Silksong vs Hollow Knight: Which Should You Play First?

If you have never played either, start with the original Hollow Knight. It is the more welcoming introduction, despite its reputation, and it remains one of the best-value games in the medium. Save Silksong for after: it is faster, harder, and built to be met by players who already speak the language the first game teaches. Neither is a wrong pick, but the order matters more here than it does with most series.

Silksong swaps the silent Knight for Hornet and rebuilds movement around her: quicker, more acrobatic, more aggressive. It reinvents its own traversal rather than reprising the original's, and it doubles down on difficulty, trusting you to rise to it rather than easing you in. It is less a victory lap than a deliberate escalation, and when it works it is exhilarating. It also asks for a patience the original did not, which is exactly why it plays better second.

Hollow Knight is a generous game wearing the costume of a severe one. It withholds direction and punishes carelessness, but for anyone willing to meet it, it delivers a sense of place and hard-won mastery almost nothing else matches. Its map is a slow, satisfying unveiling, and its difficulty, while real, ramps more forgivingly than its sequel's. It teaches you to read a Team Cherry world, which is the single best preparation for Silksong.

The gap here is real. Silksong is harder from the outset and stays that way, with faster enemies and less margin for error. The original earns its reputation for challenge, but it also gives you room to explore around a wall you cannot yet climb. Silksong is more insistent. If white-knuckle precision is what you want, that is a feature; if you are new to the genre, it is a reason to build your skills on the first game before you take it on.

For a newcomer, buy Hollow Knight: it is cheaper, gentler on the ramp, and an all-timer regardless of what comes after. For a veteran of the original who wants a stiffer test, Silksong is the obvious next step and a genuinely bold sequel. Play them in order and each makes the other better. We scored them a fraction apart because they are, in the end, two sides of the same remarkable craft.