Silksong Is Out, And The ‘Git Gud’ Brigade Is Already At War With Critics

The long-awaited sequel is finally here, and so is the internet's favorite pastime: a completely predictable and exhausting civil war over video game difficulty.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is, by all accounts, a massive success. It launched to universal praise and is sitting on a 'Very Positive' rating with half a million people playing on Steam alone. But now that the initial hype is settling, a growing number of players are voicing their frustrations. And the game's most devout fans are not taking it well.

The Sins of the Silk

Players are pointing to specific design choices that feel more frustrating than challenging. I'm seeing a lot of talk about the brutal runbacks after dying, a punishingly stingy economy, and some truly insane difficulty spikes. (Which to a certain point I have experienced myself)

There's even an early-game miniboss, the Bell Beast, that's become a major roadblock for a huge number of players. This is valid feedback from people engaging with the game's systems.

The Cult of 'Git Gud'

Of course, for every piece of measured criticism, there's a response in the comments that just says, "skill issue." The reaction from the game's hardcore defenders has been swift and dismissive. Any complaint, no matter how valid, is immediately met with a chorus of "git gud" or "maybe your skills have declined".

The argument is that Silksong is a "special piece of art" and that its difficulty is a core feature, not a flaw. They argue that we should cherish the challenge rather than complain that it's too hard.

An Exhausting, Predictable War

This whole song and dance is as predictable as the sunrise. It's the "Souls Cycle" all over again: a difficult game gets popular, and the community immediately splits into warring factions.

Let me be clear: criticism is not hate. Pointing out that a ten-minute runback to a boss is tedious isn't an attack. It's feedback.

But let's also be honest, some of the critics take it way too far. It's one thing to have a complaint; it's another to scream about it for hours, trying to convince people who are actually having fun that they are wrong. It's an equally toxic behavior.

Then you have the defenders, the "git gud" brigade, who treat any negative comment as a personal attack on their perfect little game. Both sides are exhausting. A developer has a vision, and sometimes that vision doesn't align with what you want from a game. That's okay. It's okay for a game to not be for you.

It would just be nice if, for once, everyone could behave on the internet. But I guess that's a bigger challenge than any boss Team Cherry could ever design.