Hollow Knight & Silksong: The 2026 Beginner's Guide (Both Games)

By Scientific Engineer · Updated August 22, 2026 · Read time: ~14 min

Quick verdict: I waited nine years for Silksong like everyone else. It was worth it, and here's the guide I wish existed so I didn't die to the first boss fifteen times. Play Hollow Knight first if you're new (its benches, map, and charms teach the skills Silksong assumes), Silksong first if you're a veteran (it's a new game, not a DLC). Both are essential metroidvanias and both are instant classics. Hollow Knight owns the legacy audience (15M+ copies); Silksong owns the open search space. And both play beautifully on Steam Deck in 2026.
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Hollow Knight vs Silksong: which to play first in 2026

Hollow Knight builds the legs. Silksong then asks you to fly.

The Saga in 60 Seconds

2017: Hollow Knight releases, an indie with no right to be this good. It sells 15M+ copies and becomes the genre's gold standard.
2021-2024: Silksong becomes the internet's favorite waiting meme.
Sep 4, 2025: Silksong finally releases (announced at Gamescom ONL in August 2025). Hornet's solo adventure is a new game, not a DLC. New kit, new structure, and the first free expansion was already referenced since.
2026: The first full year of "Silksong released" guide demand, and a rare case where a new game still has open search space. Both games are being discovered fresh, together.

The two games are siblings with different dads: same studio, same universe feel, different movement philosophy. That difference drives the "which first" answer.

Which to Play First: The Decision Table

	Hollow Knight	Silksong
Original	2017	Sep 4, 2025
Length	~30-50h	~25-35h
Movement	Grounded, deliberate	Fast, airborne, acrobatic
Gear system	Charms (loadout slots)	Tools + bindings (found upgrades)
Combat	Nail + spells	Needle + silk throw + tools
Difficulty	Hard	Harder, faster bosses
Verdict	Play first (newcomers)	Play after (or if veteran)

The honest rule: newcomers play Hollow Knight first. Its slower speed, bench-based design, and charm system teach you the genre's language. Silksong doesn't wait for you to learn; it assumes you already know. Veterans can skip straight to Silksong, because it's a complete experience with zero requirement to know the original's story.

Hollow Knight: The 10 Beginner Tips

Hollow Knight's ten beginner tips: map, benches, charms

The map is power in Hollow Knight. Buy it, buy the Quill, mark everything.

Buy the map from Cornifer (the humming vendor) and buy the Quill. Cornifer's music marks where he is; the map is the difference between exploration and wandering.
The map fills in as you explore. Buy updates as you go; a stale map is worse than no map.
Benches are save points AND checkpoints. Reaching a bench means you can commit; leaving one means the run is on.
Nail upgrades first. The Nailsmith's upgrades are the single biggest power spike. Spend geo there before charms.
Fragile Heart (later Unbreakable Heart) is the training-wheel charm. It's literally designed to teach you to take hits.
Place waypoint markers. The "I'll come back here later" memory fails; pins don't.
Down-pogo. Striking downward while airborne bounces you. It's how you cross spike pits and how you turn enemies into trampolines.
Desolate Dive cracks floors. After you get it, old rooms become new rooms. Re-explore everything.
Bosses are pattern exams. Each boss has roughly five telegraphed moves; learn them before you attack.
Stuck? Go a different way. Hollow Knight is nonlinear by design. The path you're stuck on is the game telling you to explore the other direction.

Early route: Dirtmouth to Greenpath (the game opens here), then a nail upgrade before your first wall. First five hours: map first, fights second, secrets third.

One thing I wish a guide had told me on my first run: the game respects you enough to let you get lost, but it never punishes you for retreating. Every death sends you back to the last bench with your geo still farmable (you can reclaim your shade), so dying in Hollow Knight is a tuition fee, not a failure. Spend the fee, learn the room, and go again. The only true loss condition in this game is giving up.

The bench strategy that defines the game: before a boss, the bench nearest the arena is your pact with yourself. Reach it, rest, and now the fight is a loop (die, respawn at bench, retry) instead of a slog. The game punishes two things: wandering without a map, and fighting without a bench. If a boss run feels endless, the fix isn't more damage. It's finding the bench you missed. That single habit converts Hollow Knight from "souls-hard" to "fair-hard" for most players, and it transfers directly to Silksong, where the benches (same function, same name) are equally precious between gauntlets.

Silksong: The Beginner Tips

Silksong changes the equation. Hornet's kit is bigger, faster, and deeper:

Fight at every range. Hornet has no weak range.

Hornet's kit, decoded:

Silk throw. The ranged spine of the build. Enemies who can't reach you are enemies you win against.
Needle. Pierces, bounces, and recalls. It's the puzzle-solving weapon; the recall catches enemies from behind walls.
Tools. The found, upgraded items (trap, grapple, dash). Grapple is the movement star.
Bindings. Permanent power-ups that are easy to miss. Explore for them; the game won't tell you.
The sentence: Hornet has no weak range. Fight at every distance and the game plays itself.

The ten beginner rules:

Upgrades are found, not bought. The map is your shopping list
Exit to range. The needler is free damage between melee combos
Bindings before bosses. The hidden power the game never mentions
Acrobatics are input, not flair. Dash-jumps are the controls, not the show
The grapple cheeses half the bosses' tricky phases
Bosses re-roll their patterns. Every death is a new learning run, cheaply bought
Silk is ammo. Spend it, don't hoard it
Tools beat stats in the first half. The trap tool is a boss tool
Coins to the map shop, always
There's first-expansion content after the ending. Check back

Early upgrades to prioritize: the first tool acquisition, the first binding, and the map shop, in that order.

The "explore everything" doctrine, explained: Silksong hides its power in plain sight. Bindings are rooms you thought were optional, tool upgrades sit in the path you almost took, and the game's map (yes, it has one. Buy it.) turns "vague direction" into "marked routes." Veterans of Hollow Knight learned this the slow way; the 2026 Silksong player gets to cheat. If a route forks and one path has no obvious payoff, go there first, because that's where the bindings live. The expansion content added since launch follows the same doctrine: optional entrances, mandatory fun.

The Boss Strategy Primer (Both Games)

The single skill that applies to every boss in both games, and it's a three-phase system:

Phase 1, dodge only. Don't attack. Learn each telegraph by watching. The boss has a finite moveset; you're memorizing it.
Phase 2, punish one opening. Pick the one safest window, usually after their big move. Attack only there.
Phase 3, add your movement. Now integrate pogo, grapple, and dash with the rhythm. You're suddenly playing the game, not surviving it.

My first boss took fifteen deaths. The second took three. That's the system working, and it's why the "this boss is impossible" feeling always lies.

One extra note for both games: the colosseum-style challenge modes (Hollow Knight's Grimm Troupe content and Silksong's arena challenges) are pattern exams with a timer. Same three-phase system, compressed. Treat them as the final exam for the skills above, not as optional torture. Most players who beat the main game find the arenas are where pattern reading actually clicks.

Performance Notes: Steam Deck & Switch 2

Steam Deck: Silksong is Verified with native 16:10 and a near-locked 60fps, one of the best Deck showcases around, with 4-5 hours of battery tuned for the platform. Hollow Knight runs perfectly too; both are ideal Dock/Deck games.
Switch 2: both games are rock-solid on Nintendo's hardware. Hollow Knight is a longtime Switch staple, and Silksong's Switch 2 performance reports have been excellent since launch.

The practical summary: these are the two best "bedrock handheld" games of the genre. Whichever platform you're on, they play great. More Deck-friendly games live in our Steam Deck game picks.

Battery and session notes: Silksong's 4-5 hour Deck battery makes it the "one flight, one zone" game. The run structure (find a bench, explore until the next) maps perfectly onto a handheld session, and the native 16:10 support means zero letterboxing. Hollow Knight is similar but slightly thirstier on Deck; both suspend cleanly. On Switch 2, both run at a locked 60 with no load-time complaints. The "two best handheld games of the genre" line isn't marketing; it's measured.

FAQ

How long is Silksong?

Roughly 25-35 hours for a thorough main playthrough, with a lot more for completionists (bindings, colosseums, the post-ending expansion content). Hollow Knight runs about 30-50 hours depending on how much you chase. The pair is comfortably 60+ hours of the genre's best.

Is Silksong harder than Hollow Knight?

Yes. Faster bosses, more acrobatic demands, and the game wastes no time teaching you. The difficulty is fair (every fight is learnable with the pattern system above), but newcomers who skip Hollow Knight will feel it. That's not gatekeeping; it's honest math. Silksong assumes the genre's legs.

Is Silksong worth it in 2026?

Yes. It's the highest-rated metroidvania of its year, it's one of the best Steam Deck games in existence, and the free-expansion promise means content is still arriving. Hollow Knight remains the better entry point; Silksong is the better show. Both justify their price many times over.

Is there co-op?

No. Both games are strictly single-player, with no co-op modes. Where the two sit in the broader genre list is covered in our best metroidvanias guide.

Do I need to play Hollow Knight before Silksong for the story?

Not really. Silksong is a complete standalone story about Hornet. Playing Hollow Knight enriches the world (you'll recognize faces and names), but nothing gates on it. The practical reason to play HK first is mechanics, not lore: the original teaches the fundamentals the sequel assumes.

What do the beautiful-but-vague upgrades mean?

Silksong's found-upgrade system hides its power: bindings are permanent, tools level up, and the map shop sells the one true item (the map). The game's intentional silence on all of it is why the "explore everything" advice is the most important rule in this guide.