the difference between paying sticker price and grabbing a bargain often comes down to knowing where to look at the right moment.

Sites like PC game discounts exist for exactly that reason — tracking price drops across storefronts so you don't have to refresh a dozen pages every week. DealNest aggregates deals and keeps an eye on shifting prices, which makes it a handy bookmark whether you're hunting for a single title or building out a whole backlog of metroidvanias to work through.