The Silksong Blog Post. (Games Playing Right Now #18)

Game Hard.

Silksong has had it's same song and dance every other big souls like that attracts a wide audience goes through. Game is too hard. 

Strife and friction can lead to players doing pretty much anything to change their outcomes rather than stay blocked behind a challenge. In most games, players try something else in-game like new builds and other ways of getting stronger, but even that get exhausted by running out of options or refusing options when assumed to not work or cost too much. The refute of these options can be caused by a few things. 

Available Time to spend. For one reason or another, some players can't afford the time to spend for the rewards the game gives for beating it's own challenges. It's most likely to be a problem for less experienced players who aren't breaking the game in half like I do. If a player has less skill, it's gonna take longer to match up to what is expected from the game. It's also gonna reduce the rewards earned when you can loose your money if the recovery fails. Even if there is something you can do to get past the challenge, if you can't pay the time, then you loose most if not all in-game actions.

The player not agreeing a game is fair. Sometimes there is misalignment with what is fair in a game between the game and the player. This is probably what is happening to many new players not familiar with this kind of game that have arrived from hype. (Yahtzee mentioned this new players effect. Might be over regurgitated info so take with a grain of salt.) This is most common with mechanics like additional enemies in boss fights and platforming/combat run-backs which take extra time to go through. For me, I don't see them as anything different from an additional phase besides the means of achieving the same thing. However, those particular complexity addons all have the common issue in testing you in something you may think you have completed and having the game say no to your completed work. Its like giving a child an extra page of homework after saying that completing the current page is enough. If you are feeling this way yourself, then I recommend looking back at it again and realize you can do it better at them just like any boss in the game already. They are just as much of a hurdle as everything else. From bench to bench, they are all the same thing and can be more interesting with a bit of attention and a mind ready to face strife.

Some people cry the accessibility issue. I will note that there might be a line where being less able probably means the game isn't functioning as intended. If someone has worse reaction time or just doesn't have good enough hands to control the game, it could mean there is no in-game actions that will lead to a positive outcome for a player. However, it's really unlikely that is the case in games like Silksong with a lot of actions players can take that lead to accommodation anyway. The game being a metroidvania means it's built with many places to go and get stronger to a broken degree. If you collect everything and grind for money when needed, the game can become so much easier. If you think the game is gatekeeping, I recommend exhausting all your options before opening up the can of worms that is making it your own game. 

There is one issue I had that made me do something that might be cheating believe it or not. The issue is that it's pretty unclear if I did cheat or not. This is in regards to the game's most hidden secrets. Some of these secrets are so hidden that I wonder if they are layer 2 puzzles rather than the layer 1 most singleplayer games target. Some hidden rooms are impossible to find with the map and seem to require a very keen eye in specific rooms. Some secrets require pattern recognition of patterns that you didn't know the significance of to remember. I had to unfortunately look them up because of how much time to scour for them was taking too long. After learning them, it was pretty clear that I have saved so much time. This is where I say the game is weakest as it is not clear if the game is meant to be played completely on your own or with the community. If some clarity is given at some point, then I might be able to be more conclusive with this section. Right now though, work with the community's help when needed for weird hidden stuff.

After all in-game actions are exhausted a player might do meta things like complaining/venting, leave a negative review, demanding a patch, or even cheating if a player doesn't assess any actions in-game can change the outcome. 

These are what I'm guessing is the pipeline for the many issues players have with the game. 

Doesn't the game feel unfinished? 

Stuff like lost Verdania, Watcher At The Edge, and the rest of the Mementos feel like loose threads rather than finished content. Considering the amount of cut content along with future plans of DLC, I totally believe Team Cherry could have been developing this game for 15 years as they said so. 

There is also the big missing feature that is an equivalent to Hollow Knight's Godmaster content. As of now, you can't refight bosses on demand or beat challenges similar to pantheons. Unless you use mods to refight bosses, the only way to practice them for Speedrunner and Steel Soul achievements is to use brand new saves. To everyone who has gotten those achievements on without practicing bosses, y'all are crazy.

I think that's about it. I have 100% the game and collected every memento. The only thing I am missing now is every memory locket. Considering that I can beat the final boss whenever I want without them, I think I'll leave them till they are needed in future DLC where I can allocate them freely. They might be especially helpful if there ever is any new sinks for them that would allow me to get the benefits of the sinks earlier than on a completed save.

[WIP] Does it really matter if any game is hard? 

Considering games like n++, Tetris TGM series, Path of Exile series, and many arcade style games exist, does it really matter when there is always something to miss out on? There will always be something more in those games that expect players to know how to spend their time anyway. I think I can talk about this more so if I do write more, you will either see this post expanded further or I make a new blog post where I migrate the insights there. For now, here is what I got. 

Bulletins:

Anyway, game has been crazy with the stuff in it, it's all so polished and smooth as butter! One of the friends I am playing in parallel with keeps throwing at bosses I can beat in one hit while also making excuses to hit the copium. I do wish I was a better coach so that they wouldn't have gotten as upset at a pretty tough chapel boss. They eventually have to call it quits for the session so I hope they don't drop the game from that.