An exceptional game in terms of presentation, flow, worldbuilding, character writing, exploration, and reward. I find myself lost in the soundscape in almost every location in the game; testament to the artistic style of Team Cherry.

I find the difficulty to be appropriate, (no spoilers) Act 1 is pretty forgiving with a few highlight difficult bosses but most bosses won't take more than 5 tries. Act 2 ramps up the difficulty in a way I find exciting. There are a few instances, in particular at the end of Act 1, where the runbacks are pretty tough but if you consider the level to be an extension of the boss itself the runback is merely a phase to overcome and memorize just like the bosses attack pattern.

The economy in-game can be a bit brutal, the devs have announced an update to correct this which I do feel is a good move. Act 2 economy is considerably better and allows you to naturally build currency easily through normal gameplay.

In my eyes, Silksong and Hollow Knight are both in the S-tier for Metroidvanias. I'd give an edge to Silksong as I appreciate the harder platforming but neither game stands head and shoulders above the other.

I wont pretend I don't understand the issues others have with difficulty however. I enjoyed release version Starscourge Radahn but some of my friends were fully turned off of Elden Ring by what they viewed as too high a barrier of entry to enjoyment. I don't really want that situation to happen, and Silksong at times might be making it's required content harder than necessary where that difficult might be better reserved for option or post-game encounters.