Hollow Knight: Silksong’s first update lowers the difficulty of two tough bosses

Team Cherry has finally revealed what players can expect from the first post-launch update for Hollow Knight: Silksong. This comes after a massive launch that saw over 587,000 people concurrently playing the Metroidvania on Steam alone this weekend, according to SteamDB.

It’s a somewhat low-stakes patch focused on bug fixes and slight balance adjustments. Players struggling in Hollow Knight: Silksong’s early game will be happy to hear that two bosses are getting easier.

What are the patch notes for Hollow Knight: Silksong’s first update?

Bug fixes and easier bosses

The details of this update were revealed by Team Cherry on the game’s Steam forums. Currently, it exists in a public beta branch for Hollow Knight: Silksong on Steam and GOG, while the plan is to “deliver the patch to all players mid next week.”

As mentioned, the majority of these patch notes are dedicated to bug fixes, resolving issues that caused enemies to go out of bounds, the game to soft lock during Lace’s boss fight, and more. The balance adjustments will likely be much more exciting to more players.

Hollow Knight: Silksong now has a reputation for being a pretty difficult game. Most basic enemies can deal a ton of damage to the player, some bosses are so aggressive that you can get stuck on them for a long time, and the Rosary currency is rare. Although we’re not getting an easy mode or anything of the sort, some balance adjustments may be slightly less difficult.

After this patch, the rosary rewards from relics, psalm cylinders, and courier deliveries will be increased, while the cost of Bell Bench prices will decrease. More importantly, there will be a “difficulty reduction” for Act 1 bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter.

In my own playthrough, these were the first two bosses to give me any real trouble, so it’s good to hear that Team Cherry is taking steps to make those boss fights a little more bearable. Hopefully, it’s an indication that the developers are willing to continue to tweak the difficulty based on player feedback.

If you want to see the patch notes in detail, you can check out the full list below.

• Fixed situation where players could remain cloakless after Slab escape sequence.
• Fixed wish Infestation Operation often not being completable during the late game.
• Fixed wish Beast in the Bells not being completable when Bell Beast is summoned at the Bilewater Bellway during the late game.
• Fixed getting stuck floating after down-bouncing on certain projectiles.
• Fixed courier deliveries sometimes being inaccessible in the late game.
• Fixed craft bind behaving incorrectly when in memories.
• Fixed Lace tool deflect soft-lock at start of battle in Deep Docks.
• Fixed Silk Snippers in Chapel of the Reaper sometimes getting stuck out of bounds.
• Fixed Claw Mirrors leaving Hornet inverted if taking damage during a specific moment while binding.
• Fixed Snitch Pick not giving rosaries and shell shards as intended.
• Removed float override input (down + jump, after player has Faydown Cloak).
• Slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter.
• Reduction in damage from Sandcarvers.
• Slight increase in pea pod collider scale.
• Slight reduction in mid-game Bellway and Bell Bench prices.
• Slight increase in rosary rewards from relics and psalm cylinders.
• Increase in rosary rewards for courier deliveries.
• Various additional fixes and tweaks.

These improvements will roll out with patch 1.0.29470 sometime next week. I’m also working on a review for Hollow Knight: Silksong, so you can also expect that soon.