The biggest problem with Silksong, and the reason its Steam reviews are this low, is getting a fix: Team Cherry says terrible Chinese translation has a new script coming, recommends using a mod for now

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Hollow Knight: Silksong's famously bad Chinese version will be replaced

Hollow Knight: Silksong screenshot of white rose warrior Lace
(Image credit: Team Cherry)

Silksong patch 2 was released just days ago and fixed a bug that nearly torpedoed my own playthrough, but developer Team Cherry saved the real big news for today: the game's notoriously bad Chinese translation is getting an overhaul, seemingly next month.

Hollow Knight: Silksong launched in great shape and saw glowing initial user reviews on Steam (among other platforms), but it soon took a Steam review beating once Chinese users learned just how awful its localization had been for the region. This is the single biggest ding to the game's Steam review score, and it's not even close.

With non-English reviews filtered out, Silksong currently sits at 91% positive on Steam. With global reviews factored in (and the overwhelming majority of negative reviews being Chinese), that drops to 82% – still a "Very Positive" score that many games would be happy to have, but far below its English score as well as the original Hollow Knight's 96% positive rating (97% for English-only reviews). It's also well below where I'd rank the game, but then, I'm not a rightfully unhappy Chinese gamer.

Team Cherry was quick to promise improvements for Silksong's Chinese translation, and in a new blog post, it says those fixes are incoming. After patch 2, the studio's "first priority remains to improve Silksong’s Simplified Chinese translation," it says.

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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