Minor act 1-2 Silksong spoilers below. Nothing major, just some boss name drops and general discussion about difficulty and challenge.
Silksong has been such a confusing experience so far (currently about to get my last of the 3 "things" in the Citadel after completing all Act2 content available (except for the stupid Chef bug... I'll be back for them... and the coral conehead bug boss).
In one moment, I'm playing thinking 'this is the greatest game I've ever played. I couldn't be enjoying this more.' And then the game will do a complete 180 into the most un-fun, mean content ever and suddenly I genuinely am not enjoying myself anymore.
I think a big reason why it's souring me so much is because so much of the game (and all of Hollow Knight) is so clearly carefully designed to be challenging, but not mean, so that when Silksong makes the switch and has mean content... it feels so intentional and malicious. Obviously the creators know how to make well-designed and fair challenge, so they're clearly making the active decision to forgo that and be mean-spirited at times. Some of this content is mandatory, too. Unlike HK where most of the really hard content was optional.
For example, there is no excusing Groal, the frog guy in Bilewater. The bench runback is mean (and yes, I found the secret bench which makes it much better-- but the fact that that bench is so hidden is already so mean when the runback otherwise is disgusting. Even the runback from the secret bench is pretty rough). But on top of that, there is a five(?) wave gauntlet before him with incredibly evasive, flighty enemies with great projectile aim who you can really only ever hit once or twice before they relocate). On top of that the whole arena is platforms above sewage/maggot water that makes you unable to heal. Oh yeah, and then there's a super tanky boss that does double-damage on contact (which shouldn't exist: double damage on attack hitboxes is okay, although this game leans on it way too heavily to inflate difficulty-- if your boss is 'too easy' make it harder by designing more interesting movesets, not by just slapping double damage on it). Nothing about that encounter is defensible, and that's coming from someone who beat it in two attempts (I inadvertently discovered the corner strat when Groal spawned when I had one mask, then it was just a slooow war of attrition until it died, so I didn't even really beat it straight up), I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to have to keep attempting it for dozens of times.
It's a shame because half of this game is SO GOOD. Better than HK in every conceivable way, and some of the bosses are incredible (I just beat Trobbio-- fantastic!! Even though he really has no business doing double damage: he's a small, flighty enemy. Double damage should be consistent to bulky, slow, blunt-attack enemies, if it is used at all. He was so full of personality and flair that I was really enjoying that fight, even if it took me a handful of attempts.
And again, all of this is coming from someone who isn't struggling too, too much. I'm only part ways through the game, so who knows what is in store for me. But so far, I've not had to attempt anything more than a dozen times or so. On the flip side, I am dying to gnarly platforming sections 3x more than bosses LOL.
Idk what the point of this rant was, and I've definitely lost the thread (hehe). But in general, I wish Silksong just felt a little less... cheap... when it came to its difficulty spikes. It sours me on the phenomenal sections of the game (of which there are many) just by contrast. All in all, I am still having a blast, this game is a masterpiece, and it's my GOTY so far (haven't played CO:E33 yet). But I do think once the Skong mania/hype dies down in the next couple of months we're gonna start seeing conversations about how this game relies too heavily on cheap tactics and generally poorly-designed difficulty to inflate the challenge.
That is all!! (no spoilers for anything I haven't reached please)