Git Gud

[rynling]

How to Install Silksong mods on the Steam Deck
https://blog.joshnichols.com/post/how-to-install-silksong-mods-on-the-steam-deck/

I spent more than an hour following this guide and troubleshooting possible issues, but I couldn't for the life of me get any of the mods to work. The windows visualization of my Steam Deck system is slightly different from the system of the guy who made this video tutorial, and I suspect that my issue is probably something along the lines of "you put the wrong files in the wrong folder." But who can say.

And this is such a shame, honestly. Silksong is a gorgeous and fascinating game, but its developers seem to have assumed that everyone has spent the past seven years getting a PhD in Hollow Knight. Enemies move twice as fast, hit twice as hard, and have twice as much HP. In contrast, Hornet only gets half as many upgrades, which are only half as effective. Unless you have professional-level reflexes, some of the bosses are impossible.

Given the immense popularity of Hollow Knight, I question the decision of the Silksong developers not to include the sort of simple quality-of-life and accessibility features that are available through mods. I don't mind difficult games, but Silksong is severely unbalanced. I kind of want to put the devs in a Saw trap where they have to sacrifice one of their fingers for each accessibility feature they refuse to include.

Comments

[raisedbymoogles]

there's probably a fascinating research project comparing the increased prevalence of accessibility options (running the gamut from "well implemented!" to "uh... their hearts are in the right place...?" i'm sure) to the increased popularity of hard-as-fuck games after the release of Dark Souls.

Special attention paid to 'hardcore' players rejecting even the option of accessibility, as though even the specter of letting a lower-skilled player make progress somehow taints their entire playthrough. XD

[rynling]

Oh, definitely. I despise that wretched culture.

The ironic thing is that the actual Dark Souls games have grown more accessible with each installment, an upward trend that culminated in Elden Ring becoming hugely popular with a broad diversity of players. It's still relatively difficult (especially compared to something like Breath of the Wild), but it allows for infinitely more playstyles than "good reflexes." Like, you can make it surprisingly far into Elden Ring without ever fighting a boss at all. If you just want to ride around on your magical horse while enjoying the scenery, you can do that, and the game is only too happy to give you easy level-up opportunities to mitigate its combat challenges. Which is as it should be.

Game devs who are too lazy and narrow-minded to design for different playstyles need to git gud.

[shinon]

Since I have Silksong on the Switch and can't install mods, I eventually dealt with my frustration by uninstalling the game. If there's anything worth knowing about in Act II or beyond, I will rely on the Twitch streamers of my acquaintance to tell me, cause I have better things to do than keep running back to the site of my own brutal murder.

I 112%ed Hollow Knight. I'm a fairly casual gamer with subpar reflexes and not much experience with platformers in general, so this was really difficult; the last two pantheons each took me over a month of deliberate practice. But I could do it! As a person with subpar reflexes and not much experience! I have been encouraging friends who mention it to give the game a shot if they're curious, and giving tips to friends who are getting brutalized by the White Palace because I think the Voidheart sequence is worth seeing and the Radiance is worth at least attempting. Hollow Knight rewards your patience and exploration even if you're kind of a scrub, and I can say that with some authority, because I'm that scrub. But Silksong just blatantly doesn't want me there. In that respect it's pretty disappointing as a sequel.

[rynling]

That's one way to deal with Silksong! I'm progressing very slowly while using an interactive map to see as much of the game as I can while fighting the fewest number of bosses, but I'm planning on quitting as soon as I hit a definitive wall that I can't circumvent by going somewhere else.

Or I might quit this very evening, given that Hades II came out today. Yay 💛

I also wanted to say that it's really cool that you completed Hollow Knight. I didn't even try, so it's good to know I'm not just being a brat and giving up on a worthwhile game because I'm not willing to meet it halfway. That definitely helps me feel less alone, thank you.