SOS, I’m Broke—Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Rosary Economy Pushes Its Soulslike Influence Too Far

by

Watching the exploration and discoveries made by players within a lively fanbase and community, especially when they’re playing a Metroidvania or Soulslike game like Hollow Knight: Silksong, is truly captivating. Since Silksong offers a much larger map with more original content compared to its predecessor, it’s intriguing to observe how different players might spend their initial hours on the opposite ends of the map, facing off against varied challenging bosses or obstacle courses that others may have missed entirely.

It appears that various aspects of Hollow Knight: Silksong are generally accepted among players. Few seem to relish taking two masks of damage from most hostile sources, such as the Hunter’s March and Savage Beastfly. On the contrary, many players express frustration over repetitive platforming sections or prolonged boss fights, including those mentioned. However, one common sentiment that particularly resonates with me is the transient nature of the game’s rosary bead economy and the constant sense of being overwhelmed by debt in Pharloom.

My Patience for Hollow Knight: Silksong is Dangling by a Rosary Bead String

In my perspective as a movie critic, it’s important to acknowledge that I could effortlessly find an appropriate farming section in games like “Hollow Knight: Silksong”. For instance, the route between the Cogwork Dancers and Songclave, filled with Grand Reeds in this game, would serve the purpose quite well. However, due to my lack of patience, I find myself compelled to face the unyielding truth: not many rosaries are gathered leisurely, whether it’s in “Hollow Knight: Silksong” or any other game.

In the game Hollow Knight: Silksong, the bosses don’t provide any rosaries as loot for players to collect, and even the enemies that do offer rosaries tend to be stingy about it, seldom dropping many.

During my adventures in the game “Hollow Knight: Silksong,” it’s challenging to find rosary beads, often hidden or requiring a significant search. They can be found on strings I need to cut or tucked away in scattered chests. However, they aren’t always easy to come by and may require exploration for quite some time before you find them as a reward. Unfortunately, sometimes instead of rosary beads, you might encounter Shard Bundles or Memory Lockets that become unnecessary once all Crest slots are filled for your preferred Crest. In the early stages of the game, earning and holding onto rosaries can be quite challenging since they’re often at risk due to the demands of the game requiring you to either unintentionally jeopardize or intentionally spend them.

It’s worth noting that rosary beads, which can be forfeited in some cases, can be converted into rosary strings – an inventory item that remains even after death. This way, you keep your collected beads safe. However, I find it excessive that turning a string of 60 rosaries requires 80 rosaries initially, a cost I personally consider too high.

By breaking down the sentence into smaller and simpler components and using more common phrases, the text is made more accessible to a wider audience without changing its meaning.

Death isn’t the Only Way You’ll Go Broke in Hollow Knight: Silksong

For those easily lured and tricked by pesky airborne enemies such as Driznits, Reeds, Skarrwings, Squatcraws, or Winged Pilgrim Bellbearers, encountering death might become a frequent occurrence. Luckily, if players don’t mind making multiple journeys along the treacherous Sinner’s Road, there’s an NPC who prepares Silkeaters. By consuming these, it’s possible to “regain a cocoon following a defeat in battle.

Up until now, I’ve been saving these items for situations when I have 500 or more rosaries and can’t afford to retreat to break a cocoon at any location I might die. Unfortunately, it seems that if my current luck continues (as poor as it’s been between Bellways and Ventricas, with no idea where to advance), I may be forced to resort to Silkeaters earlier rather than later. This is the consequence of me intentionally shunning Game Rant’s guides for Hollow Knight: Silksong, in search of an unguided, genuine playthrough experience.

Regardless of how skilled you are at the combat and platforming in Hollow Knight: Silksong, you’ll likely end up as penniless as I usually am in the game if you decide to buy items from vendors or donate generously to a wishwall. Most items for purchase from NPCs in Hollow Knight: Silksong are incredibly expensive. For instance, two of the game’s hard-to-find simple keys cost 500 rosaries in Bone Bottom and an astonishing 650 rosaries in Songclave.

Before accounting for the significant amount of rosaries you might need if you decide to try out different tools, let’s not even mention the challenging area in Hollow Knight: Silksong called Underworks that I found myself in with no resources at all (due to Blasted Steps and other purchases I felt compelled to make beforehand). To make things worse, a bench there costs a modest 15 rosaries.

Money Lost on Death is Fine for a Soulslike, But Antithetical to a Metroidvania

I haven’t finished Act 3 of the game Hollow Knight: Silksong yet, so I might be shocked to discover there’s a faster way to get rosaries. However, I think it’s questionable that the game requires you to lose your Silk and rosaries upon death, especially since it seems to draw inspiration from Soulslike games-although how closely it follows these inspirations is debatable. It seems unnecessary for The Game Kitchen’s Blasphemous games to be so challenging on their own, and also make players lose items they spent an hour or more and fought through multiple difficult biomes to acquire.

This paraphrased version aims to present the same information in a clearer and simpler manner while maintaining the original meaning of the text.

One point that particularly stands out to me is the transient nature of Pharloom’s bead-based economy, leaving me constantly overwhelmed with debt.

What truly resonates with me about Pharloom is the ephemeral quality of its economic system, which leaves me burdened by debt at every turn.

If anything, the lack of rosaries in my inventory makes it hard for me to fully experience or delve deeper into Hollow Knight: Silksong’s exploration without worry. In a game like Metroidvania, this is particularly disheartening. Essentially, I find myself stuck in a cycle where I accumulate around 200 rosaries with the intention of purchasing something unique from vendors such as Bellhart, but then I inevitably lose these rosaries when I encounter vital Bellways and benches, not to mention other significant items that might require me to backtrack.

Read More

2025-09-09 01:17