Hollow Knight: Silksong Launches Without Reviews—Player Impressions Are Glowing

Players are talking while critics sit out—for now

Hollow Knight: Silksong finally landed after years of buildup, but the usual wall of day-one reviews is missing. That hasn’t slowed the conversation. Early players have stepped into the gap with detailed first impressions, and the tone is overwhelmingly upbeat: a polished feel, tight controls, a richer look, and a soundtrack people are calling “GODLIKE.” If you’ve been waiting on the sequel to Team Cherry’s breakout hit, the early word says the patience paid off.

The first wave of feedback centers on craft. Players say the movement feels crisp and responsive, the animations are buttery, and the game flows in a way that immediately feels confident. That’s a big deal for a metroidvania where rhythm—of jumps, dashes, and strikes—makes or breaks the experience. “Smooth and satisfying” comes up a lot, which usually means the invisible stuff (inputs, timing windows, camera behavior) is dialed in.

Visually, Silksong is getting credit for raising the bar it set the first time. Environments look denser and more layered, with background details that hint at stories without shouting them. People are lingering in new areas just to soak in the art. It also helps explain the long development: the screens are packed, and the scenes feel hand-tuned rather than templated.

The music is earning the loudest praise. Christopher Larkin’s score seems to be the instant standout, not just because it’s beautiful, but because it does the heavy lifting of tone. Early players are throwing around big words—“transcendent,” “godlike”—and if you remember how the original soundtrack crept under your skin, you know why this matters. Music is the emotional spine of this series, and fans say Silksong’s spine is strong.

There’s a headline gameplay change that’s sparking debate—in a good way. The original game’s down slash, a pogo that doubled as a mobility trick and a skill check, is gone. In its place is a diagonal dive. Steam user Desertdweller put it this way: it “felt weird at first,” but after a bit they saw “its potential for really cool combos with other abilities.” That’s the early theme: different, jarring at first, then promising as your hands catch up to your brain.

What does that actually mean moment to moment? You’re not bouncing off enemies and hazards the same way. Instead, you’re cutting angles, darting down and forward, and chaining movement with a more aggressive line. That could reshape how boss fights feel—less vertical pogoing, more sharp entries and exits—and how routes open up in platforming sections. Expect speedrunners to start theorycrafting paths the moment they get comfortable, because a diagonal dive invites new corner-cutting in both combat and traversal.

Another surprise: Silksong adds a quest and objective system. That’s not standard for the genre, which often leans on vague nudges and trial-and-error discovery. The twist here is that the guidance is optional. If you want the map to whisper “try this next,” it can. If you’d rather get lost and earn your landmarks the old-fashioned way, nothing forces you. This looks like a direct response to a common complaint about metroidvanias—directionless drift—without abandoning the joy of wandering off the critical path.

The net effect is accessibility without hand-holding. Players who bounced off the original for feeling opaque have a runway. Veterans still get the friction they came for. That’s a smart balance, and if it holds across the full game, expect it to come up a lot once critics weigh in.

And yes, the vibe is celebratory. Steam user Foxy Knox sums it up: “The wait was so worth it. This game is everything I expect and more. Gorgeous environment, really smooth animations, great soundtrack, fun combat, everything you need, and all for 20€. Team Cherry cooked!” That 20€ price point is turning heads too; it’s the kind of number that lowers the barrier to “why not” purchases and fuels day-one word of mouth.

There are some launch wrinkles. A chunk of Xbox players report trouble getting the game to show or start. The quick workaround people are using: trigger a remote install from the Xbox mobile app or web, which sometimes pushes the download even when the console’s store listing is stubborn. It’s not elegant, but it’s working for many while rollout kinks shake out.

Under the hood, players say the whole package feels more assured. Combat reads are clearer. Enemy silhouettes and attack telegraphs stand out more against the backgrounds. The art’s more elaborate, but it’s not cluttered. That’s a hard balance, and it usually comes from lots of iteration—redraws, color passes, and animation tweaks that nobody notices until everything suddenly feels “right.”

Mechanically, the diagonal dive is the conversation starter, but it’s not acting alone. Early chatter hints at how it pairs with other mobility tools to create layered routes—think dive to close distance, quick reposition, then roll into a strike or evasive move. The big question is ceiling: how high can mastery push the system? If the dive unlocks momentum chains and route optimizations, the skill curve could be steeper than the original in a way that’s satisfying rather than punishing.

The quest system also raises design questions. Optional guidance can do more than tell you where to go; it can frame why you’re going. When objective text sets context, it reduces the “what am I even doing?” moments without spoiling discovery. Players are noticing that framing—the sense that you’re choosing to pursue threads rather than being marched along. If that subtlety holds, it’ll help keep the exploration itch intact.

Here’s the quick snapshot of what players like—and what’s rough—so far:

• Polish and feel: Movement and combat are described as tighter and cleaner than the original.
• Art direction: Denser environments, more detail, still readable in motion.
• Soundtrack: Christopher Larkin’s score is the standout, earning universal praise.
• Gameplay shift: The pogo is gone; the diagonal dive is already enabling new combos and routes.
• Optional objectives: More guidance for newcomers without robbing veterans of freedom.
• Access issues: Some Xbox users need remote installs to get in on day one.

One more context point: the protagonist’s toolkit matters. Hornet moves differently than the Knight, and the sequel leans into that. The diagonal dive fits her more aggressive, darting style. That’s not just flavor; it sets the tone for how you approach rooms, pick fights, and recover after mistakes. If you’re coming straight from the original, expect a short recalibration window before it clicks.

No professional reviews yet means we’re still missing the broad-stroke verdicts—how the difficulty ramps, how the late-game lands, whether the map design keeps paying off 10, 20, 30 hours in. But that’s the trade-off with relying on player chatter at launch: you get texture and excitement, not the whole arc. As more people get access and push deeper, we’ll learn whether the new systems hold up and how much variety the regions really pack.

For now, the early signal is clear. The sequel feels confident. The soundtrack soars. The art stuns. The combat has a new heartbeat. And even with some access headaches, players are finding their way in—and telling everyone who will listen that the long wait seems justified.

If you’re on the fence, watch for two things in the coming days: how players describe boss design after the first major milestones, and whether the optional objectives stay helpful without nudging too hard. Those will tell you a lot about endurance and balance, which is where a metroidvania lives or dies.

Until critics get their hands around the whole picture, the best barometer is the tone of the people already playing. Right now, that tone is loud, happy, and very sure of itself.