Hollow Knight: Silksong for Mac — Hornet’s Acrobatic Ascent Through Pharloom

Hollow Knight: Silksong on Mac at a glance

Game: Hollow Knight: Silksong
Price: $19.99 USD
Mac support: macOS Big Sur 11 or newer (Metal-capable GPU required)

Become the Princess Knight

In Hollow Knight: Silksong, you step into the role of Hornet—the needle-wielding hunter from the original Hollow Knight—now captured and carried to the unfamiliar kingdom of Pharloom. The premise is simple and compelling: survive, uncover the truth behind your predicament, and ascend on a dangerous pilgrimage toward the kingdom’s shining peak.

Where the first game’s journey often felt like a descent into a haunted, collapsing world, Silksong frames its adventure as an upward climb through lands “ruled by silk and song.” The result is a new kind of momentum: you’re constantly pushing into higher, stranger territory, meeting new factions, and pulling at mysteries tied directly to Hornet’s nature and past.

Exploration: A new kingdom built for curiosity

Pharloom is presented as a layered insect kingdom filled with distinct biomes and visual identities—mossy grottos, gilded cities, misted moors—each designed to reward careful navigation and repeated revisits. Like any great metroidvania, the map isn’t just a backdrop; it’s a puzzle box. Paths loop back, shortcuts unlock, and new traversal options recontextualize old spaces.

If you loved the original game’s blend of atmosphere and discovery, Silksong aims to deliver that same “one more room” compulsion, while giving Hornet a movement style that encourages speed, aggression, and aerial control.

Combat: Lethal acrobatics with Hornet’s needle and thread

Silksong leans hard into swift, beautiful combat. Hornet’s kit is built around mobility and precision—dancing between enemies, turning defense into position, and converting openings into momentum. Fights are designed to feel like duels: read the pattern, commit to a line, and execute cleanly.

Team Cherry promises a huge suite of moves, and the emphasis on acrobatics suggests combat arenas will frequently ask you to think vertically—dodging, vaulting, and weaving through attacks rather than simply retreating on a flat plane.

Tools, traps, and mechanisms: Crafting power and utility

Beyond raw skill, Silksong is built around expanding your options. You’ll craft and master an arsenal of tools—described as weapons, traps, and mechanisms—used both to defeat enemies and to open the world. This is the metroidvania loop at its best: combat upgrades and traversal upgrades feeding into each other, widening what you can do while also raising the stakes of what the game asks of you.

Quests and mysteries: A kingdom worth saving

The game’s questing is framed around hunting rare beasts, solving ancient mysteries, and granting wishes to the downtrodden—story beats that hint at a more outwardly engaged role for Hornet. Rather than merely surviving a doomed place, you’re pulled into restoring hope and learning what the kingdom is (and why it’s fallen).

Expect side objectives that meaningfully intersect with the world’s lore, encouraging you to explore off the critical path and pay attention to environmental storytelling.

Scale of challenge: Enemies, bosses, and Steel Soul

Players who crave tough fights will have plenty to chew on. Silksong features:

Over 200 foes, ranging from beasts and hunters to monsters and knights
Over 40 bosses, described as legendary, fate-deciding battles
Steel Soul mode for an extra layer of challenge after conquering the main adventure

The promise here is variety as much as difficulty: different enemy archetypes to learn, bosses that test mastery of movement, and a post-clear mode that asks you to play cleaner and smarter.

Audio and atmosphere: Christopher Larkin returns

Hollow Knight’s soundscape was a huge part of its identity, and Silksong brings back composer Christopher Larkin for a full orchestral score. Expect melancholy melodies for exploration, tense motifs for danger, and big, propulsive boss themes that make battles feel like climactic set pieces rather than simple skill checks.

Mac system requirements

Minimum

OS: Big Sur 11 or newer
Processor: Intel Core i3
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Metal capable Intel and AMD GPUs
Storage: 8 GB available space

Who is Silksong for?

Metroidvania fans who want a big, interconnected map with meaningful upgrades.
Action players who enjoy precise combat built around movement and pattern recognition.
Hollow Knight veterans eager for new lore, new regions, and a distinct playable lead.
Mac gamers looking for a premium 2D adventure with modest storage needs and modern macOS support.

Bottom line

Hollow Knight: Silksong looks positioned to deliver the core strengths of the original—exploration, challenge, mood, and craft—while reshaping the feel of play around Hornet’s agility and aggression. For $19.99 on Mac, it’s an easy game to earmark if you’re hungry for a deep, combat-forward metroidvania with a strong sense of place and a score that carries the journey.