Same studio, same genre, different feel. Silksong is faster, harder, and bigger; Hollow Knight is slower and more somber.
Silksong and Hollow Knight share a studio, a genre, and a lineage, but they play differently enough to suit different moods. Both are Team Cherry Metroidvanias; the sequel is faster and more aggressive.
The headline change is the lead. You play the silent 
Knight in Hallownest, and the swift Hornet in the new kingdom of Pharloom.
Underneath that, the build systems, combat speed, and difficulty all shift. Neither game is strictly better; they are two takes on the same brilliant formula.
This guide compares them category by category, then gives a clear recommendation on which to play and which to start with.
Knight vs Hornet, silent vessel vs swift huntress.
Charms vs tools and crests.
Silksong is harder and more aggressive.
Hollow Knight first if you want the full arc.Both games are essential, and the choice comes down to pace. Hollow Knight is the slower, more atmospheric original; Silksong is the faster, harder, more acrobatic sequel.
If you want melancholy exploration and a gentler on-ramp, start with Hollow Knight. If you want a sharper combat challenge and more mobility, Silksong delivers that from the first hour.
Neither replaces the other. They are companion pieces, and most fans end up loving both for different reasons.
Play Hollow Knight first if you can. In actual play, knowing Hornet from the original adds real weight to her starring role in the sequel.
Here is the high-level comparison at a glance, before the category breakdowns below.
| Feature | Hollow Knight | Silksong |
|---|---|---|
| Protagonist | The Knight | Hornet |
| Setting | Hallownest | Pharloom |
| Weapon | Nail | Needle and silk |
| Build system | Charms | Tools and Crests |
| Currency | Geo | Rosaries and Shell Shards |
| Pace | Methodical | Fast and acrobatic |
The shared DNA is obvious, but almost every system has been reworked rather than reused.
The biggest felt difference is speed. Hollow Knight's Knight fights with deliberate nail swings, while Hornet attacks faster and moves with far more agility.
Hornet brings new mobility tools and silk-based skills that make traversal and combat more vertical and aggressive. Where the Knight is grounded and measured, Hornet darts, vaults, and tags enemies from angles the first game never used.
Both still reward pattern reading and clean dodging, but Silksong demands sharper execution. According to the wiki it keeps the same Metroidvania core with a quicker, more demanding rhythm.
This is where the two games diverge most. Hollow Knight builds come from charms slotted into notches; Silksong replaces that entirely.
In Hollow Knight, charms and notches define your loadout. Silksong instead uses 
Crests that set your needle style and slots, plus colour-coded tools you equip into them.
The result is a deeper, more flexible build system in the sequel. Crests act like classes, and tools layer offense, defense, and exploration on top, which gives Silksong more loadout variety than the original's charm grid.
Silksong is the harder game, and most players feel it immediately. Its bosses hit faster and its early game is less forgiving than Hollow Knight's opening.
Hollow Knight's difficulty spikes mostly in optional content, as covered in our is Hollow Knight hard guide. Silksong front-loads more of that challenge into the main path, so the sequel is the tougher ride start to finish.
The worlds differ in tone too. Hallownest is a quiet, ruined kingdom of bugs and void; Pharloom is a brighter, vertical realm of silk and song. Both are gorgeous, but they read as distinct places with their own moods.
Play both, but order matters. For the full experience, start with Hollow Knight and then move to Silksong, following release order and Hornet's arc from supporting role to lead.
You do not strictly need the first game, as our prerequisite guide explains, but it deepens the sequel. If you only want one, pick by taste: slower and somber, or faster and harder.
For newcomers worried about difficulty, Hollow Knight is the gentler entry point. For players who want the sharpest combat Team Cherry has made, Silksong is the pick.
Whichever you start with, these guides cover both games and the journey through their kingdoms.
Game data and screenshots adapted from hollowknight.fandom.com, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Team Cherry.