The good news is Silksong has a true cheat code for a different difficulty setting, the bad news is it makes the whole game exponentially harder

Hollow Knight: Silksong has a true-blue cheat code that unlocks a different difficulty setting, but if you were hoping that Team Cherry had mercifully added an easy mode then I have bad news: this code adds the hardcore Steel Soul mode that would normally be obtained by beating the game.

Here's the cheat code, which I've already tested after learning it from Reddit user – sigh – Buttnugtaster, an apparent relative of Elden Ring's Loathsome Dung Eager.

Go to the main menu, the extras sub-menu, and enter the following directional inputs: Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right. That's it. An honest to goodness D-pad cheat code in the year 2025.

You'll hear a little sound effect after entering this code, and once you go to start a new game with a fresh save file, you'll now have two options. Normal mode is exactly what it sounds like. The newly unlocked Steel Soul mode is for folks who want to ruin their life.

Steel Soul was also in the original Hollow Knight, and it works the same way in Hollow Knight: Silksong: no revives, meaning a single death ends your run. The chatter around Silksong has thus far been defined by how viciously, and frankly surprisingly, difficult the game is on normal mode, so I'd imagine most people aren't hankering for a considerably greater challenge.

Because Silksong is both harder and longer than Hollow Knight, Steel Soul is even more challenging. You have tougher hurdles to clear, and you have to clear more of them without dying. The more you progress, the more you have to lose. And even if you speedrun the main path and critical upgrades, you're still going to be risking hours and hours of play time.

You know that feeling where you're three phases deep into a four-phase boss, and you're petrified of dying because that would mean doing it all over again? Yeah, imagine that but multiplied to the scale of the entire game.

Steel Soul is normally reserved for post-game runs precisely because you'd want to have at least one playthrough worth of knowledge to even attempt it. I'm still working through my first 100% clear, and I've only beaten a few bosses on my first try. I don't even want to think about needing to beat every boss in one attempt, nevermind the platforming challenges. My soul is iron at best.

Elden Ring maestro takes talents to Hollow Knight: Silksong with saxophone controller that goes "doot," immediately puts all our pogo abilities to shame and "doots" to glory.