Last time I wrote about my time with Silksong, I had gotten stuck in the Underworks and loaded an auto-save that took me back to the start of act 2.  I just didn’t have it in me to do anything too difficult after being annihilated by the Phantom for a good solid 1.5 hours.  Since then, I have completed the entirety of act 2, which I will be summarizing in today’s post.  Spoilers for act 2 to follow.

While exploring the Citadel all over again and catching up on whatever progress I had lost when I reverted to an older save file, I managed to locate a key shaped like a surgical device.  This opened the way to a place called Whiteward, a dark and spooky abandoned hospital of some kind.  Now we’re talking!  You see, I’m always a big fan of creepy locations, so I was pretty excited for this place, especially when I had my first unsettling encounter.  I remember seeing this screen in the back and the shadow of something moving around behind it.  Passing it by, I found a collectible, the identity of which I have long since forgotten.  But my memory of what followed is still fresh in my mind.  When I turned around, the mysterious figure behind the curtain burst forth, a floating bug with tendrils of silk around its face that resembled bandages!  Hollow Knight knows how to handle creepy moments, so I was in for a treat…or so I assumed.  After dispatching this spooky denizen, I delved ever further…only to get dumped into the Underworks.  Great…back here again.

Well, needless to say, I was pretty disappointed that one of the most interesting places in the game was so short.  But at least my time in the Underworks went far better.  I could get out more easily now, and I have since explored the entire place.  I even managed to get the Clawline ability, which allows you to throw your needle forward and teleport to it, kind of like the Phantom did during her positively miserable fight.  This also allows you to cling to these rings I had been seeing in various locations throughout the game.  The problem is, the game then proceeded to trap me in this room until I managed to defeat all the enemies in the top right corner.  And too bad if you don’t have the right gear equipped because there are no benches!

Now, let me pause right here and say…I really hate that about this game.  I already had to load an auto-save when I got stuck in the Underworks the first time.  Then they go and do it again.  I’m literally getting afraid of exploring new places because I don’t know when the game is going to trap me somewhere without warning.  I do think the first game did this when you obtained the Vengeful Spirit at the Ancestral Mound, but this was early into the game (so there were minimal upgrades you could have obtained to prepare for this place anyway), and the place was fairly easy.  This game has trapped me once in the Slab and twice in the Underworks.  If there were more times, I’ve forgotten.  But it’s already happened three times, and it’s getting old!

Well, thanks to the Clawline, I was able to explore the High Halls, which I mainly ran through, avoiding all the enemies to the best of my meager abilities.  I also reached some new place in Far Fields…beyond which I found myself in a battle over a pit of lava.  Yeah, forget that…  Oh yeah, this is a bit out of order, but I also located some Pale Oil for upgrading my weapon, but…they’re making it next to impossible to get.  Why am I surprised?  Before I can have it, I must complete this side quest for this bug where I must collect five items.  The Vintage Nectar required me to defeat a bunch of ants in the basement of the Halfway Home…after I already paid 480 rosaries for it, mind you!  And another requires me to deliver some meat to the Citadel quickly and without taking too much damage…and without using any form of fast travel.  It’s the Grey Mourner side quest all over again!  For the time being, both items seemed beyond my skill level, so I saved them for another time.

Well, after lots of procrastinating, I finally forced myself to fight the next boss and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually…fun?  Really, in this game!  The Cogwork Dancers are two clockwork bugs that dance in unison with each other.  Not only was this a really unique concept, but the battle was actually just a good time, with just the right amount of challenge without feeling unfair.  This was seriously one of my favorite and most memorable boss fights I’ve done in a good long while, and I really wish we got more like it.  After that, I reached a challenging place filled with spinning cogs and whatnot called Cogwork Core and, after some brief exploration, just noped out of there.

Now, it was at this point that I did something that I don’t normally do.  I cheated.  I looked up the location of the double jump ability and even watched a brief video about it.  Because, the thing is…after nearly getting stuck after obtaining the Clawline, I was not about to risk that happening again.  From now on, I want to be fully prepared for any challenge this game throws at me, and if that means potential spoilers, then that’s just a risk I’m willing to take, seeing as the last autosave is, in fact, when I got the stupid Clawline!  But first, I made a quick detour to a secret section of the Moss Grotto, where I proceeded to get my butt kicked by a pair of Moss Mothers.  After maybe 30 minutes of tries, and some aggressive pogo-ing, I finally prevailed and got the Weavelight tool, which was recommended for my ascent up Mount Fay, where the double jump ability resided.

Mount Fay was actually quite easy.  People on the internet had hyped this up as a truly awful experience, but frankly, I didn’t find it to be overly challenging.  It also helped that it gave off Celeste vibes, what with scaling an icy mountain, with your main abilities being clinging to walls and dashing in the air.  Probably the most stressful part was needing to move quickly to avoid taking damage from the cold, but even then, lights or fires that would warm you were not too hard to come by.  So fortunately, this area was not nearly as intimidating as I was expecting, and the next thing I knew, I had my double jump and didn’t even need to fight a boss or anything to get it!  Not sure what was the deal with the pigeon thing at the peak, but it didn’t bother me, and I didn’t bother it.  I also found the Memory Crystal tool, which is amazing.  Whenever I take damage, which happens quite often, it leaves behind an imprint of myself that damages enemies in a burst of spikes.  I can’t tell you how many of my foes have been destroyed by that thing.  At last, my clumsiness is being rewarded!

Thanks to my new double jump, I then took a brief detour to the Memorium, where I fought a giant flea.  And then I reached another location with difficult platforming, the Sands of Karak.  But unlike Mount Fay, it was not fun.  Not fun at all.  This place was simply an ordeal, plain and simple.  You see, there is this sand everywhere with worms in it that you can’t fall into.  And there are these odd stones you knock into the sand, and these branches sprout for a limited time, forcing you to quickly traverse the temporary platforms or pogo across spikes to reach the next safe spot amongst the sand.  It’s stressful.  It’s difficult.  And I didn’t particularly enjoy it.  So what else is new?  But I slowly worked my way through this area, creating shortcuts that would make my traversal just a tad less aggravating and I even found the Crustnut, another required item for the Pale Oil side quest.

Well, after this, I explored the Cogwork Core.  I solved a puzzle through trial and error, and I even found some Pale Oil in the Whispering Vaults that didn’t require any effort!  Happy day!  I guess the other oil can be used to strengthen my weapon even further, but it sure was nice getting to upgrade my needle at least the one time without having to do anything overly annoying.  After getting stuck on Trobbio, I retreated and finally managed to get that Vintage Nectar.  With my stronger weapon, and the Memory Crystal, I was able to beat all the ants pretty easily.  I also got quite a kick out of watching the tiny ants carry the corpses of their larger brethren away.  But they also carried off my tacks I had laid out as traps, so that wasn’t ideal.

Eventually, a quest in Songclave led to the discovery of the Putrid Ducts, where I found the Wreath of Purity, which can protect you from the nasty maggots that infect you and steal your silk.  After this, I made short work of the chef boss in Sinner’s Road, earning me the Pickled Muckmaggot required for the second Pale Oil.  (Mmm, good eatin’.)  By now, the last item I needed for the Pale Oil was to deliver the meat, which sounded a lot more possible once I had learned that the Mist disappears once you defeat the Phantom.  Utilizing a method I had learned in the first game, I cleared the path between Bellhart and the bug guarding the oil (most of them don’t respawn if you don’t sit on a bench), and I managed to deliver the meat on my first try with only one hit and barely any time left.

With a stronger weapon, I was able to defeat the chaotic mess that was the Trobbio battle, and I utilized my trusty tacks, alongside my recently acquired cogfly allies, to win against the many waves of enemies in the Forum.  After that, I then wasn’t allowed to rest, as I got stuck on a much faster battle with Lace.  Not feeling like dealing with her nonsense at the moment, I decided instead to buy markers to show me the locations of the remaining missing fleas.  This led to the discovery of two new locations.

The first of these (found by cheating) was the Wisp Thicket.  This area was pretty eerie, as it looks like a dark bamboo grove lit by lanterns, which emit seemingly sentient flames that attack you from the darkness.  Despite being a rather difficult location, I really liked the atmosphere here and was, once again, disappointed to discover that, as was the case with Whiteward, all the really cool locations are really short!  Why!!!  I also located (thanks to an online map) a nasty place called Bilewater, which though it would be hilarious to have a bench that falls into the muck once I sit on it.  Fortunately, I did find a secret bench.  After lots of deaths and lots of backtracking.  So that was fun.  So much fun.

After this, I managed to beat Lace, only to find myself facing what appeared to be the final boss, Grand Mother Silk.  Confused as to why I was already on such a climactic battle at the end of act 2, a quick internet search told me that there were two possible paths at this point.  One, I could defeat her and beat the game.  Or two, I could complete some other quests first and trap her instead, which would lead to act 3.

It turned out, all I needed to do was help the fleas to progress to Pale Lake and then complete the Silk and Soul quest.  But first, to get the fleas to move from Greymoor, I needed to finally face the Last Judge, a boss that I had been putting off for the entirety of act 2.  After killing the Last Judge…I then had to fight them all over again when they blew up and killed me at the very end of the battle!  After several more attempts, I won again, and eventually, the fleas moved to the lake, which was a rather peaceful spot at the far right side of the Putrified Ducts.

The Silk and Soul quest wasn’t too hard, except it did require defeating Groal in Bilewater.  But at this point, I had committed to getting everything possible before starting act 3.  This included beating all bosses (minus duels against certain NPCs), collecting every available tool, all mask shards minus the last four (which were only available in Act 3), and all spool fragments.  I also engaged in a short quest that involved getting infected with a parasite and a rather painful looking operation Hornet had to endure in order to remove it….

After all that was done, it was time to face the “final” boss, Grand Mother Silk.  She was a challenging, but mostly fun, battle.  Seeing as she was more difficult than the Hollow Knight from the first game, however, I was in no mood to beat her several times for various endings.  So on my first victory, I just used the trap to trigger act 3, and…well, I think I’ve made a massive mistake.  But I suppose you’ll hear all about that in my final Silksong experience post…