Silksong: a missed opportunity?

[JimmyFantasy]

Gprofessor said:

JimmyFantasy said:

I'm not criticizing those who enjoyed the game, mind you. I was trying to raise an issue I think is important: that a game like Silksong can receive a 10/10 review so blindly, when in fact it has serious design issues that make the experience generally frustrating, sometimes at very high levels. And I haven't yet found anyone who says the game isn't.

And all this to say that when a title tends to be frustrating, it should be penalized, because this has always been a critical point, the antithesis of playability, since the dawn of the gaming medium. Otherwise, what's the point of criticism? A review should serve to reassure the consumer, guiding them towards a proper purchase. It should be done to protect the consumer, not the development team or the publisher.

A 10/10 game should basically be perfect in every way, which Silksong isn't, despite the beautiful and rich package they've put together.

Secondly, a 10/10 is not a perfect game, because such a thing cannot ever exist. A 10/10, in my opinion, should be a game that revolutionizes a genre and offers an amazing experience all around. Something that I believe Silksong achieves, through its use of challenge, atmosphere, gameplay mechanics and Storytelling. 

Lastly, there are a lot of people, including myself, that can tell you that game has no serious design flaws, in fact I couldn't find minor ones, so the point that noone says otherwise doesn't stand. 

Can you name some of these design flaws? What in particular makes the game frustrating that shouldn't? Mind you, Silksong tries to make you feel uncomfortable because that is the feeling the designers were going for, so several of the design choices reflect that, but they are all deliberate and fine-tuned.

Well, then Silksong isn't (10/10) because it doesn't really revolutionize anything. It has exactly the same style, graphics, atmosphere, and much of the gameplay as its predecessor. It's just much less balanced, with less sophisticated level design. We're rewarding that.

Among what I consider flaws, and they're not all:
- excessive distances between benches and bosses (repetitiveness and gratuitous boredom)
- poor placement of benches in the levels (another excessive boredom, in the event of an accidental death)
- poorly designed world navigation system
- nonfunctional shard system, which makes weapons useful against a boss, for example, only when you already know you'll be able to defeat it; otherwise, you reset them in the previous run and essentially return to the boss even weaker than before (nonsensical!)
- basic enemies that are too aggressive, poorly positioned in certain spots, which are extremely boring to face after the 20th time, let alone the 150th, especially the flying ones (gratuitously tiring)
- fairly obvious user input reading by enemies, often hitting you not where you are but where you will be (especially evident for ranged attackers)
- the tool system offers various possibilities, but ultimately boils down to a few combinations of truly useful items (the compass is mandatory, right? Why should it take up a slot?)
- noticeable poor balancing in some gauntlets
- double jump achieved too late and poorly combined with gliding

These are some of the elements that don't make the game better, but only less enjoyable, annoying, and repetitive. They aren't thoughtful choices; it's simply the way it turned out, for better or worse. Otherwise, from now on, should we forgive every game that makes the experience frustrating?

Last edited by JimmyFantasy - on 30 October 2025