Silksong's Secret Nerfs Are Proof Team Cherry Has a Heart

Hollow Knight: Silksong's brutal difficulty hides secret nerfs: cogs and fans now deal one mask damage instead of two after launch complaints.

After seven years of waiting, I finally sat down with Hollow Knight: Silksong in 2026, and my hands were sweating before the title screen even finished glowing. Seven years! I have changed jobs twice, my houseplants have died and been replaced, and yet Hornet still fights like she just learned I insulted her mother. I love it. I also kind of hate it, because Silksong launched with a difficulty curve shaped like a brick wall covered in saw blades.

My first ten hours were less a heroic adventure and more a series of polite funerals for my own confidence. Compared to the original Hollow Knight, Silksong shipped with way more enemies and environmental hazards that deal double damage. That means one stupid mistake stops being a lesson and starts being a full health bar disappearing into the ether. Unsurprisingly, unhappy players flooded the internet. The launch complaints got so loud that Silksong racked up more than double the negative reviews Hollow Knight ever received. That is an achievement, just not the kind Team Cherry wanted.

When Team Cherry announced its first patch, I read the notes like they were a love letter. The official list promised a slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter, plus a reduction in damage from Sandcarvers. They also mentioned various additional fixes and tweaks, which I assumed was polite developer language for changing the font on a menu.

Turns out, the patch notes were hiding secrets. A sharp-eyed player on Reddit named TomNook5085 noticed that some hazards got quieter nerfs than the official notes suggested. After reading that, my buddy Luke and I did our own follow-up testing, because clearly neither of us had anything better to do than get smacked by machinery in the name of science.

Here is the part that made me gasp: the cogs in the Choral Chambers and the fans in the Grand Citadel both had their damage reduced from two masks to one. Two masks to one! That is not a small tweak. That is the difference between walking out of a room with a story to tell and walking out of a room as a ghost.

Even better, this means Team Cherry apparently decided to quietly make the game slightly easier without putting every change in the spotlight. Are there more secret nerfs hiding out there? Probably. I would not be surprised if some random thorn bush somewhere now does half a mask instead of a full one, and nobody noticed because we were all too busy crying.

I made a quick table for my own sanity:

Hazard
Old Damage
New Damage
My Feeling

Cogs in Choral Chambers
2 masks
1 mask
Cautious optimism

Fans in Grand Citadel
2 masks
1 mask
I might actually enter that room

Sandcarvers
Double trouble
Reduced
Thank you

Moorwing
Early game pain
Slightly less pain
Still a jerk

Lava
Lava
Still lava
Zero trust

Notice that lava is still lava. Team Cherry did not nerf the concept of molten rock, and honestly, I respect the commitment. I will continue playing conservatively around every glowing orange puddle because my reflexes are not built for 2026 speedrunning standards.

Speaking of those maniacs: some speedrunners have already beaten the entire game in a little over an hour. I have spent longer than that trying to get out of a single optional room. The fact that they can route around newly nerfed hazards while I still panic over one-mask damage says more about me than the patch. Meanwhile, platinum trophy hunters are probably thrilled. Every hazard change makes the no-hit or low-damage runs slightly less nightmarish. I might even chase the platinum myself, assuming I can stop falling into the one pit that has not changed at all.

In the end, I just think it is funny that Team Cherry made extra changes and let the community detect them like cryptozoologists finding evidence of a friendly Bigfoot. Seven years of waiting, a launch that felt overtuned, a wave of criticism, and then a patch with hidden mercy. That is very Hollow Knight. The game still wants to hurt me, but now, barely, it also wants me to survive.

If you are the type of person who studies patch notes before committing to anything, that instinct probably follows you into the rest of your purchases too. Controllers whose sticks have started drifting, a monitor that turns every dark corridor into a smeared grey soup, a spare memory card because you refuse to delete anything — it all adds up, and nothing drains the fun out of a difficult game faster than fighting your own setup. I have learned, repeatedly and painfully, that five minutes of checking before clicking "buy" saves an entire evening of regret.

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How Many Acts Are in Hollow Knight: Silksong and How Long to Beat It?

Hollow Knight: Silksong spans two main acts plus a secret Act 3, and a 100% run takes far longer than 30 hours.

Hollow Knight: Silksong can feel surprisingly gentle during its first hour. Hornet tumbles into Moss Grotto, a green and peaceful region populated by harmless caterpillars and slow-moving flying bugs. But that sense of safety is temporary. If a player chooses to enter Hunter’s March, one of the hardest early regions, they will face a hand-numbing pogo challenge and two difficult boss fights that guard progress. This contrast sets the tone for the entire adventure, and it naturally raises two questions: how many acts are there in Silksong, and how long does the journey actually take?

How Many Acts Are There in Hollow Knight: Silksong?

Silksong does not use a traditional chapter select screen. Instead, its story unfolds across two main acts and one secret Act 3. A player who wants the full experience will therefore be playing three acts in total.

Act
Name
When It Begins
When It Ends

Act 1
Pharloom
Hornet falls into Moss Grotto
Hornet enters the Grand Gate of the Citadel

Act 2
Citadel of Song
After entering the Citadel
Hornet defeats the Monarch of Pharloom

Act 3
Abyss
After meeting hidden requirements
Hornet defeats the Act 3 final boss

Act 1 begins when Hornet falls on Moss Grotto and continues until she enters the Grand Gate of the Citadel. Act 2 then runs until players defeat the Monarch of Pharloom. Defeating the Monarch is considered beating the game for the Speedrunner achievement, regardless of whether the player continues to Act 3 or not. But is the adventure really finished at that point? For a first playthrough, it is highly recommended to take the time to fulfill the requirements needed to reach Act 3.

How Long Does It Take to Beat Silksong?

Because Silksong is a Metroidvania, a single hour count can be misleading. The total time depends heavily on three personal factors:

• Experience playing a Metroidvania game

• Platforming expertise

• Boss fight skills

For a normal playthrough, a 100% completion will take far longer than 30 hours. There are two speedrunner achievements in the game, and the Speedrunner achievement is tied to defeating the Monarch of Pharloom. A player who ignores optional content can finish sooner, but a first blind run still demands repeated attempts at bosses and platforming gauntlets.

Completion Goal
Expected Commitment

Defeat the Monarch only
A focused first run, though still demanding

Reach and finish Act 3
A longer journey that can exceed 30 hours

100% completion
Far longer than 30 hours

Why Some Areas Make the Game Feel Longer

Hunter’s March is a perfect example of Silksong’s difficulty curve. Its pogo section asks for precise aerial control, while the two bosses guarding the area punish careless movement. Not every biome is required, however. Some regions can be skipped entirely if players do not wish to explore them. For a first playthrough, skipping may save time, but it also means missing upgrades, lore, and the requirements needed to reach the secret Act 3. Should a new player ignore those optional zones? Probably not, because Act 3 contains some of the most memorable moments in the game.

Final Thoughts on Silksong’s Acts and Completion Time

At its core, Silksong asks a simple question: how far is a player willing to go? The two main acts deliver a complete story, but the secret third act transforms the ending. As of 2026, the game’s structure remains a favorite topic among players, and community guides have made the requirements for Act 3 easier to understand. Even so, no guide can erase the hours spent learning boss patterns or mastering Hornet’s movement. A player who stops after Act 2 can claim a win, but the true size of Silksong only becomes clear when the Abyss is finished.

Whether you're chasing the Speedrunner achievement or simply savoring every secret in Pharloom, the time you spend with Silksong is an investment. And like any investment, it's natural to want to maximize the return—not just in satisfaction, but in value. After all, the world of Metroidvanias is vast, and the next challenging adventure is always waiting.

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How I Unlocked Every Major Ability in Hollow Knight: Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong Ancestral Arts and upgrades unlock new Metroidvania exploration abilities, transforming traversal and progression.

I have spent the last few weeks digging into Hollow Knight: Silksong, and I can tell you that exploration is both freeing and quietly locked behind some crucial upgrades. If you are used to Metroidvania rules, you know the drill: you wander, hit a dead end, and realize you need a permanent ability to move forward. In Silksong, the big gates are called Ancestral Arts. These are not something you equip. Once you unlock them, they are simply yours forever. Below, I want to share exactly how I got each one and what they actually do.

Ability
Type
Key Use

Swift Step
Ancestral Art
Fast run and midair dash

Cling Grip 🧗
Ancestral Art
Jump along vertical walls

Needolin
Ancestral Art
Play music to open special doors

Clawline 🪡
Ancestral Art
Throw needle and pull yourself

Faydown Cloak ️
Permanent ability
Double jump

Swift Step

My first Ancestral Art came after I cleared two full biomes and finally reached the Deep Docks. I did not find it by accident. There is a statue on the top part of the map, but getting there took a little detour. I went to the right first, then followed a path up that looped me back to a lava area on the left. When I reached the statue, Swift Step unlocked automatically. This ability gives you a burst of speed, and while running, you can perform a higher jump that covers much more distance. I also learned that you can trigger it in midair. It acts a bit like a midair dash, though you will drift slightly downward during the dash instead of moving in a perfect straight line. That nuance took me a while to stop messing up.

Cling Grip 🧗

After I defeated Moorwing in the Greymoor biome, I entered Haunted Bellhart and then Shellwood. That path eventually threw me into the Sister Splinter boss fight. Once I beat the boss, I exited from the left and got near a statue. The route was not obvious. I had to drop down slightly on the left and then use a downward strike on a bunch of flowers to get back up. That little sequence felt very Metroidvania. Cling Grip changed how I looked at vertical spaces because it lets you constantly jump along any vertical wall. Scaling high walls suddenly became a puzzle of timing instead of a hard block. It also made backtracking in old areas feel much smoother.

Needolin

Not long after getting Cling Grip, I entered Bellhart again and fought the Widow. That fight was fast and aggressive, but beating it automatically unlocked Needolin. This one is a little different from the movement tools. Needolin lets you perform music at any place by using up some Silk. At first I thought it was just a flavor ability, but it is absolutely required to reach The Cradle area after you collect the three melodies in the Citadel. It can also open side paths in specific spots, like the bottom of Moss Grotto. To spot doors that respond to Needolin, look for a harp in the background and small holes in the doors. That visual language helped me stop wasting time on doors that looked special but were not.

Clawline 🪡

Clawline is one of the most important late-game tools I found. To get it, I had to beat the Trobbio boss in the Whispering Vaults, which led me back into the Underworks area. This time I could reach the Cauldron from a different side. The Cauldron was tough. It is a lava-filled area full of enemies that throw bombs, and the platforms disappear under you. I fell more times than I care to admit. Eventually I reached the spot where Clawline unlocks. The ability lets you throw your needle with a thread forward and then pull yourself to the needle. It covers massive gaps instantly, and it quickly became one of my favorite movement tools in the entire game.

Faydown Cloak ️

Faydown Cloak is not exactly an Ancestral Art, but it is one of the permanent abilities you do not want to skip. It is essentially the double jump, and it helps a lot in late-game fights and opens numerous new areas. The journey to get it was anything but easy. I entered Mount Fay through The Slab, then climbed to the top through some genuinely treacherous parkouring. My best tip is to use Clawline on the suspended lifeform you see while climbing. It boosts you upward and gives back the Silk you used, which saved my run more than once.

Overall, these permanent upgrades reshaped my whole playthrough. Some are hidden behind boss fights, others behind platforming routes that demand calm timing. The key is to watch for visual clues and not assume a dead end is truly dead. Once you have the right ability, a huge chunk of the map opens up.

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How to Beat Sprintmaster Swift and Complete the Fastest in Pharloom Quest in Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong's Fastest in Pharloom quest sends Hornet to Sprintmaster Swift for three silk-smooth races that reward clever hooks.

After Hornet picked up the Fastest in Pharloom quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong, I immediately realized this was not going to be a simple footrace. The quest log points toward Sprintmaster Swift, but the actual path to reach them is its own puzzle, and the three courses that follow demand a level of movement control that makes the rest of Pharloom feel like a slow promenade. I had to retrace my route through Act 3 several times, and by the end I understood why the quest is called Fastest in Pharloom: it is a test of momentum, patience, and the willingness to bend the rules just enough to survive.

Where to Find Sprintmaster Swift

Fastest in Pharloom marks the target on the far eastern side of Far Fields. However, reaching that location is not as simple as walking east across the map. Before I could even think about racing, I needed the Silk Soar skill. This Ancestral Art arrives in Act 3, and without it the Super Jump remains locked, leaving several obstacles unscalable.

Once Silk Soar was equipped, I approached from Hunter's March. Because Act 3 shortcuts can be blocked, the only reliable route was to enter Hunter's March from the Marrow, using the first-time path. From the bench, I found the statue and used Silk Soar to reach a secret route above it. That moment felt like peeling back a bandage from a wound that had already scarred over; the hidden passage was always there, but the game had disguised it as scenery. Heading right opened a shortcut into a hidden Far Fields passage. From there, I kept pushing east until a skull-shaped entrance appeared. Inside the skull lay Sprintmaster Swift.

How the Sprintmaster Swift Races Work

Once I entered, Sprintmaster Swift presented three challenges across three different courses. The difficulty ramps up after each victory, and the course geometry shifts from open sprints to tight, vertical navigation. During the race, Hornet cannot use any tools or items that increase her speed; the competition strips away artificial advantages like a straitjacket on a cheat. It is just Hornet against the master, with no extra acceleration. However, there is a small loophole: Hornet can still attack Sprintmaster Swift or hook in their direction. A single strike or well-timed hook makes the sprintmaster stutter for about a second, which gave me just enough room to slip ahead. I found this especially useful on the third course, where Sprintmaster Swift moves like a drop of mercury rolling across a tilted mirror, always threatening to escape through the smallest gap. The most important rule is smooth movement. The more silky Hornet is with her jumps, pogo strikes, and aerial adjustments, the better the chance of winning. This is not a race that rewards brute force; it rewards the player who can thread a needle through a keyhole during an earthquake without losing the thread.

Rewards for Winning Each Race

After each race win, Sprintmaster Swift rewards Hornet with an item. The rewards are fixed, so even if the race itself can be approached in different ways, the payout is consistent.

Race
Reward

First race
Rosary Necklace

Second race
Beast Shard

Third race
Mask Shard

The Rosary Necklace felt like a gentle nod after the first race, while the Beast Shard and Mask Shard made the later victories feel genuinely valuable. In my 2026 playthrough, I did not need to beat all three races in one sitting; the quest recognized each individual win, but the final Mask Shard only came after the third course.

Final Tips for the Fastest in Pharloom Quest

If you are struggling, remember that the race is not a pure speed test. Learn the course layout first, because some obstacles require vertical Silky movement rather than forward sprinting. Use attacks or the hook to interrupt Sprintmaster Swift at key moments, but do not rely on them as a crutch. The third course punishes hesitation, so keeping your aerial rhythm is more important than watching the sprintmaster. I treated each failed attempt like a practice pass, and after a few runs the movement started to feel less like memorization and more like an extension of Hornet's silk.

Chasing clean runs against Sprintmaster Swift has a way of sharpening your appetite for other skill-driven challenges, whether that means revisiting old favorites or finally trying a game you skipped. That itch often collides with the reality of a growing wishlist and a shrinking budget.

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Silksong’s Passing of the Age: How I Found Every Mister Mushroom Location

Passing of the Age quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong guides players step-by-step to secret endings and achievements.

I still remember the exact moment I stumbled into the Passing of the Age quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong. I was deep in the Putrified Ducts, roaming east of Fleatopia, when a faint golden glow caught my eye. At first I thought it was just another piece of environmental polish, but no—Hornet had found something much stranger. If you're like me and you want that secret ending and achievement, this guide will walk you through my own journey, step by step.

How I Triggered the Passing of the Age Quest

The trigger is shockingly easy to miss. From Fleatopia, I kept heading east until I found a route going upward. Wall jump was enough to reach a cliff, but when I looked up, there it was: a golden glow above me. I used the Silk Soar ability to enter the hidden opening. At the end of that tunnel, Hornet can inspect a golden tablet. The game asks if you want to promise the wish. Say yes, and the Passing of the Age quest officially begins.

If you miss that tablet, you could wander Pharloom for hours without ever understanding why Mister Mushroom never appears. Ask me how I know.

The Seven Mister Mushroom Locations

To complete the quest, I had to find Mister Mushroom in seven different locations. The game gives you riddles, not map markers. At each correct spot, I saw blue mushrooms with yellow circles on the ground. Then I played the Needolin, and Mister Mushroom popped out of the ground.

Here is the full list of locations and the clues that worked for me:

Order
Location
How I Found It

1
Moss Grotto
The spot between the bench and the snail shaman's home

2
Bone Bottom
Where Shakra used to appear in Bone Bottom camp, before entering Act 3

3
Far Fields
The edge of Far Fields, where lava is present in the area

4
Greymoor
Climb the Greymoor tower, then find a route up to the Wisp Thicket near the surgeon Yarnaby

5
The Slab
To the left of the First Sinner's cage, where the Rune Rage skill is found; the Key of Apostate is required

6
Mount Fay
Climb to the bird's nest; Silk Soar can skip a huge chunk of the platforming

7
The Cradle
Reach the peak and pass the parkour test of fitness

The order matters. I tried to skip ahead to The Cradle early, and Mister Mushroom simply refused to appear. The riddles must be solved in sequence, one location after another.

Reaching The Cradle

The final location is the hardest to reach. From the room to the right of the Cogwork Core, I looked upward until I found an opening. Silk Soar let me enter the gap, and I was transported to a side area of the Cogwork Core. From there, I kept climbing.

Along the way, I had to remember three key spots:

• In the room where the Architect Melody puzzle once was, I had to find the correct spot to stand and lift myself upward.

• At the place where I fought Lace for the second time, I again needed the super jump, but the light from above made the spot easy to find.

• After the platform where I fought Grandmother Silk, I claimed the Pale Nails Silk Skill, then found the small opening above.

At the top of The Cradle, there is a cave. Inside, I faced a platforming challenge—a true test of fitness. After passing it, I played the Needolin one last time. Mister Mushroom finally spoke with Hornet, then soared upward and disappeared.

The Surface and Nameless Town

After Mister Mushroom vanished, I arrived on the surface in a place called Nameless Town. I whacked some cockroach-like bugs for the Hunter's Journal, then played the Needolin at the big skull cave to receive a Surface Memento. The surface was beautiful, but I still had a job to do. I headed back left toward the spikes, found a cave, and descended into The Cradle. From there, I returned to Pharloom to finish the catastrophe.

Getting the Passing of the Age Achievement

Here is the part that surprised me: completing the quest does not immediately pop the achievement. You must defeat the final boss of Act 3 after finishing the Passing of the Age quest. Defeating that boss unlocks a secret ending in addition to the normal ending. That means you can earn both endings and their achievements at once.

So, if you are hunting the achievement, do not wait until after the final boss. Complete the mushroom herald's journey first, then face the end of Act 3. Trust me, seeing that secret ending makes the entire strange mushroom hunt feel worth it.

After all, that age may pass—and this shroom its witness.

Hunting down seven hidden mushroom locations is the kind of obsessive, rewarding detour that reminds me why I keep coming back to games built around secrets. The catch is that games like this tend to send you looking for more of them — and with new releases rarely getting cheaper, filling a library with titles worth exploring can get expensive fast.

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Where Hollow Knight: Silksong DLC Could Go Next

Hollow Knight: Silksong post-launch support may include free updates or paid expansions, offering fans exciting new content and gameplay modes.

In 2026, Team Cherry has remained quiet about exactly how Hollow Knight: Silksong will be supported after launch, but the studio's stated plan to keep expanding the game for years has left fans poring over the possibilities. Months after release, players have had time to finish their first playthroughs and begin asking a familiar question: will Silksong receive free updates, paid expansions, or both? The original Hollow Knight was famously supported with substantial DLC, and the sequel offers even more room to experiment. Here are some directions Team Cherry could take if additional content moves forward.

Returning to Hollownest

One of the most beloved surprises in video game history came from Pokémon Gold and Silver, when players returned to Kanto after completing Johto. A similar move in Silksong would be just as striking. Hornet was taken from Hollownest to the distant kingdom of Pharloom, and a post-game or DLC campaign could finally let her make the journey back. The base game includes a surprise connected to Act 3, but it does not send players to the original game's decaying kingdom. Team Cherry could revisit that location through a paid expansion or a free content drop, giving longtime fans the emotional payoff of seeing Hollownest again.

The Road Between Worlds ️

Any return to Hollownest would need a road, and that road could become an entire region. The trip to Pharloom was not short, so the route back could match either kingdom in size. Team Cherry could also introduce outdoor environments beyond the main game's limited selection. Silksong already tests players with Mount Fay, but a bridge zone between Pharloom and Hollownest could feature new biomes, shifting weather, and strange bug fauna. While the world is small in scale because every character is a bug, new anthropomorphic creatures or even tiny mammals could be added to expand the feel of a wider world.

A Boss Rush Mode ️

Not every game gets a boss rush, but Silksong is an ideal candidate. Players who want to relive encounters with the Last Judge and the Savage Beastfly would welcome a dedicated mode from the main menu. Others would use it to practice the Widow or the Fourth Chorus without the frustration of the run back to the arena. Because Silksong includes a harder mode, a boss rush would also serve as practical training. Bosses are among the best parts of the game, and a focused replay option would highlight that design.

New Playable Characters

Silksong began life as DLC for Hollow Knight, with Hornet planned as a second playable character. That expansion eventually grew into a full sequel, proving how much potential a character-focused update can have. For future content, Team Cherry could add Shakra, who already has combat abilities and aids Hornet multiple times. Garmond and Zaza are also natural picks because they help during the journey. A new playable campaign could use the existing map or a separate area, with each character offering different movement and combat options.

A Stealth Roguelike with Jubilana

Team Cherry could also lean into the roguelike trend. God of War Ragnarok added a well-received roguelike mode after launch, and Silksong already features randomness in areas like The Mist. A separate dungeon mode would not be out of place. Rather than starring Hornet, the mode could follow Jubilana, the shopkeeper who disappears while searching for new wares. Since Jubilana cannot fight, a stealth-focused roguelike could work well. Players could move through randomized dungeons, collect loot, and sell it back to pilgrims, similar to Moonlighter's action-shopkeeping loop.

Indie Crossovers and Cameos

Hollow Knight has a long history of indie collaborations. Dead Cells received items, The Binding of Isaac added cards, and Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes even included a wearable shirt. Silksong will likely appear in other indie games, but Team Cherry could also return the favor. Mina the Hollower, starring a small mouse named Mina, would fit neatly into Pharloom's bug-sized world. Mina could appear as an NPC offering quests, a boss, or a source of crossover weapons. Cosmetics, items, and cameo characters are all low-risk ways to keep the game feeling alive between larger expansions.

Concept
Inspiration
Potential Hook

Return to Hollownest
Pokémon Gold/Silver Kanto
Post-game journey home

New playable characters
Silksong's Hornet DLC origin
Shakra, Garmond, Zaza

Boss rush mode
Fan tradition
Practice harder mode

Stealth roguelike
Moonlighter, God of War Ragnarok
Jubilana dungeon runs

Indie crossovers
Dead Cells, Isaac, Travis
Mina the Hollower cameo

The Next Step

Team Cherry has not confirmed which approach it will take, and the studio is known for working in silence. The original Hollow Knight proved that even free updates can dramatically expand a game, while Silksong's scale makes a full expansion feel like a natural next move. Whether the team chooses a return to Hollownest, new playable characters, a boss rush, a roguelike, or a roster of indie cameos, the world of Pharloom has plenty of room to grow.

Speculation about what comes next is only half the fun; the other half is making sure the base game is already sitting in your library, ready for whenever Team Cherry decides to drop something new. Between the original Hollow Knight, its soundtrack bundles, and Silksong itself, the cost of catching up on the series can add up quickly, especially for players who prefer to own their games on a specific storefront or platform. That is exactly the kind of situation where a little price comparison goes a long way, and it is worth checking a dedicated deals aggregator before committing to a full-price purchase.

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Why Silksong Hype Has Players Reconsidering Animal Well

Animal Well and Hollow Knight: Silksong, two indie Metroidvania games, evoke lasting intrigue and unique emotional responses in players.

Plenty of players have a weird relationship with Animal Well. It launched in 2024 as the debut title from Dunkey's Bigmode, the publisher created with a bold promise: only release good games. For a while, it was the indie Metroidvania everyone had to have an opinion about. But then the conversation moved on, as it always does. Now, in 2026, with Hollow Knight: Silksong hype once again turning every corner of the internet into a bug-infested fever dream, a strange side effect has appeared - unfinished Animal Well save files are calling back to their owners.

Let's be real - Hollow Knight: Silksong is an absurdly big deal for a game primarily made by four people, priced at twenty bucks, and belonging to the most stereotypically indie genre: the 2D Metroidvania. Every so often one of these explore-em-ups breaks out in a huge way, and the original Hollow Knight did exactly that in 2018, exploding on the Switch a full year after launch. Seven years later, the sequel is following the same outsized footsteps, even though 2024 belonged to Animal Well.

The Pressure Behind Animal Well

Part of what made Animal Well such a lightning rod was Dunkey's claim that he could pick winners because he plays a ton of games and knows what good looks like. That pitch sounded a little too simple to a lot of people, so the pressure was on. Then the reviews landed, and they were glowing. The game delivered, and Dunkey's talk was backed up.

🧠 When a Game Asks for Space

One ordinary player picked up Animal Well on the strength of that chatter, expecting to get lost in its world. Instead, after five or six hours of puttering around, hitting a wall with puzzle after puzzle, getting annoyed, wandering off to explore elsewhere, and running straight into another stumper, they closed the game with the intention of giving their brain some time to process. That happened across several sessions, until eventually the coming back stopped. The experience was decent, but it left the opposite emotional footprint of Hollow Knight. With Hollow Knight, sessions end with excitement to get back and play more. With Animal Well, sessions ended because a little space was needed before the game could be enjoyed again.

Why Bouncing Off Is Not a Verdict

That same player is currently working through Hollow Knight - a game they initially reacted to exactly the same way, playing for several hours and then neglecting it. Seven years later, though, the experience has changed. Now there is a full-blown compulsion to explore every inch of that bug-riddled world. And thinking back on Animal Well, there are plenty of aspects that still intrigue: the big pixelated animals standing around in certain chambers, the opaque items that were still fun to use, the pure focus on puzzle-solving with combat completely removed, and the blobby main character's ballsy refusal to look remotely interesting. Riding around on a frisbee, for what it's worth, was genuinely great fun.

Here are a few Animal Well details that keep nagging:

• The oversized pixelated animals loitering in hidden chambers, silent and strange.

• The opaque items that somehow stayed satisfying to use, especially the frisbee.

• The no-combat puzzle philosophy, a rare move that trades action for pure thought.

• The stubbornly unremarkable blob protagonist, a design choice that feels like a dare.

️ The Bottomless Well of Secrets

Every review hinted that if a player pushed long enough, the game would transform from a straightforward Metroidvania into a bottomless well of secrets. That deeper layer never got reached, and as it stands, Animal Well remains a mildly interesting 2D action-adventure game - and there are plenty of those to go around.

But the itch is real. No one wants to be the miner who gives up in frustration right before reaching a cache of diamonds, and there is a sneaking suspicion that leaving Animal Well felt exactly like that. Maybe the game was abandoned one puzzle too early.

Getting back to it won't happen immediately. After Hollow Knight, Silksong is obviously next on the docket. But Animal Well's world still has something to offer, and it might make the perfect palette cleanser between Silksong boss attempts.

With that kind of lineup on the horizon, plus the lingering pull to give Animal Well another proper shot between Silksong boss attempts, game libraries have a funny way of growing faster than the time available to actually play them. It helps to be selective about what gets bought at full price, especially when a whole backlog of half-finished adventures is already waiting patiently for attention.

For anyone juggling a similar mix of sequels, hidden gems, and long-overdue return trips, it pays to keep an eye on the [best game deals]( rather than grabbing everything on a whim. A little patience can make the next journey into the unknown a lot easier on the wallet, leaving more room to take an occasional chance on something delightfully strange.

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How to Reach Heart of the Wild and Claim the Hunter's Heart in Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong Act 3's Heart of the Wild quest challenges players with new Far Fields routes and blocked Hunter's March shortcuts.

Hornet's journey through Act 3 of Hollow Knight: Silksong is a hidden extra gameplay layer that only begins after players select a specific ending. Far from a simple epilogue, this route packs a surprising amount of story and combat, and one of its most demanding objectives is the Heart of the Wild quest. To claim the Hunter's Heart, Hornet must travel to the far east of the Far Fields region, a newly opened area that cannot be reached before Act 3 begins.

For players returning in 2026, the route can still catch veteran explorers off guard. Shortcuts that once made Hunter's March feel manageable are now sealed, and the area seems to remember Hornet's first visit all too well. The long way around is the name of the game, so players should prepare for a lengthy backtrack with a few extra enemies eager to interrupt the trip.

Act 3 Unlock and the Far Fields Route

The Heart of the Wild quest location is locked behind the Act 3 story progression. Once Hornet reaches the relevant point in the questline, the far east of the Far Fields opens up. The most reliable starting point is the Marrow. From there, players should enter Hunter's March through the only available entrance, because every shortcut is blocked.

The path pulls no punches on this second visit. In the first run, players may have relied on careful pogo timing, but this time Hornet has better tools. The Silk Soar skill can skip several troublesome spots, and a crest with a downward hit can turn the plunge attack into a reliable movement option. Don't sleep on the Silk Soar here—it is the key to reaching the eastern statues without losing too much health.

Crossing Hunter's March Without Shortcuts

Inside Hunter's March, the goal is to keep moving east until the statues on the eastern side come into view. Earlier in the campaign, that area was blocked. Now that Hornet has Silk Soar, she can super jump into the next section and continue exploring Hunter's March from the opposite side.

Eventually, Hornet will open a bridge that leads her out of Hunter's March and back into the Far Fields. From that exit, players should continue east until reaching a dead end. The route is not over, however. Hornet must drop down and take a much longer road beneath the obvious path. This lower route winds toward the Heart of the Wild arena, and it is easy to miss if players assume the dead end means the search is over.

Step
Route Action

1
Start from the Marrow and enter Hunter's March through the only available entrance.

2
Head east through Hunter's March, using Silk Soar or a downward-hit crest to bypass tricky spots.

3
Reach the eastern statues and super jump into the newly accessible area.

4
Open the bridge to exit into Far Fields, then continue east to a dead end.

5
Drop down and follow the longer lower path to the Heart of the Wild arena.

Skarrsinger Karmelita Boss Fight

Once Hornet arrives at the quest location, she can challenge Skarrsinger Karmelita. The fight does not begin quietly. Multiple smaller enemies attack in waves before the boss herself makes an appearance, turning the arena into a loud, chaotic test of positioning.

Players should treat the opening waves as a warm-up, but not a free one. The smaller enemies can drain health quickly if Hornet stands still. A good approach is to keep circling the arena, clear the waves with downward strikes or sweeping attacks, and save healing for the gap between waves. When Skarrsinger Karmelita enters, the tempo shifts. Her attacks punish greedy movement, so landing a few hits and retreating is safer than trying to end the fight in one long combo.

After the boss falls, Hornet receives the Hunter's Heart and completes the Heart of the Wild quest in Silksong.

Final Tips for the Heart of the Wild Quest

• ️ Start from the Marrow: Shortcuts are blocked, so this is the cleanest route into Hunter's March.

• Use Silk Soar aggressively: It opens the eastern statues and skips older pogo sections.

• ️ Bring a downward-hit crest: The plunge attack helps with both traversal and wave clearing.

• 🧭 Check the dead end carefully: The real route goes down, not forward.

• Heal between boss waves: The opening adds can be more dangerous than they look.

The Heart of the Wild quest is a compact but memorable piece of Silksong's hidden Act 3. It rewards players who revisit old territory with fresh eyes, and the Hunter's Heart is a worthy trophy for those who survive the detour.

Once the Hunter's Heart is secured, the natural next step for many players is to see what else is worth playing—or to finally pick up a title that's been sitting on their wishlist. Steam sales come and go quickly, and keeping track of the best prices can be a chore.

That's where DealNest comes in. Its [steam sale tracker]( makes it easy to monitor discounts and historical lows across the store, so you can spend less time refreshing pages and more time playing. Whether you're hunting for a deal on Silksong or something new, it's a handy site to keep in your bookmarks.

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How to Get the Pale Nails Skill in Silksong Without Losing Your Mind

Find the Pale Nails Silk Skill in Hollow Knight: Silksong by returning to The Cradle, binding Grand Mother Silk's hand after the Act 2 boss.

Let me paint you a picture.

It is 2026, and I just spent two hours bouncing around Pharloom like a sugar-fueled acrobat. My target? The Pale Nails Silk Skill. My problem? The game refused to put a neon sign over The Cradle, so I had to earn this shiny little murder projectile the hard way. If you want to avoid my exact brand of confusion, grab your needle and follow along.

What Exactly Is the Pale Nails Skill?

In Hollow Knight: Silksong, Silk Skills are Hornet's flashy special moves. They drain her Silk meter, which is also what she needs for healing, so spamming them is a great way to turn a bad fight into a funeral. The Pale Nails skill is one of the best chase tools in the game. It launches a projectile of three pale nails that actively seek out an enemy, which is perfect for those annoying mobile opponents who think they can backstep out of your range. Grand Mother Silk uses a very similar trick against you, and I can confirm it stings.

Where to Find Pale Nails

You will not find this skill in a cozy little shop. No, you have to go back to The Cradle, specifically the arena where you fought Grand Mother Silk at the end of Act 2. After the boss fight is over, climb back up to that arena and look for the boss's hand resting on top of a rock. It is a bit ominous, but that is Silksong for you. Interact with it and choose to Bind. Boom, Pale Nails is yours. This is also the final Silk Skill you need for the Woven achievement, so now you can flex that completionist progress.

How the Pale Nails Skill Actually Works

Yes, the nails are homing, but they are not psychic. If an enemy leaves the screen before the nails connect, the projectiles will hit nothing. They do not hover forever waiting for a target to come back. That behavior is more like the Cogfly tool, which floats around and does its own thing. Pale Nails is more hit-and-run: fire, let them chase, and reposition. Do not waste it on an enemy about to teleport across the map.

Here is a quick comparison to keep your Silk budget honest:

Skill / Tool
Best For
Weird Detail

Pale Nails
Chasing mobile enemies
Nails stop if the target leaves the screen

Rune Rage
Crowds of enemies
Great for clearing annoying hordes

Cogfly
Passive support
Hovers around instead of disappearing

The Exact Route to The Cradle

You cannot just stroll to this skill. You need the Silk Soar ability, because Pharloom loves putting important passages in stupidly high places. If you already have it, here is the path:

• Walk to the right side of the Choral Chambers, next to the Cog Core entrance.

• Look up. There is an opening in the ceiling, and you will need a high jump or Silk Soar to reach it.

• Once you reach the Architect Melody room, go right and try to Silk Soar upward again. You should spot a passage and can adjust your jump from there.

• Eventually, you will land on the platform where Hornet fought Lace before the Grand Mother Silk encounter.

• From that platform, use Silk Soar on the light to reach the boss arena above.

That last jump feels illegal the first time. I fully expected to clip into a wall. Instead, I landed directly in the arena where I had already won the fight, which felt a little anticlimactic until I saw that disembodied hand waiting for me.

A Few Warnings From My Mistakes

Make sure you have actually cleared Act 2 and beaten Grand Mother Silk. The binding spot is in the boss arena after the fight, so if you are still banging your head against her, you are not going to get the skill yet. Also, do not forget that Pale Nails uses Silk. If you blow all your Silk on these shiny homing nails, you will not have any left for healing. I learned that the hard way during a hallway brawl, and my ghost is probably still judging me.

Final Thoughts

The Pale Nails skill is absolutely worth the detour. It turns mobile enemies from aggravating pests into target practice. The route to The Cradle is a little vertical, but with Silk Soar you can manage it in a few minutes. Claim the hand, bind with it, and enjoy your new homing death needles. Now if only Pharloom would give me a map that does not look like abstract art.

Stay sharp, and keep some Silk in reserve.

While you are waiting for the next patch, DLC, or the eventual avalanche of Silksong-adjacent metroidvanias to land on your wishlist, it helps to know when Steam actually drops its prices. Store pages rarely make that obvious, which is why tools that watch prices for you are worth keeping bookmarked. One I have been using lately is [steam sale tracker]( from DealNest, which keeps an eye on discounts so you do not have to refresh the store every Tuesday evening hoping for a surprise.

It is a small quality-of-life upgrade rather than a necessity, but if you play on PC and already spend half your gaming budget on indie platformers, having DealNest quietly watching your backlog is the kind of thing you notice only after it saves you a few bucks. Nothing complicated, just a heads-up when the price finally drops.

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The Most Punishing Mechanics in Modern Hard Games

Difficult video games like Demon's Souls and Hollow Knight challenge players' patience, precision, and resilience with risk-reward mechanics.

As of 2026, the conversation around difficult video games has only grown louder. Fans who grew up with the brutal NES era remember how challenging titles like Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden, and even Super Mario Bros. could be. Back then, that difficulty was often seen as a frustrating requirement rather than a selling point. Today, however, a hardcore group of players celebrates games that demand patience, precision, and resilience. Yet not every difficult mechanic feels fair. Some systems add challenge through risk and reward, while others seem needlessly rough. What makes a game hard but fair? Why do certain design choices push players away instead of pulling them deeper into the experience?

The modern hard game owes much of its identity to Demon's Souls. FromSoftware's action RPG did not invent difficulty, but it reframed it. The most infamous mechanic is the loss of progress upon death. Defeating enemies grants Souls, which can be used for leveling up or buying items. When a player dies, those Souls remain at the death spot. If the player dies again before reclaiming them, the currency vanishes forever. This loop creates a powerful emotional pull. Spending hours grinding only to lose everything can be disheartening, but for others, that risk-reward trial is invigorating. The 2020 remake made the experience slightly more accessible, yet the core tension remains.

The Weight of Lost Progress

XCOM: Enemy Within carries a similar philosophy into the strategy genre. Permadeath means that a customized soldier with hours of investment can disappear in a single bad turn. Players can reload saves to try to undo a fatal mistake, but that process becomes its own tedious ritual. Like a Soulslike, losing a carefully built character can feel like losing a piece of progress that was earned over countless battles.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter pushes this idea toward a looping structure. The game moved the series from fantasy to sci-fi on the PS2, but it also introduced a harsh timer called the D-Counter. Everything the player does, from fighting to moving, adds percentages to that timer. At 100 percent, the game is over. The only real solution is to restart with carried-over progress. This design forces players to accept repeated failure as part of the journey. How many restarts can one player endure before frustration replaces satisfaction?

The Long Walk Back

Hollow Knight: Silksong has become a major talking point because of its difficulty spike. The boss fights are already demanding, but the routes back to those bosses make them even more taxing. Savage Beastfly and Last Judge are two of the hardest bosses in the game, yet the trial between bench save points can be just as punishing. Is the journey back to a boss part of the challenge, or is it simply busywork? Some players enjoy the process, but others find it like adding insult to injury. A checkpoint before each major encounter could reduce the frustration without lowering the boss's difficulty.

Cuphead suffers from a similar problem. The hand-drawn visuals are gorgeous, but the boss fights are relentless. Most levels focus on elaborate encounters filled with dense projectile patterns. What makes them especially cruel is the absence of checkpoints. The game does offer Simple Mode, but beating a boss in that mode does not count toward story progress. Why include a simpler option if it does not actually help the player advance? It may as well not even be there.

Systems Piled on Systems

Death Stranding was Hideo Kojima's first game after leaving Konami, and it was significantly harder than any Metal Gear title. The premise is straightforward: Sam delivers packages across a post-apocalyptic United States. But the mechanics stacked on top of mechanics turned a simple courier game into a constant balancing act. Players cannot move too fast without risking a fall, which damages packages and causes Sam's partner, a baby called BB, to cry. Mysterious entities can stalk players without an easy way back. The sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, streamlined many of these systems. That change suggests Kojima learned from the original's friction.

Monster Hunter: World is another game where multiple systems can overwhelm newcomers. Hunts have time limits and group death counts. If the group faints too many times, the quest fails even if the monster is about to die. The lack of visible enemy health bars adds another layer of uncertainty. In multiplayer, one player's mistake can doom the entire team. Between the timer, shared death limits, and hidden health information, the series can feel like one of the hardest to enter.

Abrupt Spikes and Restarts

Jak 2 is a classic example of a sequel that ramped up difficulty too quickly. The first game, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, was an inviting 3D platformer. Its sequel added guns, a Grand Theft Auto-like mission structure, timers, and strange conditions. Many missions require near-perfect execution under pressure. The leap in difficulty is so abrupt that some fans of the original felt alienated. It is still a cool and more mature game, but the spike is hard to ignore.

Across these games, a pattern emerges. Difficulty can be thrilling when it respects the player's time. When mechanics erase progress, remove checkpoints, or force unnecessary restarts, the line between challenge and punishment becomes blurred. Yet for every player who walks away, another embraces the struggle. Perhaps that is the strange beauty of hard games in 2026: they are not meant for everyone, and that is exactly why they endure.

Summary Table

Game
Punishing Mechanic
Emotional Toll

Demon's Souls
Lost Souls on repeated death
Disheartenment and risk-reward tension

Hollow Knight: Silksong
Long boss run-backs
Fatigue

Death Stranding
Balance, package damage, BB stress
Overwhelm

Cuphead
No checkpoints and a useless Simple Mode
Frustration

Monster Hunter: World
Timers, group faint limits, hidden health bars
Group pressure

XCOM: Enemy Within
Permadeath
Loss of investment

Jak 2
Timed GTA-style missions
Abrupt difficulty spike

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
D-Counter leading to forced restarts
Restart loop exhaustion

The hardest games are not necessarily bad games. They simply ask players to adjust to rules that can feel unnecessarily rough. In an era where many titles smooth over every rough edge, these games stand out because they refuse to compromise. The question is not whether they are difficult, but whether that difficulty feels earned or forced.

That divide is personal. What feels unfair to one player might feel like a perfect test of skill to another. The only way to know is to actually sit down with a game and experience its systems firsthand, which means taking a chance on something that might not click. With new releases carrying higher price tags, that gamble becomes riskier than the in-game stakes ever were.

Fortunately, fewer players need to pay full price to find out whether a punishing challenge is worth their time. By keeping an eye on [PC game discounts]( anyone can pick up the titles from this list for a fraction of their launch cost. That turns the question of earned difficulty into a simple experiment, one where the main investment is patience rather than money.

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How to Unlock Silksong's Hidden Act 3 Without Missing 25% of the Game

Hollow Knight: Silksong Act 3 guide reveals hidden quests and Silk and Soul wish requirements for unlocking Pharloom's secrets.

Most players who roll credits in Hollow Knight: Silksong probably pat themselves on the back, believing they’ve seen everything Pharloom has to offer. Then the save file sits there, quietly judging them. The truth? They may have only finished about 75% of the game. Team Cherry tucked an entire Act 3 behind a chain of obscure chores, a few soul-collection errands, and one delightfully sneaky final choice. This guide breaks down the whole process, so nobody has to wander around Weavenest Atla wondering why the walls look so suspicious.

Act 3 Requirements

First things first: unlocking Act 3 is less about raw skill and more about not sprinting to the finish line like a startled Grub. A player needs to tick off a few boxes before the Caretaker even thinks about handing over the good stuff.

• Wish upon a star (or several): Complete most, if not all, of the wishes available in Bone Bottom, Bellhart, and the Choral Chambers in the Citadel. Some of these only wake up after certain side quests progress, so a little backtracking is basically a personality trait here.

• Flea market: No, not actual shopping. Hornet needs to round up enough fleas across the world for the caravan to haul itself over to the Putrified Ducts. She doesn’t need every single one, but a bit more than half keeps the wheels greased.

• Lace, but make it dramatic: Defeat Lace in The Cradle. Fighting her won’t slam the door on Act 3—it actually swings it wide open.

Once those requirements are handled, the Caretaker at the first shrine stops being cryptic and finally offers the last wish: Silk and Soul.

Silk and Soul Wish

This wish is basically an interdimensional grocery run. Hornet zips through the world to collect souls and items from specific, slightly odd characters. Two of them might already be sitting in her inventory by the time the quest starts, which is a nice little head start.

Item / Soul
Location
Combat Required?

Snare Setter
Weavenest Atla secret nook
No

Maiden’s Soul
Moss Grotto, starting area west
No

Hermit’s Soul
Bellhart, east secret passage
No

Seeker’s Soul
Bilehaven, after Groal the Great
Yes

Snare Setter

The Snare Setter is a bashful little gadget hiding in Weavenest Atla, which sits below Bone Bottom and east of Moss Grotto. Any player who enjoys poking into corners has probably been here before—Eva hangs out nearby, offering persistent upgrades that make Hornet feel like a fully kitted-out needle warrior.

To reach the item, Hornet needs the double jump from Mount Fay. No double jump, no secret room. She should travel down, use the Needolin to play a song at the door, take the elevator to the bottom level, and head right. Instead of blundering into the next room, she can hop up the wall to the second level and slip through the left door. Right before the pond, a double jump reveals a secret area, and there the Snare Setter waits on a small podium like a shy trophy.

Maiden’s Soul

While she’s in the neighborhood, Hornet can head back to the top of Moss Grotto and then west to the very spot where the adventure began. The Chapel Maid is hanging around, probably wondering why nobody visits. One chat later, she happily hands over her soul. Easy peasy.

Hermit’s Soul

The Bell Hermit in Bellhart is about as cheerful as a wet charm notch, but he’s surprisingly generous when Hornet asks for his soul. She just needs to find the secret passage east of the fast travel station. A quick conversation, and the grumpy old man parts with it like a man donating a coat he never liked anyway.

Seeker’s Soul

Now the errand list gets spicy. The Seeker’s Soul demands actual combat. Hornet has to take down Groal the Great, the final boss of the Bilewater region, at the top of Bilehaven. Yeah, that means trudging through a whole network of nasty, maggot-infested waters first. No pressure.

After slaying Groal, she hops up to the left and enters the little house just outside the arena. Inside, the Seeker’s Soul lies on the ground beneath the strung-up Seeker, which is grim but also conveniently placed.

Setting the Trap

With all the ingredients stuffed into Hornet’s inventory, the next stop is the First Shrine. Talking to the Caretaker completes the wish, and the path forward becomes clear: climb The Cradle, speak to the Caretaker at the top, and march into the final boss fight.

The clever part comes after defeating Grand Mother Silk. The game offers two choices: Bind or Needolin.

• Bind: End the game right there, roll credits, and accidentally lock out Act 3 for that playthrough. Oops.

• Needolin: Spring the trap. Grand Mother Silk and Lace get unceremoniously dragged into the Abyss. It’s dramatic, a little mean, and exactly what the story ordered.

After the credits, the save file doesn’t look quite right. Black threads coil around it like an overprotective spider. Cutting away at it with the confirm button unlocks Act 3, and suddenly the game isn’t over at all.

So the takeaway is simple: don’t rush the finale. Do the wishes, find the fleas, be nice to the Chapel Maid, and keep that Needolin handy. Act 3 has been hiding in plain sight, waiting for someone patient enough to poke it with a needle.

For players who enjoy uncovering every hidden nook and secret timeline, being patient doesn’t just apply to in-game mechanics—it also pays off when planning the next purchase. A game as rich as Hollow Knight: Silksong rewards careful observation, but staying updated on launch discounts, special editions, or rare merchandise can take the same kind of vigilance. After all, none of those DLC reveals or collector’s editions will find their way into your cart by themselves.

Rather than refreshing store pages every single day, let [this price tracking tool]( keep an eye on price drops and restocks for you. That way, you can spend more time studying the secrets of Pharloom and less time bargain hunting—and when the next surprise update arrives, you’ll already be ready to dive back in.

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Team Cherry’s Booby-Trapped Bench in Silksong Is Pure Peak Trolling

Hollow Knight: Silksong benches, once safe sanctuaries, now feature deadly traps, adding thrilling challenge and surprise for players.

I’m going to say something that sounds unhinged: I am not even mad about the bench that killed me. Well, maybe I’m a little mad, but honestly, it’s the kind of nasty trick I should have seen coming from Team Cherry. In Hollow Knight: Silksong, benches are supposed to be your sanctuary. They’re the little slice of heaven where you heal up, save your progress, swap your Crests, and finally let your shoulders drop from around your ears. So when I found one tucked into a corner in Hunter’s March after a long, miserable slog, I nearly wept with relief. I sat down, sighed, and then a pendulum swung straight down and clobbered Hornet for two masks of damage. I was already low. I died on the spot. You may be entitled to compensation? Nah, I’m entitled to a nap and a stiff drink.

That’s the thing about Silksong: the whole internet is currently up in arms because Team Cherry decided to pull a fast one. In both Hollow Knight and Silksong, benches function like bonfires in a Souls game. They are safe places, respites where you can catch your breath, heal to full health, and save before heading back into the meat grinder. You can swap Charms or Crests, update your map, and nothing can hurt you. Usually. That word is doing a lot of heavy lifting these days.

The Bench That Bites Back

The bench in Hunter’s March is not just dangerous—it’s personal. It sits in a corner where you would normally expect a bench to be, and if you’ve played the series, your brain sees those sun rays and thinks, “Oh sweet mercy, I am saved.” But this bench is booby-trapped. Sit on it, and a pendulum swings down to smack Hornet for two masks of damage. If Hunter’s March has already been kicking your butt, that’s a death sentence. And because Team Cherry clearly enjoys a bit of psychological warfare, it happens every single time you sit on it. It is not a one-time trap. To disarm it, you have to break a wall to the left and hit a lever on the ceiling. Only then can you finally sit safely. It’s like the bench itself is saying, “Not so fast, mate.”

I won’t lie, the first time I got killed I sat there staring at the screen like a total muppet. Then I laughed. Then I respawned and did it again because I needed to confirm it wasn’t a glitch. It was not a glitch. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, well, I’m the clown sitting on the same swinging bench.

Hollow Knight Already Taught Me Better

I’m definitely benefiting from actively playing Hollow Knight for the first time right now, but did I really think the developers wouldn’t troll us in Silksong? This is the studio that created the Deepnest.

The Deepnest is a particularly diabolical area. The rules of the game you’ve learned up to that point seemingly don’t apply. Enemies spawn out of the ground and swarm you with little warning. Levels are winding labyrinths you have to navigate in the dark. Floors give out beneath you without warning, often dumping you into a pit of spikes. And then there’s the Distant Village. This village is at the far end of Deepnest, and if you explore it, you’ll find a group of bugs standing around a beautiful bench. They encourage you to sit and rest. How nice of them! So you sit. And you don’t heal. You can’t move. Webs tie you to your seat as the villagers surround you. The screen goes black, and you wake up in the Beast’s Den, trapped in a web. It’s not as punishing as Hunter’s March, but it’s the same kind of betrayal.

That little moment in Distant Village is the key to understanding Team Cherry. They build up your expectations and then smash them, destabilising you and reminding you that the world is full of surprises, both good and bad. Sometimes a bench saves you, and sometimes a bench kills you. It’s a long con, and I respect the commitment.

Why I’m Not Even Mad

Here’s the thing: I did not go into Silksong expecting a cozy game. I went in expecting beautiful hand-drawn pain, and Team Cherry delivered in spades. The Hunter’s March bench is not unfair; it’s a lesson. It teaches you to read the room. A bench in a corner after a brutal stretch? Maybe too good to be true. A suspicious wall to the left? A lever on the ceiling? These are not decorations. The game gives you the tools to spot the trap before it springs. I just ignored them because I was desperate.

What I Expected
What I Got

Bench heals me
Pendulum smacks me for two masks

Safe corner in Hunter's March
Booby trap with a disarm lever

Team Cherry mercy
Peak trolling

The internet can scream, cry, throw up, and post angrily online, but I don’t blame Team Cherry one bit. If anything, the fake bench is one of the most memorable moments I’ve had in a game this year. It’s a nasty little prank that makes the actual safe benches feel even sweeter. So yes, I died. Yes, I stumbled back to the same bench half an hour later and sat on it again before remembering the lever. But that’s on me.

If there is a moral to this story, it is simple: never trust a beautiful bench in Hallownest or Pharloom, especially if it is glowing a little too nicely. Team Cherry is trolling us, and honestly? I hope they never stop.

Moments like these are exactly what make Team Cherry's games so unforgettable. The sting of that fake bench isn't just a cheap trick—it's a story you retell, a joke you share with friends, and a badge of honor once you finally outsmart it. If this little tale has made you want to experience Pharloom for yourself, or revisit the beautifully punishing halls of Hallownest, you're likely wondering where to grab a copy without getting scammed by price tags that vary wildly between storefronts and platforms.

The smart move is to do what the Knight should have done before sitting down: look before you leap. Game prices bounce around constantly depending on sales, regions, and upcoming releases, so a five-minute check can save you a solid chunk of change. Whether you're hunting for a digital key, a physical edition, or a gift for a fellow adventurer who deserves a little bench-related trauma of their own, you can [compare prices here]( on DealNest and keep your wallet as safe as you thought that bench was. And trust me—in a world full of hidden traps, getting the best deal feels like the one victory that was never booby-trapped.

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How to Complete the Lost Merchant Quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong

Struggling with Hollow Knight: Silksong's Lost Merchant quest? Track Jubilana through Memorium using Faydown Cloak and scent trail to bring her home.

Any Hollow Knight: Silksong fan worth their salt knows that exploration is the bread and butter of the game. But every so often, a side quest crops up that makes even the most seasoned players scratch their heads. Enter the Lost Merchant quest, where Jubilana decides to go walkabout for the second time. If you've already wrapped up the Balm for the Wounded quest, you might have noticed that her little shop in Songclave is looking, well, a bit lonely. Don't sweat it though — tracking her down is easier than you'd think, especially once you know where to look.

How to Start the Lost Merchant Quest

First things first — you can't just waltz into this quest cold. The Lost Merchant side quest only becomes available after completing the Balm for the Wounded quest. Once that's done and dusted, a new request will appear on the Wish Board in Songclave. Take a gander around town, and you'll quickly realize that Jubilana has pulled a disappearing act again. She's gone missing not once, but twice now, with her first vanishing act tied to the Wandering Merchant quest. This time around, it's up to you to play detective and bring her back home.

Here's the good news: you won't need to traverse half of Pharloom to find her. She's holed up in a sub-area of the Citadel called Memorium. That said, if you don't know the route, you could easily spend hours wandering around like a headless chicken.

How to Find Jubilana in Memorium

The route to Memorium starts by heading west from Songclave. Keep pushing through until you reach an area covered in grass with an opening in the ceiling. Here's the catch: you'll need the double jump ability — better known as the Faydown Cloak — to reach that opening. If you haven't snagged it yet, don't panic, but it's a non-negotiable for this quest. Once you've got it, jump up through the ceiling and into Memorium.

Now comes the fun part: tracking. Make your way through the rooms that lead east and keep your eyes peeled for Jubilana's items scattered on the ground. Interacting with them will create a scent trail that points you in her direction. It's a nifty little mechanic that makes the search feel a lot less like a wild goose chase.

Keep pressing east, and you'll eventually stumble upon a room with a contraption displaying a map of the Citadel. You can spend 70 Rosaries to grab that map if you're feeling flush. But to find Jubilana, you'll want to jump into the opening in the ceiling to access a secret area. It's one of those classic Silksong moments where the path forward is hidden in plain sight.

From there, head east once more to reach the outside and drop down to the platform below. Before you can have a proper chinwag with Jubilana, though, a wave of bird enemies will swoop in to ruin the reunion. It's not the toughest scrap in the game, but keep your wits about you. Once you've cleared the feathered fiends, approach Jubilana and exhaust her dialogue to wrap up the Lost Merchant quest.

The Lost Merchant Quest Rewards

Now for the good stuff. Completing the Lost Merchant quest expands Jubilana's inventory back in Songclave, and she'll have some seriously tempting new wares up for grabs. Here's what's on offer:

Item
Type
Price
Description

Spider Strings
Support Tool
350 Rosaries
Resonates with music to amplify a performance. Expands and strengthens the effects of the Needolin.

Craftmetal
Trade Item
180 Rosaries
Can be traded to various merchants in exchange for goods.

Spool Fragment
Upgrade Material
500 Rosaries
Increases the size of the Silk Meter.

Choral Commandment
Relic
210 Rosaries
A relic of Pharloom's past, interesting to collectors.

If you're wondering where to splash your hard-earned Rosaries first, the Spool Fragment is the smart money. It boosts your Silk Meter — one of the most impactful quality-of-life upgrades in the game. Just keep in mind that you'll need two Spool Fragments to actually see an increase in your Silk Meter capacity, so don't celebrate too early. The Spider Strings are also a solid pick if you lean on the Needolin, but the Spool Fragment takes the cake for overall utility.

All in all, the Lost Merchant quest is a classic Silksong side adventure — a bit of tracking, a bit of fighting, and a whole lot of reward. It's the kind of quest that flies under the radar but delivers some genuinely valuable loot for those willing to go the extra mile. So grab your Faydown Cloak, follow the scent, and get Jubilana back where she belongs. ️

Much like venturing off the beaten path in Silksong rewarded you with Jubilana's hidden wares, a little extra effort when shopping for your gaming setup can pay off handsomely too. Between new releases, hardware upgrades, and the countless accessories that make those long sessions more comfortable, the costs can add up quickly — which is why savvy players know that finding the latest sales and discounts is its own kind of quest. When you want to stretch your budget without compromising on quality, [DealNest]( takes the guesswork out of the hunt, rounding up the best offers across a wide range of products in one easy-to-browse spot.

Whether you're on the lookout for the next great indie gem to follow up your Silksong adventure or simply looking to snag a quality upgrade for your battlestation, pairing your passion for gaming with a little smart shopping is a strategy that never misses. A deal well found can be just as satisfying as a treasure well earned.

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Hollow Knight: Silksong — Surviving The Mist, Beating Phantom, and Unlocking Parry

Silksong guide details The Mist and Exhaust Organ, offering tips for Wraiths, Needolin puzzles, and unlocking Cross Stitch.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: Bilewater is one of the most unpleasant stretches of Pharloom I’ve dragged myself through, and the first time I stepped into The Mist, I immediately regretted my curiosity. But after enough deaths, enough Wraith screeches, and enough Needolin notes echoing through fog, I started to understand the method behind the madness. If you’re trying to reach the Exhaust Organ, rescue a very distressed Flea, and unlock Cross Stitch so you can parry for the rest of your run, here’s exactly how I did it.

Entering The Mist

You won’t find a fixed route here, and that’s by design. The layout of The Mist is randomized every time you enter. The one mercy is that your Cocoon always spawns near the entrance, so if you fall, you won’t lose too much progress. From there, I learned to stop hugging walls and start looking for small, glowing butterflies. When you play your Needolin near them, they float upward. Once you stop playing, they fly toward the correct exit.

The problem? The Wraiths won’t give you a quiet moment to perform. This is why I always come into The Mist with Straight Knives or Cogflies in my loadout. Ranged options let me swat away the screeching ghastly women without closing distance and risking a fall. My usual loop looked like this:

• Clear Wraiths with a ranged tool.

• Find a glowing butterfly.

• Play the Needolin long enough to make it rise.

• Stop playing and follow it.

• Repeat until the fog opens up.

After a couple of correct exits, you’ll notice a straightaway. That’s the game’s way of telling you that you’re on the right path. A few more correct butterfly choices after that, and you’ll step into the Exhaust Organ.

Pushing Through the Exhaust Organ

The Exhaust Organ wastes no time reminding you where you are. The first room is full of those maggot-infested waters that Bilewater seems to love, and there’s no way around them. I took a deep breath, dove in, and headed left. Once inside the central building, I jumped up the platforms, moved left, climbed the wall, and slashed the bench free from its webbing. That bench is important if you want a checkpoint in this stretch.

After that came the steam gauntlet. The pipes on the right follow a fairly linear route, but the timing is everything. I went up to the right, then up and left, then slid down left before moving forward again. When I reached the middle pipe, I broke it open and played my Needolin for the unsettling tube just to hear the bonus lore. From there, I climbed the middle tube, slid down right, wall-jumped up the next section, and made the final climb. There was silk waiting to the right, and Phantom waiting to the left.

Beating Phantom

Phantom is a showstopping longnail fighter. She takes big stabs at your position and frequently raises her guard to parry you. My first instinct was to wait out her guard, but I actually had better results doing the opposite.

I started hitting her guard on purpose. Whenever she parries, you can almost always jump, move toward her current position, and dodge the parry entirely. That leaves her open for a couple of cheap shots before she recovers. It sounds reckless, but it made the first phase much faster.

Phase
Attack
How I Handled It

Phase 1
Guard / parry stance
Hit her guard intentionally, jump toward her, dodge the parry, punish

Phase 2
Giant laser pillars
Dash out of the glowing columns, wait for the hitbox to clear, then attack

Phase 2
Needle toss
Dodge it, then close distance in the middle of the arena

Phase 2
Floor shuffle
Stay mobile and avoid touching her while she shifts across the boards

The second phase starts with Phantom firing massive laser blasts that cover half the arena. As intimidating as it looks, I found this to be her easiest attack. I just dashed away, avoided the big glowing pillars, and waited for the hitbox to disappear before punishing her. The needle toss is also a great opening if you dodge it and hit her in the center of the arena. At the end, make sure you hit the QTE prompt. It’s about as forgiving as they come, and completing the fight unlocks your Parry.

Don’t Miss the Flea

Before you leave the Exhaust Organ, there’s one easily missed detour. From the boss arena, I went right, fell down, went left, then climbed up and to the left before jumping the gap. In the room with silk-strewn tubes, I ran right past the thread-wrapped cylinders and into a hidden area. From there, I dropped down, exited through the left door, and crossed the floating platforms carefully.

All the way to the left, there’s more of that lovely infested liquid to hop across. If you make it, you’ll find a Flea making very concerned noises. Save it. It’s a short detour that I nearly skipped on my first run, and it absolutely matters.

How to Parry with Cross Stitch

Parrying in this game is not what you might expect from other action titles. You can’t simply press a button whenever you want. Cross Stitch is a Silk Skill, and it costs four bars of Silk to use. When I activate it, Hornet enters a parry stance for a little over half a second. If she’s hit during that stance, she responds with an animation of constantly slashing at the spot where she took damage.

That distinction matters. If you parry a projectile, you won’t take damage, but you may completely miss the enemy if the projectile was far away from them. On the bright side, Cross Stitch has a very generous hitbox, so if you’re within a few feet of the enemy, it will probably land. After the parry finishes, you also get a few frames of complete invulnerability.

Because the attack tends to place you directly on top of the enemy, I make a habit of dashing away after every successful parry. That way I don’t eat a random hit during the recovery window. It’s one of those skills that feels awkward at first, but once you get used to the rhythm, it turns Phantom’s own aggression against her and becomes essential for later fights in the Underworks.

That’s how I finally pushed through The Mist, cleared the Exhaust Organ, and unlocked Cross Stitch. If you’re still getting lost in the fog, lean on the butterflies, keep a ranged option equipped, and don’t be afraid to provoke Phantom’s guard. The parry is worth the struggle.

Fighting through the Exhaust Organ and earning Cross Stitch is just one milestone in a game packed with challenges like it. There are more bosses waiting deeper in the Underworks, each with their own rhythms to learn, and mastering the parry now will pay off again and again as you push forward.

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The M81 McLaren Mustang: Ten Built, But Its Legacy Roared Beyond Numbers

Rare M81 McLaren Mustang fused McLaren racing pedigree with Fox-body Mustang turbo power, turning a 1980 four-cylinder into a coveted collector icon.

When people think of McLaren, their minds usually jump to Formula 1 or mid-engine supercars like the F1 and 720S. But back in 1980, McLaren Engines in Michigan helped Ford build one of the strangest and rarest pony cars ever to wear a Mustang badge. Ford wanted to shake up its performance image as the muscle car era faded, and McLaren lent real racing credibility. The result was the M81 McLaren Mustang, a turbocharged, race-inspired Fox-body that looked ready for an IMSA grid.

A Wild Pitch from the Start

Ford originally planned to build 250 examples, but the market had other ideas. Only ten M81s ever left the factory, making them unicorns among Fox-body Mustangs. The price tag was the elephant in the room: roughly $25,000 in 1980, or around $75,000 in today's money. Buyers simply refused to pay supercar money for a four-cylinder Mustang, even one touched by McLaren. As of 2026, auction tracking shows the top sale around $75,000 and the most recent transaction near $51,000\u2014numbers that would have been laughable in the early '80s but now prove the car's collector status.

McLaren's Engineering Stamp

The heart of the M81 was Ford's 2.3-liter turbocharged inline-four, but McLaren Engines did far more than add a badge. The motors were torn down and rebuilt with racing precision. Cylinder heads were ported and polished, tolerances were tightened to motorsport standards, and each engine was blueprint-matched. A variable boost controller allowed drivers to adjust boost from the cockpit, which was a big deal in 1980. With boost cranked up, output rose from a modest 132 horsepower in stock form to about 175 horsepower, with 145 lb-ft of torque. Those figures are small by 2026 standards, but for a four-banger of the era, they were impressive. The real appeal was tunability\u2014turn the wick down for reliability or dial it up for fun.

IMSA Looks and a Tuned Chassis

Visually, the M81 was no ordinary notchback. Hand-built steel fender flares widened the track, while a deep front air dam, side skirts, and integrated brake ducts gave it a serious competition stance. A vented hood, rear spoiler, and blacked-out trim sharpened the look. It rode on lightweight BBS wheels and was painted primarily in Bittersweet Orange, with one black and one white example among the ten. Inside, the racing theme continued with Recaro bucket seats, a roll bar, and a numbered dash plaque.

The suspension was heavily reworked with Koni adjustable shocks, stiffer springs, larger sway bars, and components borrowed from police-package Fairmonts. Bigger front discs and reinforced rear drums added stopping power. A bolt-in roll bar improved chassis stiffness, which was sorely needed because Fox bodies of the era had a reputation for flexing in corners. Reviewers noted the M81 turned in sharply and stayed flat in bends, something a stock Mustang of that time could only dream of.

Why Ford Pulled the Plug

The M81 was meant to be a production car sold through select dealerships. But Ford had launched its own Special Vehicle Operations division, and an outsourced McLaren project threatened to steal SVO's thunder. Internal politics, combined with sticker shock, killed the program after only ten cars. Eight were Bittersweet Orange, one black, one white\u2014each with its own dash plaque. In a nutshell, the M81 was too expensive, too radical, and too politically inconvenient for its time.

A Legacy Bigger Than Ten Cars

Although the M81 ended after just ten units, its influence didn't stop there. It proved turbocharging could be used for performance, not just fuel economy. That lesson directly shaped the 1984 Mustang SVO, which used an updated 2.3-liter turbo four making 175 to 205 horsepower and sold nearly 10,000 copies. The M81 also kept the flame alive for racing tech in road cars, bridging IMSA styling with factory engineering.

Specification
Detail

Engine
2.3L turbocharged inline-four, McLaren blueprint-matched

Power
175 hp (vs 132 hp stock)

Torque
145 lb-ft

Boost
Driver-adjustable variable boost

Chassis
Fox-body with widened steel flares, Koni shocks, roll bar

Production
10 cars (8 orange, 1 black, 1 white)

Original price
About $25,000 in 1980

Looking back from 2026, the M81 McLaren Mustang is one of the greatest what could have been stories in muscle car history. It was ahead of its time, blending smaller displacement, turbocharging, and real chassis work when most Americans still equated performance with a big V8. Only ten were built, but their story has outgrown their numbers. They remain a proof of concept that corporate courage and motorsport expertise can create something special\u2014even if the market wasn't ready to buy it.

For enthusiasts today, the M81 McLaren Mustang represents a nearly mythical collector prize. With just ten examples ever built, each car that surfaces at auction draws intense interest, and values have climbed steadily as collectors chase the rarest Fox-body variants ever produced. Tracking these ultra-low-volume sales requires more than just scrolling through social media posts or old forum threads.

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After Hollow Knight: Silksong, Here Are 8 Games That Scratch the Same Itch

Looking for games like Hollow Knight: Silksong, these challenging Metroidvania action-platformers deliver precise combat and haunting exploration.

Like so many players, I spent an agonizingly long time waiting for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Now that it’s finally here in 2026, I can say the wait was worth it. The movement feels faster, the combat is sharper, and somehow it’s even more punishing than the first game—and I love every second of it. But after rolling credits, I found myself asking: what do I even play next? Going back to the original Hollow Knight felt safe, but I wanted something similar yet new. So I put together a list of games that have helped me fill that Hornet-shaped void.

What makes a game feel like Silksong? For me, it’s precise movement, tough but fair bosses, a haunting atmosphere, and that constant itch to explore every corner of a map. So here are the games I keep returning to when I need that same rush.

Animal Well — Survive Using Your Head

Animal Well is not about combat—it’s about wits. You play as a nameless blob exploring a massive, interconnected labyrinth full of secrets and hostile animals. Instead of fighting your way through, you use tools to outsmart enemies and solve layer after layer of puzzles. I’ll admit, it took me a few tries to get hooked, but once the puzzle logic clicked, I couldn’t put it down. If Silksong’s tricky platforming burned you out, this is the mental challenge that still feels rewarding.

Rain World — Curiosity Killed the Slugcat

Rain World originally came from a Kickstarter, just like the first Hollow Knight, and it shares that grim, dangerous streak. You’re a Slugcat dropped into a ruined civilization, and you must find food and shelter while larger predators hunt you. What blows me away is how fluid the world feels: the pixel art seems alive, and the movement has a slippery, weighty quality that makes every jump tense. It’s a survival platformer that never lets you feel safe, and I mean that as a compliment.

Lies of P — A Challenge with No Strings Attached

Need a 3D break from Silksong? Lies of P puts you in the puppet shoes of Pinocchio, but forget the singing cricket. This is a twisted city overrun by murderous mechanical puppets, and you survive through precise blocking, parrying, and dodging. If Soulslikes usually feel too dense, Lies of P stands out because its disturbing fairytale world actually made me care about why I was fighting. It’s tough, but the challenge feels earned.

Cuphead — The Challenging Cartoon Adventure

Don’t let Cuphead’s jazzy soundtrack and cute 1930s cartoon looks fool you. This run-and-gun boss rush is brutally difficult. Instead of a nail or blade, you fire energy shots by snapping your fingers, and the game turns that simple idea into a flying gunship of chaos. Somehow, even when I died dozens of times, I never wanted to quit. And because Cuphead supports online multiplayer, I could call in a friend when a boss got too nasty.

Dark Souls: Remastered — The Pioneer of the Soulslike Genre

Would Hollow Knight even exist without Dark Souls? Maybe, but it wouldn’t feel the same. Dark Souls defined the loop of dying, learning, and trying again that Hollow Knight and Silksong lean on. The Remaster gave it a 60 FPS boost and higher detail, plus the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. But the difficulty remains untouched. So unless you’re a speedrunner, be prepared to die a lot—just like my first weekend with Silksong.

Dead Cells — Make Each Run Count

Here’s a roguelike twist for players who want a bigger challenge. In Dead Cells, death is permanent: your weapons, gold, and items from that run are gone. But the upgrades to your health, gold reserves, runes, and blueprints remain, so you’re always progressing in some way. The levels are procedurally generated, which means no two runs feel the same. That unpredictability kept me coming back just to see what weird build I could create next.

Hades — Welcome to The Underworld

Not every great Metroidvania-adjacent game needs to be a pure Metroidvania. Hades balances satisfying, fast-paced combat with a fully voice-acted story drawn from Greek mythology. You fight through the Underworld as Zagreus, gather gear, and build relationships with a cast of entertaining gods and shades. Even if the isometric view isn’t usually your thing, the dungeon layouts and smooth action make it work. It’s one of those rare games where I actually looked forward to dying just to hear more dialogue.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps — A Metroidvania Masterpiece

Like Silksong, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a sequel that surpasses the original. It delivers gorgeous visuals, a moving story, and a soundtrack that still gives me chills. Movement, melee, and magic all blend together for tight platforming and combat. What surprised me most is how emotional the story gets—maybe the only thing harder than the gameplay is not crying by the end. If you want a Metroidvania masterpiece after Silksong, this is the one.

Final thoughts

Was there ever really a way to replace Hollow Knight: Silksong? Probably not. But these eight games each capture something I love about Hornet’s adventure: the precision, the atmosphere, the challenge, or the sheer thrill of exploring an unknown world. Whether you want 2D or 3D, roguelike or pure Metroidvania, one of these should give you that next great adventure.

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I Claimed the Heart of Might in Silksong: My Coral Tower Route

Hollow Knight: Silksong Heart of Might (Encrusted Heart) guide: cross Sands of Karak to Coral Tower and survive its brutal memory arenas.

In my 2026 playthrough of Hollow Knight: Silksong, I quickly realized that the Abyss cannot be survived without proper protection. That forced me to hunt down three ancient hearts from mighty warriors. The first one I decided to claim was the Heart of Might, also known as the Encrusted Heart. To get it, I had to cross the scorching Sands of Karak, reach the eastern Coral Tower, and then survive a brutal chain of arena fights inside a memory. Here is exactly how I did it.

Reaching Coral Tower from the Sands of Karak

I started at the Blasted Steps and kept moving to the right. The environment itself becomes part of the challenge: several hanging branches react when struck, growing just enough for Hornet to use them as platforms. The first major vertical room contains a hidden shortcut that leads directly to the upper level, but it can only be opened from above. If you want to skip some jumps, you can try using Silk Soar from the middle of the eastern vertical room. To open the shortcut properly, though, I dropped all the way to the bottom of that vertical shaft.

At the bottom, I hit the branch and quickly platformed upward. The timing can be tight, but each growth gives you just enough height to continue. Once I reached the top, I moved left and destroyed a rock above the bridge. That opened the shortcut back to the entrance, which is incredibly useful if you fall or need to retreat to a bench.

Continuing left required a mix of tools. The final branch led me to a wall, where I had Hornet cling and then jump to a higher wall. From there, Clawline carried me safely to the left platform.

Inside the building, I found a slumbering warrior surrounded by enemies. Before doing anything else, I turned right and went through a hidden passage to find a bench. That bench is essential because the upcoming sequence is long and merciless. After resting, I approached the warrior and played the Elegy of the Past with the needle. This transported Hornet into Coral Tower's memory, where the true trial begins.

What to Do Inside the Coral Tower Memory

Once inside Coral Tower, there are no puzzles or collectibles to chase. The entire sequence is a combat gauntlet: multiple arena fights, waves of enemies, and platforming under pressure. I used Silk Soar immediately to reach the top of the first room.

Then I went left and jumped up to trigger the first boss fight. This arena is all about endurance, because enemies arrive in waves. A large white jellyfish-like creature will sometimes appear during the fight. Striking it restores silk, which I saved for healing between waves. Having tools like the Cogfly equipped was extremely helpful. They attack enemies automatically, and if laced with venom, they deal extra damage while I focused on staying alive.

From there, I went up and turned left into a second arena. Midway through the battle, red spikes began covering parts of the floor. They stayed until near the end, when a larger enemy appeared and broke them. I found it safest to keep moving and not commit to long ground combos.

The third arena was the most punishing in my run. Almost immediately, the ground was covered in spikes, leaving no safe space to stand. Hornet had to stick to the walls and attack enemies without falling. This is where the Ascendant's Grip made a huge difference, because it prevents Hornet from sliding down walls. I had already purchased it from the Wandering Merchant after completing her quest. If you do not have it yet, I strongly recommend returning to get it before attempting this gauntlet.

After clearing that room, I ran to the top and destroyed a rock, which created a shortcut back to the Coral Tower entrance. It is a welcome safety net if you die later.

The fourth fight changed the arena completely. Instead of a wide floor, only three platforms were available. At some point during the fight, one platform broke and then reappeared later. I had to juggle positioning carefully while avoiding enemies. Once that fight ended, I used Silk Soar one last time to fly high into the final arena.

Facing the Crust King, Khann

At the top, the Crust King Khann waited. This boss likes to jump around frequently and can summon spikes from every corner of the arena. I found that patience was more important than aggression. I waited for his landing animations, landed a few hits, and immediately repositioned when the spikes began forming. Healing was risky, so I only used silk after creating distance. Defeating him rewarded me with the Encrusted Heart, completing the Heart of Might quest.

Quick Reference: Abilities and Tools

Tool / Ability
Why It Helps

Silk Soar
Reaches high platforms and the final boss arena

Clawline
Crosses wide gaps on the way to Coral Tower

Ascendant's Grip
Prevents wall sliding during the spiked third arena

Cogfly
Automatically attacks enemies, especially with venom

Now that I have the Heart of Might, I only need to defeat the other two mighty warriors to continue deeper into the Abyss. If you are stuck on this section, remember to open the shortcut early, use the hidden bench, and bring wall-control tools. Coral Tower is not about clever puzzles; it is a test of combat consistency, patience, and silk management.

The climb through Coral Tower may feel overwhelming at first, but every tool you invested in beforehand pays off in these tight, multi-wave encounters. That preparation-first design is what makes Silksong so satisfying, and it rewards players who pause to upgrade, explore optional areas, and return with the right kit. Whether you’re chasing the Abyss ending or simply clearing every quest, taking the time to ready yourself before a challenge can make all the difference between another corpse run and a clean victory.

For players who enjoy sinking hours into long, demanding adventures like this one, it always helps to stretch a gaming budget a little further. If you’re thinking about picking up Silksong on another platform or want to stock up on similar titles for your next playthrough, checking current game deals before purchasing is a smart habit. Sites like [DealNest]( round up discounts across games and accessories, so you can spend less time hunting for a price drop and more time back in Pharloom sharpening your silk skills.

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I Waited Until 2026 to Play Hades 2, and It Was Worth It

Hades 2 1.0's launch collision with Silent Hill f forced a tough backlog priority call—playing it later proved right.

I still remember the exact moment I decided to stop playing Hades 2. It wasn't because I wasn't enjoying it—far from it. Supergiant's first sequel tore through my expectations like a fully upgraded Aspect of Pan. But after roughly 12 hours in early access, I hit a wall: not a difficulty wall, but the inevitable cliff where content would soon end. I've only ever played two games in early access—No Rest for the Wicked and Hades 2—and while I respect developers who use that model, I prefer to invest in a complete product. So I uninstalled, waited, and eventually got a release date that put me in a bind: September 25, 2025, the very same day as Silent Hill f.

Now in 2026, looking back, that release date collision taught me a lot about how I prioritize games. I didn't play Hades 2 on day one. I chose Silent Hill f first, then spent weeks lingering in Hollow Knight: Silksong, which had launched earlier that September. Hades 2 sat in my backlog until I finally carved out time in early 2026. And here's the surprising part: it was absolutely the right call.

Hades 2 originally entered early access on May 5, 2024. When its 1.0 version arrived on September 25, 2025, that was less than two years later. For anyone familiar with the first Hades, that timeline felt almost brisk. The original Hades entered early access on December 6, 2018, and didn't hit 1.0 until September 17, 2020. By comparison, Hades 2's early access period was shorter, yet its content volume had already eclipsed the entirety of Hades 1. That's a testament to Supergiant's process, but it also meant the 1.0 launch wasn't a gentle nudge—it was a massive content drop arriving on the most crowded day of my 2025 calendar.

September 2025 was absurd. In addition to Hollow Knight: Silksong finally emerging from the shadows, Silent Hill f launched on the same day as Hades 2. I was also juggling whether to pick up Ghost of Yotei in early October, while Little Nightmares 3 and Metroid 4: Beyond loomed later in the month. Cronos: The New Dawn was still sitting unplayed. The backlog wasn't just full; it was overflowing.

Silent Hill f was the dealbreaker. I've been waiting for a genuinely bold new entry in that franchise for years. The small slice I played of Hades 2 in early access was spectacular, but it wasn't shattering the earth around its IP in the same way Silent Hill f seemed to be doing for Silent Hill. The novelty, the atmosphere, the risk-taking—it all felt like the series had a pulse again after Bloober's Silent Hill 2 remake proved there was still life in it. So when the two games dropped on the same day, my priority was clear.

Here's how my September–October 2025 schedule ultimately shook out:

Priority
Game
Why

1
Silent Hill f
Same-day launch, franchise-defining risk I couldn't ignore

2
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Released weeks earlier; I was still exploring at a snail's pace

3
Hades 2 1.0
Shelved until I could give it full attention

4
Ghost of Yotei
Tempting, but optional depending on time

5
Everything else
Little Nightmares 3, Metroid 4, Cronos, etc.

By November 2025, I had finished Silent Hill f and Silksong. I could have jumped into Hades 2 then, but I didn't. I waited until January 2026, when the holiday noise cleared and I could treat Melinoë's full journey the way it deserved. And wow, did it deliver.

Playing Hades 2 in 2026, long after the launch-week discourse, felt like opening a sealed wine bottle. The new weapons, the expanded character tree, the endgame loops that weren't in early access—everything clicked. Supergiant's formula is iterative, and Hades 2 1.0 is the clearest example yet. The early access period wasn't just about bug fixes; it was about building a foundation that could support dozens of hours without losing that magical 'one more run' pull.

Would I recommend waiting as long as I did? Not necessarily. If you aren't nursing a Silent Hill f obsession or a Silksong hangover, Hades 2 1.0 is worth playing immediately. But if your September 2025 was as chaotic as mine, delaying it wasn't a sacrifice—it was an act of self-care. I got to play three of my most anticipated games back-to-back-to-back, and each one benefited from the breathing room.

Supergiant will likely stick with early access for future projects, whether that's another sequel or a new IP. After seeing how Hades 2 evolved from 2024 to 2026, I won't hesitate to dip into that process again. I'll just be more strategic about what I install and when. Some games are meant to be savored, not sprinted through on launch day.

That strategic approach isn't just good for your mental bandwidth—it's easier on your wallet too. Waiting out the launch-week frenzy means you can often find physical copies, discounted keys, or seasonal sale prices that make a sprawling 60-hour roguelike even more tempting. When I finally cleared my backlog this past January, I didn't pay full price for Hades 2 or a couple of the other titles I'd set aside; I took a beat to compare offers and landed somewhere that respected both my time and my budget.

If you're planning your own carefully paced gaming calendar this year, keeping an eye on price trends is just as important as tracking release dates. For anyone looking to stretch their playlist beyond the AAA heavy hitters, it's worth checking [where to buy cheap games]( before committing to a full-price pre-order. A little patience can mean the difference between playing five games and playing eight—and that feels like the true "more runs" approach.

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Silksong Mask Shard Guide: 20 Locations And Boss Milestone Tips

Find all 20 Hollow Knight: Silksong Mask Shard locations to forge extra health Masks and survive brutal boss fights.

I’ll be honest: in Hollow Knight: Silksong, nothing calms my nerves like spotting a Mask Shard. These little fragments are basically extra heartbeats for Hornet, and let’s be real—extra heartbeats are exactly what you want when a multi-phase boss is breathing down your neck. Across the whole adventure, there are 20 Mask Shards scattered around the map. Every four shards combine into one full Mask, so you can end up with five additional health segments by the time you’ve truly cleaned house.

How Mask Shards Work

Collect any four Mask Shards and they combine into a full Mask, adding another piece of vitality to Hornet’s health bar. Since the hardest bosses in Silksong can chew through two health pieces with a single attack, those extra Masks are not just a luxury. They give you more room to learn patterns, make mistakes, and still walk away from a fight.

There are enough shards to build five additional Masks in total. That might not sound like a mountain of health, but against a boss like The Last Judge, two extra Masks can be the difference between a close victory and bouncing off the same fight for an hour.

Where Mask Shards Hide

I’ll be the first to admit I missed a bunch on my first pass. Mask Shards are scattered all over the massive world map, and the game loves to tuck them into places you’d swear you already checked. Some are sitting in dark, secret corners of rooms I had walked through multiple times. Others are locked behind abilities that only show up later, which means you’ll need to backtrack once your movement kit expands.

Don’t be afraid to retrace your steps. In my experience, a ledge that looked useless at hour ten can suddenly become a trailhead at hour twenty. Some shards are gated by story progression, so you may not be able to reach them until you’ve moved into an entirely different Act. That’s normal. The game is designed to make you feel clever for returning.

Milestone Health Checklist

Based on the game’s major milestones, here are the shard counts I recommend having before those big fights:

Milestone
Recommended Mask Shards
Extra Masks

Fourth Chorus (Act 1 boss)
4
1

Widow (Act 1 boss)
8
2

The Last Judge (Act 1 boss)
8
2

Act 2 Final Boss
12
3

Cogwork Dancers (Act 2 boss)
12
3

Act 3 Final Boss
20
5

The Last Judge is a particularly nasty gatekeeper at the end of Act 1, so having at least four to eight shards before that fight gives you a much friendlier buffer. By Act 2, you’ll want roughly 12 shards in your pocket, and by the final Act, you should be chasing every last one.

Exploration vs. Combat

One thing I appreciate is that exploration itself doesn’t demand a specific number of shards. The hazards in areas like Mount Fay are usually tied to your abilities or resistances rather than raw health. You don’t need 12 shards just to survive the freezing weather, though having more health does give you a little extra time to look around before resting.

That said, for the toughest encounters, Mask Shards become incredibly important. They turn a brutal learning curve into something you can actually survive long enough to understand.

My Practical Advice

Honestly, if I could go back to my first run, I’d tell myself this:

• 🧭 Grab at least 4 shards before Fourth Chorus.

• ️ Aim for 8 before Widow and The Last Judge.

• ️ Backtrack after every major movement upgrade.

• Check dark corners even if a room feels familiar.

• Shoot for all 20 before the Act 3 finale.

Take a breath. Then go hunt them down.

At the end of the day, Mask Shards are insurance. The game knows exactly where to hide them, but a little patience—and a lot of backtracking—goes a long way. I’d rather walk into a fight with too much health than just barely enough, and in Silksong, every shard is one step closer to that peace of mind.

That same spirit of hunting—scouring every corner, checking every nook—is what makes finding a great deal on your next game feel so rewarding. Just like you’d backtrack for a hidden shard, a few minutes browsing the right marketplace can turn up surprising savings that let you stretch your gaming budget even further. It’s the kind of patience that pays off in both worlds.

Whether you’re picking up a fresh adventure to tide you over between Silksong runs or grabbing a gift for a fellow hunter, keeping an eye on places that aggregate the [best game deals]( can save you from overpaying. A quick check before you hit that buy button is a lot like checking behind one more waterfall—you never know when you’ll find exactly what you were hoping for.

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Hollow Knight: Silksong Savage Beastfly Quest Guide

Use Sting Shard, Curveclaw, and Pollip Pouch to beat the Savage Beastfly rematch in Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Bellhart quest in under a minute.

When I first faced the Savage Beastfly inside the Chapel of the Beast, I had a rough time simply because it tracks your movement while flying and immediately calls in three extra enemies to pile on pressure. In 2026, with the latest Hollow Knight: Silksong build, the rematch tied to the Bellhart quest still surprises many players, and the arena is honestly worse than the first encounter. I have tested this route several times, and the good news is that a specific loadout can end the fight in under a minute if you set up properly.

Prerequisites and Quest Start

Before you can accept the rematch wish, I recommend confirming three things:

• You have defeated the Savage Beastfly inside the Chapel of the Beast.

• You have progressed through the second Act.

• You have defeated the Cogwork Dancers.

Once those requirements are met, head to Bellhart and check the board for the Wish. Accept it. Then travel to the Far Fields Bellway Station. Tracking the beast from here is possible, but it takes time and offers no extra rewards, so I always skip the tracking step.

Reaching the Rematch Arena

From Far Fields Bellway Station, take the left passage. Then head down, and after that move right. You will eventually enter the same section as the Four Chorus. That is where the Savage Beastfly rematch takes place.

The arena here is more dangerous than the Chapel because lava surrounds the sides, and the boss can destroy platforms when it performs its slam-down attack. Keep this in mind before you trigger the fight, because losing a platform at the wrong moment can push you into a very bad position.

Recommended Loadout

This is the setup I use after many failed attempts with other tools. Bring the following:

Tool
Why It Works

Sting Shard
You can lay these out before the fight begins. If the boss touches them, the burst damage is huge.

Curveclaw
This gives you a safe long-range option while the Beastfly is flying around.

Pollip Pouch
It adds Venom to your tools, so every Sting Shard and Curveclaw hit becomes much more effective.

The key is preparation before the fight starts. With the Pollip Pouch adding Venom, your placed Sting Shards can deal so much damage that the encounter ends in less than a minute. I usually place several Sting Shards near the centre before triggering the boss, then immediately switch to Curveclaw for follow-up hits.

Fight Strategy

• 🪤 Pre-place Sting Shards: Before the boss activates, scatter a few traps around the safe platform area. The venom bonus makes a huge difference.

• Stay mobile: The Beastfly tracks your position while flying, so standing still is a death sentence. Keep moving toward undamaged platforms.

• Watch the lava: Since lava covers the sides, never dodge blindly toward the edges. Try to keep the fight near the centre until a platform breaks.

• Punish the slam: When the boss goes for the slam-down attack, it can destroy a platform. Wait for the animation to end, then counterattack quickly before it returns to the air.

• 🧹 Clear the adds: The boss summons three enemies at once. Kill them quickly with Curveclaw so you do not get surrounded while trying to avoid lava.

After the Beastfly dies, pick up the Horn Fragment. Then return to the Bellhart quest board. Completing the Wish will reward you with a Mask Shard, which is required to increase your maximum health.

This is one of those Silksong quests that feels unfair at first, but the right tools completely change the fight. I have not found a faster or safer method than the venom-backed Sting Shard opening. Even if you miss a trap or two, the Curveclaw gives you enough range to finish the job without standing in the lava. Good luck with the rematch, and keep moving.

That same preparation mindset carries over beyond the game itself. Just as you scout the arena and place your tools before the Beastfly fight begins, it pays to plan your purchases before you commit. Silksong's DLC, a better controller, or even a Steam gift card can show up at a much lower price if you are willing to wait for the right moment.

Instead of refreshing store pages every day, you can let [this price tracking tool]( watch the price for you. Set an alert, keep playing, and you will get notified when the price drops—so your wallet lasts as long as your determination.

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