Copyright gamesradar
If you picked up the Wanderer Crest in Hollow Knight: Silksong, realized the move set is just Hollow Knight, and then never changed Crests again, I have good news. We can now straight-up play Silksong as the Knight from the first game thanks to a newly released mod that looks so wrong but feels so right. I first saw this mod – KnightInSilksong – highlighted by Chinese users, uploaded to Github, and more recently shared on Nexus Mods by another user crediting original creator MCXGK3. If you want to try it yourself, be careful with your save file and don't expect to pull off a full playthrough; the Knight-shaped key doesn't fit every Hornet-shaped lock, but luckily there's a separate mod for fighting specific bosses that pairs well. This mod has been making the rounds among Hollow Knight challenge runners, and wouldn't you know it, it turns out the Knight has still got it. Major spoilers for Hollow Knight and Silksong ahead. A video from Twitter user im esau shows the Knight making short work of the final boss of Act 3 of Silksong, Lost Lace, which is pretty handily the toughest boss in the game. The fight is long, doesn't give you much room to breathe, and Lost Lace attacks from uncomfortable angles with hard-hitting moves including a rare three-damage attack. The stone-faced Knight calmly pummels her into mush. "Most bosses are pretty easy it turns out," im esau says. Im esau pogoes over many attacks and uses the ranged spell Shade Soul, along with the upward AoE spell Abyss Shriek, to punish several openings that are much tougher when playing as Hornet. The Wanderer Crest does make Hornet move and feel a lot like the Knight, but literally seeing the Knight in Silksong illustrates how subtle mechanical and ability changes can make a big difference in the flow of a fight. The biggest change, returning to the fully upgraded Knight, is his dodge. In Hollow Knight, your upgraded dodge actually had invincibility frames, like many video game dodges. In Silksong, Hornet can only dodge to reposition; you can't phase through projectiles or enemies with reckless abandon. And because Silksong was explicitly designed around a dodge without i-frames, throwing a lore-accurate Knight into the mix is like tossing a live hand grenade into a room of carefully arranged flowerpots. Challenge runner talezshadid makes equally short work of Lost Lace. YouTuber Namdam_096 takes the Knight into the arena against Skarrsinger Karmelita in a clear showcase of how strong the Knight's plunging attack, Descending Dark, can be. One major disadvantage for the Knight is his healing ability. It takes longer to use, you can't use it mid-air, and you only recover one hitpoint at a time. Hornet has to generate more of the necessary resource to heal – a full bar of Silk versus a bit of the Knight's Soul – but she can quickly regain three points of health once she does. But it's a small price to pay for i-frames, and boss transition animations generally provide ample time to heal anyway. Funnily enough, it looks like several attacks will miss the Knight entirely because he, like his hitbox, is shorter than Hornet, so you don't even need to break out the now-overpowered dodge. So this is what the folks at Team Cherry meant when they said they had to go back to the drawing board simply because Hornet is taller. Is it balanced? Not at all. But is it cool to see the Knight that started it all break ankles in a new kingdom? Yep. Yes it is. For a more thorough showcase of this mod and the Knight in action, have a gander at this 50-minute, "Every Boss" battle royale by LeonHK. Upgrading Hornet's weapon in Silksong always felt inconsistent, and now I know why: Team Cherry's special damage multipliers leave hits-to-kill all over the place.
