You can change Hollow Knight Silksong's difficulty after all, and here's how

Hollow Knight Silksong has released to rave reviews from players. Everyone is excited to get their hands on Team Cherry's sequel after a seven year wait that felt closer to seven decades. Generally, they like what they see. The atmosphere is exemplary, the art is beautiful, and the gameplay is mostly great. However, there are a few issues with difficulty. Silksong is hard as nails, especially compared with its predecessor. That's why fans were so excited to find a secret cheat that lets you change the difficulty. There's just one catch…

The new difficulty setting is called Steel Soul. If that wasn't enough of a giveaway, it's a permadeath mode with no revives. While the difficulty conversation has been fairly nuanced thus far, I don't think I've seen anyone say that Hollow Knight Silksong is too easy.

The main complaints we've heard so far are to do with the diagonal dive attack and the Chinese localization. If those were the only things stopping this from becoming one of the best Metroidvania games, it wouldn't be a problem. However, the difficulty is a sticking point, too.

Nobody minds a hard boss. We've all played Dark Souls and the thousand games it inspired by now. We've beaten Malenia and Sans. But Silksong takes things a step further. Not only are some of the bosses frustratingly difficult, but the path to get to them is hard, too.

This backtracking is at the heart of all Metroidvanias, but it's especially punishing in Silksong. A loss against a boss might mean dozens of minutes of progress lost as you battle your way back to their arena. Even Dark Souls placed a bonfire nearby its trickiest foes.

This same complaint rears its head with Silksong's currency situation. There are numerous points within the game where you have to spend minutes or even hours collecting more currency in order to progress. It doesn't feel like rewarding game design, and the game's punishing nature makes it feel even worse, like losing a Pokemon while you're grinding in the tall grass in a Nuzlocke.

That's why players are surprised - and less than impressed - that Silksong's hidden difficulty mode makes the game even harder. I'm enjoying my time with the game, but I wouldn't even think of turning that dial up to 11. It seems like a recipe for disaster.

If you're a masochist, you can activate Hollow Knight Silksong's Steel Soul difficulty mode by entering 'Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right' in the extras menu.

If you don't fancy tackling hard mode (I, too, respect myself), we've got guides for all the Hollow Knight Silksong bosses and the Hollow Knight Silksong map in case you need pointers for either. No judgment here.

What do you make of Silksong's hidden hard mode? Will you be trying it? Let us know in our community Discord server, where readers and staff discuss all the latest gaming news.