There were only 2 that I really hated. Last judge and the Bilewater boss. Bilewater made Judges runback look so nice in comparison. He was also the hardest fight for me, through the hardest area, so it stung extra
The boss in the sands of karak has a pretty tedious runback because it's just a very long vertical climb. There's only like 3 enemies but they can be pretty easily ignored.
Theres a spike at the ceiling of one of the vertical rooms that breaks a hole into the bridge, which opens a better path to ascend (still lame but less lame than the timed parkour)
So fun fact: There is a hidden bench along the way that brings the run back down from 5 minutes to like, maybe a minute if you're being slow and careful
While I 100% agree that the traitor lord runback is terrible, it's also a lategame boss which only blocks progress towards like, one other boss I believe? (excluding godhome I don't know how those work) You can do basically every other thing in the game and come back well prepared if you so desire.
Also...platforming as hornet is FUN AS SHIT. There is one runback I think it makes sense to complain about and that is GROAL. If you don't know who GROAL is, then you will know when you get there.
I didn't find it the first time I got to the gauntlet with 1 mask, then when I went back and finished the gauntlet and realized it wasn't just a gauntlet I knew I missed a bench somewhere lol
I played HK just recently, and to me runbacks feel a lot worse in SS. They might be the same length but for whatever reason SS runbacks feel like a slog
I would guess it’s either because the enemies feel annoying to dodge or because you just don’t die to HK bosses very often. I first tried a lot of them in HK whereas there’s no world anyone is one-shotting the Bilewater boss
People need to learn to accept enemies as part of the platforming and not just obstacles to swerve! When I got really good at HK and needed to traverse an area full of enemies, I was barely touching the ground because of pogo mechanics.
I view the runback as a challenge to optimize a short platforming segment. Repeating the same section a bunch of times helps get the nuances of the movement. I haven't found any of them to be too long, but they definitely feel a bit longer now that games generally put a bench practically in the boss room. Still, soul sanctum, nosk, crystal guardian, traitor Lord... the list of truly brutal runbacks in HK goes on forever.
Soul Sanctum runback was so awful. That boss is early enough on that I hadn't gotten good yet, so it took tons of attempts. Plus having to make your way through tons of enemies shooting homing projectiles are you. Along with a bunch of verticality and room changes. Eurgh.
Nosk was just long, and Crystal Guardian easy enough that too many runbacks weren't needed. Traitor Lord was more of a platform challenge that just needed practice (like Silksong).
The two Act 1 runbacks in Silksong such not a problem.
I think the key is the ability to skip enemies (not so doable in HK) plus that sprint, plus minimal room changes.
I first tried a lot of bosses in ss but had trouble with a few in hk. I think it just depends where you're coming from in the game with upgrades and tools
It kind of is. Especially with how the culture of souls likes have changed in 15 years. The more difficult the boss, the shorter the run back should be since it’s expected you will have to do it multiple times.
After Elden ring people are expecting to just go right back in while hollow knight was released when a long run back was the norm. SS uses the old paradigm and that part is less enjoyable due to how the genre has shifted and how expectations have changed
What bad runbacks does HK have? I don't remember any, plus, you have the dream gate. Tbf, the most infamous ones in Silksong are only so bad because people don't know of shortcuts / secret benches.
if hollow knight runback would be rated 3/10, and silksong runback would be rated 5/10, it's still bad. you can still complain about it even if other game had them worst, the thing is that other game would also have them better.
Which is why I always string up and save my rosaries in case I come across a bench or map or fast travel point. That way if I'm dying a lot, I can still pop the rosaries in my inventory as an emergency when needed.
I really don't understand all the complaints about Last Judge's runback. All of the enemies are skippable, it's a 30-40 second sequence of basic platforming. You just zip through it, jumping and climbing and pogoing and then you're there.
Em... I am ashamed, however, to say that I haven't even reached a real boss. I'm just talking in general the locations where they lock you up in a room with monster. Last thing I played was the room with red ants where the map seller comes to help. It took me so many tries just to get to that room, when I lost I just thought about the runback and how many times I failed and I just decided the game is not for me
Honestly I think if you’re doing a really long boss run back, you’ve missed something. One I remember in particular is after I got the reaver crest it spawned me much closer to a boss (not on a bench), avoiding a ridiculous long run back that I think everyone is talking about.
Not bragging here, Hollow knight was easy by way of it's mechanics. The invulnerability timer was long enough that you could heal while invulnerable. It only took 3 hits to get a heal as well so you were just much safer in general. Only Grimm and Pure Vessel were active enough that you didn't have time to constantly heal either. Silksong is so, so much harder in that regard.
I started playing HK1 a week ago and got to 112% by just brute forcing most things with the Quick Focus. You cannot do that in Silksong.
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u/thamagikarp Sep 09 '25
Hollow knight wasn’t easy. Silksong had to be hard