The controversial Silksong receives a patch that makes the start easier

The Team Cherry has released the first major patch for Hollow Knight Silksong, an update that directly addresses the community debate about the game's difficulty. The patch 1.0.28497 is now available for most platforms, aiming to make the gameplay experience more accessible.

Since its release, Silksong has been one of the biggest launches of the year, but the excitement has been accompanied by a discussion about the game's difficulty. On social media, subreddits, and Steam reviews, players have expressed frustration with what many have considered an "unfair" increase in difficulty and brutal "backtracking." "Is it just me, or are some of the things that make Silksong 'hard' just cruel?," asked user Machi-Ato on Reddit. A post on Steam was more direct, stating that "the game has artificially inflated difficulty and playtime due to super-tight numbers."

In response to the criticism, Team Cherry released a patch that makes a "slight reduction in difficulty on the initial bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter" and "damage reduction for the Sandcarvers." The update also fixed almost a dozen bugs that were hindering player progress, including issues like Swamp Squits becoming invincible and Lugoli leaving the arena. The patch is available for PC (via Steam and GOG) and soon for Xbox and Switch, with PlayStation receiving the update within 48 hours.

The release of the patch is an acknowledgment by Team Cherry that the release of Hollow Knight Silksong had balance issues. Fixing the initial difficulty and addressing progression bugs show that Team Cherry is committed to enhancing the player experience, even after the release of one of the most anticipated games of the year.