Game Maker’s Toolkit Just Broke Down Silksong’s World Design – And It’s the Opposite of Hollow Knight

Climbing Instead of Descending Changes Everything

Game Maker’s Toolkit released a deep dive analysis on December 14, 2025, examining Hollow Knight Silksong’s world design philosophy. Mark Brown, the channel’s creator and one of gaming’s most respected analysts, spent the video explaining how Team Cherry built Silksong by deliberately inverting nearly everything that defined the original Hollow Knight. The most fundamental change is vertical direction. Where Hollow Knight sent you plummeting into the depths of a forgotten kingdom, Silksong has you ascending toward the citadel at Pharloom’s peak.

That shift from descending to ascending isn’t just aesthetic. It completely transforms how the game feels, how progression works, and what kinds of challenges Team Cherry can throw at players. Hollow Knight captured the oppressive feeling of delving deeper into darkness, discovering ancient ruins and forgotten civilizations buried beneath layers of time and earth. Silksong offers the opposite: a climb toward something monumental, building anticipation with every upward step as the citadel looms larger above you.

Brown explains how Hornet’s increased height compared to the Knight forced Team Cherry to redesign everything from scratch. Enemy AI had to become more sophisticated because Hornet moves faster and more acrobatically. Level layouts needed more vertical space to accommodate her graceful leaps and wall climbs. Even basic ant warriors in Silksong use the same moveset as the original Hornet boss fight from Hollow Knight, demonstrating how much more capable regular enemies need to be just to present a challenge.

The Map System That Actually Helps When You’re Stuck

One of Silksong’s cleverest quality-of-life improvements is how the map fills in after resting at benches. You purchase map fragments from Shakra the cartographer, giving you a rough layout of each region. But the purchased map is incomplete, showing only the basic structure. As you explore, rooms remain unmapped until you rest at a bench, at which point the map updates with everywhere you’ve been.

The brilliant part is that these updated maps don’t just fill in the areas you visited. They also show open paths and passages leading to unexplored areas. If you’re stuck and don’t know where to go next, you can open your map and look for those unmarked passages branching off from mapped rooms. This creates a perfect balance between letting players discover things naturally while providing subtle guidance when they hit walls.

Brown contrasts this with Hollow Knight’s more obtuse approach, where getting lost was part of the experience but sometimes crossed into frustration. Silksong maintains the sense of exploration and discovery while respecting that players’ time is valuable. You can still miss things. Secret areas and optional content remain hidden for those who search carefully. But the critical path forward is always discoverable if you pay attention to your map.

Essential Map Tools

• Compass (70 Rosary Beads) – Shows your current position on purchased maps
• Quill – Automatically fills in explored areas when resting at benches
• Bench Pins (60 Rosary Beads) – Marks all discovered rest spots on your map
• Shell Markers (40 Rosary Beads) – Adds custom pins for manually marking locations
• Ring Marker – General purpose marking for points of interest
• Hunt Marker – Specifically for tracking hunt-related objectives

The Overwhelming Number of Upgrades

Brown breaks down Silksong’s absurdly deep customization system, which dwarfs Hollow Knight’s charm-based progression. The game features six different Silk Skills, powerful combat moves that function like special attacks. Seven Crests completely change Hornet’s moveset and unlock unique abilities. Then there are the Tools, divided into three color-coded categories that boggle the mind with their variety.

Red Tools are sub-weapons, with 20 different options ranging from throwing knives to explosive traps. Blue Tools help in combat through passive effects and buffs, offering 21 distinct choices. Yellow Tools assist with exploration, providing 12 different utility options like revealing hidden paths or improving platforming. On top of all that, there are 20 Memory Lockets that unlock additional tool slots on your equipped Crest, plus three Silk Hearts that improve mana regeneration.

The Crest system itself represents a major departure from Hollow Knight’s charm notches. Each Crest has color-coded slots for specific tool types, and equipping different Crests changes Hornet’s basic attack animations, dash attacks, dive attack angles, silk meter size, and the amount of silk needed to heal. This creates exponentially more build variety than the original game ever offered, allowing players to customize Hornet to match their exact playstyle.

Linear Opening That Opens Wide

Brown notes that Silksong mirrors Hollow Knight’s progression philosophy by starting with a relatively linear guided path through the first few areas. After emerging in Bone Bottom, the game’s first town, players journey through the Marrow until they acquire their very first ability: the Silkspear. This teaches movement and combat fundamentals before letting players loose in the wider world.

But after that structured opening, Silksong explodes into non-linear exploration similar to the original. Multiple paths branch in different directions. Optional areas hide secrets and powerful upgrades. Boss fights can often be tackled in various orders depending on which route you take. Team Cherry’s design philosophy emphasizes giving players choices about where to explore while ensuring they have the tools needed for whatever challenge they encounter.

The key difference from Hollow Knight is that even when exploration opens up, the map system provides better guidance. Players always have the option to poke at unexplored passages marked on their map until they make progress. This reduces the frustration of wandering aimlessly while maintaining the satisfying feeling of discovery when you find the right path or stumble onto a secret area.

Hornet’s Movement Makes Everything Different

Brown dedicates significant time to explaining how Hornet’s acrobatic movement capabilities forced Team Cherry to completely rethink level design. She can mantle ledges automatically just by jumping near them, making platforming more forgiving. She runs faster than the Knight, dashes more elegantly, and has access to wall climbs and aerial movement options that transform how you navigate environments.

This increased mobility required Team Cherry to add more verticality to Silksong’s biomes. Where Hollow Knight’s areas often spread horizontally with some vertical elements, Silksong leans heavily into vertical space. Tall shafts let Hornet show off her acrobatic skills. Wide gaps demand precise air dashes. Slipstreams let her glide upward using her billowing cloak. Eventually, she unlocks the ability to use her needle as a grappling hook, adding even more vertical traversal options.

Enemy design had to evolve accordingly. Team Cherry couldn’t reuse Hollow Knight’s enemy patterns because Hornet moves too quickly and fluidly. Basic enemies needed more complex AI with abilities to catch her as she tries to escape. They had to learn to evade her attacks, check her movement, and present legitimate threats rather than fodder to slice through. This is why even standard ant warriors feel more dangerous than many mid-tier enemies from the original game.

The Healing System Redesign

Hollow Knight’s healing required standing still and channeling soul energy into a single health point. It created tense risk-reward moments during boss fights where you had to find safe windows to recover. Silksong completely reimagines this mechanic in ways that fit Hornet’s mobile combat style while increasing the stakes.

Hornet’s Bind ability lets her heal while moving, though it slows her down significantly. She can even heal mid-air, opening up possibilities that never existed in Hollow Knight. But there’s a catch. Instead of filling a soul vessel gradually through attacks, Hornet builds silk on a spool that requires nine full notches before she can heal at all. Once the spool fills, she can heal three health points instead of just one, but she needs to bank that full charge first.

This creates completely different combat dynamics. You can’t chip away at enemies and heal constantly like in Hollow Knight. You need to commit to sustained aggression to build enough silk for a heal, then decide whether to use that silk for healing or for other abilities that also consume it. Silk Hearts upgrade how much silk you can hold beyond the initial nine notches, letting you bank multiple heals or save silk for powerful tool activations.

Why This Analysis Matters Now

Game Maker’s Toolkit releasing this video in December 2025 is significant because Silksong finally launched in August 2025 after years of development hell and fan anxiety. The game’s extended development cycle became a meme, with players joking that it would never release. When it finally did, the community needed serious analysis to understand and appreciate the design choices Team Cherry made during all those years of silence.

Mark Brown’s breakdown helps players who rushed through Silksong appreciate the intentionality behind every system. It also contextualizes why the game feels so different from Hollow Knight despite being a direct sequel. Team Cherry wasn’t just making Hollow Knight 2. They were deliberately inverting and evolving their design philosophy to create something that stands on its own while honoring what made the original special.

The video has already accumulated over 130,000 views in less than 48 hours, demonstrating the hunger for thoughtful Silksong analysis. Game Maker’s Toolkit built its reputation on exactly this kind of deep dive into game design principles, examining not just what games do but why they do it and how those choices affect player experience. Applying that lens to Silksong reveals layers of sophistication that casual playthroughs might miss.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Mark Brown and what is Game Maker’s Toolkit?

Mark Brown runs Game Maker’s Toolkit, one of YouTube’s most respected gaming analysis channels. He creates video essays examining game design principles, mechanics, and why certain games work the way they do. His content focuses on education rather than entertainment, helping viewers understand the craft behind game development.

How long is the Silksong world design video?

The video runs approximately 30-40 minutes, typical for Game Maker’s Toolkit’s in-depth analysis style. Brown takes time to thoroughly explain concepts rather than rushing through surface-level observations, making his videos essential viewing for anyone interested in game design.

Do I need to finish Silksong before watching?

The video contains spoilers about areas, abilities, and systems throughout Silksong. If you want to experience discovery firsthand, play through the game first. However, the analysis enhances appreciation for design choices you might not notice during regular play.

How does Silksong’s world compare to Hollow Knight’s size?

Team Cherry hasn’t released official comparisons, but based on player completion times and map size, Silksong appears comparable to or slightly larger than Hollow Knight. The increased verticality and density of secrets make it feel substantial even if the raw square footage is similar.

Why did ascending replace descending as the core movement direction?

Team Cherry wanted Silksong to feel thematically and mechanically distinct from Hollow Knight. Ascending toward a citadel creates different emotional beats than descending into ruins. It also better showcases Hornet’s acrobatic movement abilities and allows for more vertical level design.

What makes the map system better than Hollow Knight’s?

Silksong’s maps show unexplored passages branching from mapped areas when you rest at benches. This provides subtle guidance when stuck while maintaining discovery-focused exploration. Hollow Knight required more trial and error to find the correct path forward.

How many total upgrades are in Silksong?

There are 6 Silk Skills, 7 Crests, 20 Red Tools, 21 Blue Tools, 12 Yellow Tools, 20 Memory Lockets, 3 Silk Hearts, and a charge attack move. That’s over 80 different upgrades and customization options, far exceeding Hollow Knight’s charm system.

Can I watch Game Maker’s Toolkit videos for free?

Yes, all Game Maker’s Toolkit videos are free on YouTube. Mark Brown also offers early access and bonus content through Nebula, a creator-owned streaming platform, but the main analysis videos remain publicly available.

Understanding Design Through Analysis

Game Maker’s Toolkit’s Silksong analysis demonstrates why thoughtful criticism and explanation matter for gaming culture. Most players experience games intuitively, enjoying or disliking systems without fully understanding why they work. Brown’s breakdowns illuminate the reasoning behind design choices, helping audiences appreciate the craft involved in creating coherent interactive experiences.

For aspiring game developers, videos like this serve as masterclasses in design thinking. Seeing how Team Cherry inverted Hollow Knight’s philosophy to create Silksong teaches principles applicable to any project. The lesson isn’t to copy Silksong. It’s to understand how intentional choices about core mechanics ripple through every aspect of a game’s design.

For players, this kind of analysis deepens appreciation for games beyond surface-level enjoyment. Recognizing how the map system guides without hand-holding, how the healing mechanic creates different combat rhythms, or how vertical progression changes emotional pacing transforms passive consumption into active understanding. You don’t need to be a developer to benefit from thinking critically about why games feel the way they do.

Silksong represents years of Team Cherry iterating, experimenting, and refining systems until they achieved their vision. Game Maker’s Toolkit’s analysis honors that work by examining it seriously and helping audiences see the sophistication beneath the gorgeous pixel art and tight controls. Whether you’ve played 100 hours of Silksong or haven’t touched it yet, Brown’s breakdown offers valuable insights into what makes metroidvanias work and how sequels can honor their predecessors while forging their own identity.