Once Hollow Knight: Silksong escaped the well-toned hands of the godly gamers who apparently play tested this thing, a whole bunch of us mortals found that this Metroidvania is difficult enough to double as a dirt eating simulator. Team Cherry has been quick to respond with a nerf to some early game bosses and resource checks, softening the beginning of the difficulty curve, and this decision has in turn stoked discussion in the community, with a particular emphasis on one boss.
Two bosses have taken a swing from the nerf bat, or will when the patch gets here: Sister Splinter and Moorwing. Both are due for a "slight difficulty reduction," per Team Cherry's patch preview. The latter boss is much harder, for my money, and has ignited far more chatter.
Moorwing is encountered in Greymoor relatively early in Silksong, and it quickly developed a reputation as an early "wall," a boss that will likely stop you in your tracks and force you to learn some stuff. He killed me a few times, that's for sure.
Players speculate that the Moorwing nerfs will likely reduce how many of his attacks deal two damage, limit the effective range of some of his attacks, or adjust his behavior so that he doesn't attack from off-screen as often.
The nature of Moorwing's boss arena makes it pretty easy to run away to heal, but this opens you up to unpredictable attacks flying in from somewhere you can't see, and it can be tougher to evade them. (Like some players, I found that audio cues could help with this.)
"It was a well-designed fight, but having a boss deal double damage on all its attacks THAT EARLY IN THE GAME is ridiculous," reckons FrostyTheSnowPickle.
"Dealing two masks on contact damage specifically feels so bad," agrees amatsumegasushi.
"Dude is unnecessarily difficult for an early game boss," argues Professional-Try-231.
Unsurprisingly, Moorwing kicked up a cloud of the usual posts, obviously written with shaking hands after the umpteenth failed boss attempt. I see someone claiming "Moorwing is bad game design" and I see a kindred spirit with just a little less self-restraint. Let us not ignore the colorful prose of user doorstop532, which drew over 1,600 to their cause on Reddit and which would make a sailor proud.
People have suggested skipping or cheesing Moorwing, and others have recommended strategies to beat it, frequently boiling down to 'get hit less.' As is often the case with hard games, plenty of people say they didn't struggle with this boss at all and are surprised to see it getting nerfed, arguing that other bosses, like the notorious Savage Beastfly, are more deserving.
"Idk where the hate comes from. Really fun yet tedious boss fight and I mean,it's a cutie, come on," writes SqueakyWhiteSquid.
"I honestly think it was the first kind of step up into difficulty (it was where I put the game down day 1) and people were raging about it," says Xcylo1.
"I just finished it in like an hour and thought it was fun. The projectiles really aren’t a problem once you realize how they move every time," responds United-Trainer7931.
If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that the people who beat Moorwing pre-nerf should all receive a solid gold trophy in the mail for their triumph, and it is now their solemn duty to be as smug as possible when discussing this and all other nerfed content in the future. I'm going to put my trophy on my mantle next to the T-shirt I got for beating pre-nerf Radahn in Elden Ring. You know, as soon as they arrive. Any day now.
Hollow Knight: Silksong will kick your teeth in, but one adorable singing bug makes up for it: "Sherma swimming and singing in the hot springs gives me the energy to get through the day."
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