As a seasoned Hollow Knight veteran, I dove into Hollow Knight: Silksong expecting a challenge. But nothing prepared me for the eerie sight of Bellhart, where every resident and pilgrim bug was strung up by silken threads. ?️ My attacks did nothing to free them, and my quest log updated with a clear directive: free the citizens from the Silken Curse. This is the story of how I found the culprit, defeated a terrifying boss, and restored the town to its former glory.

Prerequisites for the Curse Quest

Before you can even think about breaking the curse, you need to meet a few requirements. Trust me, I learned this the hard way after wandering around aimlessly. ?

Travel to Greymoor: You can get there via the traveling Flea Caravan after completing their lost fleas quest, or by traversing from the bottom pathway.

Speak to the Bell Hermit: In the bell beast pathway, break the right wall and head downward to find the hermit, who gives you crucial information.

Have the Shellwood Map: At least partially filled out. This helps with navigation.

Unlock Cling Grab: You'll find this ability in Shellwood. It's essential for scaling walls later.

Oh, and here's a fun easter egg: if you rest on the bench in Bellhart and exit the game, when you return, Hornet will be strung up too! But don't worry, you can attack to break free. ?



How to Traverse Above Bellhart

Once you're ready, you need to find a path from Shellwood back into Bellhart and then destroy your way into the ceiling tunnels above the town. This is where the Cling Grab ability shines. You'll be scaling walls, avoiding bell bugs, and breaking through bell barriers.

I started at the map location nearest the bench on the upper left pathway. From there, I parkoured from left to right onto the next path where the lake begins. Make sure you take the top path – the second path won't get you into Bellhart from above. After passing the lake, I maneuvered upwards using Cling Grab onto a platform with bells at its entrance. Enter and start breaking down the bell barriers to clear a long tunnel until you reach a new map piece in the upper levels of Bellhart.



As I moved through the tunnels, I killed any bell bug enemies along the way. The path down contains large flying bell bugs. You can hit them from the platform, or do what I did: wait for them to fly up, then lay traps to catch them on the way down. This made descending much easier.

Then I traversed downward through another shaft. This time there were two. Instead of traps, I waited until the two enemies met each other before jumping down and swiftly running into the nearest left path. Continuing left, I came to an opening in the ground and jumped in. I healed up, then dropped into a new room covered in clumps of threads. That's when I triggered a dialogue cutscene with the Weaver behind the Silkspun curse: Widow. After she finished talking, I was plunged into a boss fight.



Boss Fight: Widow

Preparations

Before the fight, I made sure to equip the right tools. Here's what I recommend:

Ability: Silkspear – This slices through Widow's silk traps easier. Use it sparingly to save silk for healing.

Crest: Reaper Crest – Restores silk quickly, allowing more Silkspear uses. Combined with Druid's Eye, you get a minor stack of silk replenishment.

Tools:

Fractured Mask: Shields against critical damage but shatters on impact.

Druid's Eye: Replenishes silk upon getting attacked.

Sting Shard: Lethal trap of tightly bound blades that pierces enemies.

Flea Brew: Temporarily increases movement and attack speed.

Pollip Pouch: Applies poison to equipped tools.



Phase 1

Widow shrieked to begin the fight, and immediately her hand glowed as she lunged at Hornet. This is a grab attack – I jumped over her and glided or swift-stepped out of reach. I followed the boss and whacked her with a downward pogo strike before she disappeared temporarily to the side of the wall. She reappeared crouch-walking and dispensing threads across the screen. I moved to the wall and avoided the threads as they yanked up bells from below.

Bells erupted from the ground, pushing Hornet up and dealing two masks of damage if hit. I simply jumped when I saw the ground moving and glided in the air until it returned to normal. Widow pulled on threads to fire bells from the ceiling at Hornet. This was my chance to attack, as she wouldn't move from her spot for a few minutes before repeating her earlier attacks. Once she was staggered, I unleashed as many heavy attacks with my needle as possible until Phase 2 began.



Phase 2

In Phase 2, Widow sent a barrage of bells and debris down on Hornet. I kept to the left, or if I was confident, went straight to Widow and attacked, preparing to jump over her. During this phase, Widow dispensed thick threads across the arena. I used Silkspear to slash through multiple at once, saving time and damaging Widow in the process. Most of her attack patterns remained the same, but patience was key when waiting for an opening – the bells caused more health loss than intended if I wasn't careful.

I needed to stagger Widow twice more before Hornet grabbed onto her from above. Once the prompt to bind appeared, I quickly pressed down to end the fight. I obtained a piece of silk weaver lore and the new silk ability, the Needolin.



Silken Curse Lifted

With the curse lifted, I continued back downwards and re-entered Bellhart to meet the bugs I rescued, along with some returning characters. The town felt alive again! ?



Shakra's Return: Shakra asked if Hornet was responsible for lifting the curse, then commented on my accomplishments. Her shop inventory is now ready for map-making essentials.

Pavo: The official welcomer of Bellhart has a wish on the board for donations to restore the area. They praised Hornet and now accept new pilgrims while watching the town's revival.

Frey: A shopkeeper who hid in their shop and devoured most of their stock. They won't open until you find their lost courier. Complete the request to access the shop.

Plinney: A pinmaster who protected himself in his shop. He sharpens Hornet's needle for free and offers a location for pin oil within The Citadel in a new wish request.

Scrounge: A relic seeker who requests any relic with Pharloom history. Return anytime to grow their collection and learn about each item.

Sherma's Return: Sherma made it to Bellhart, unaffected by the curse and cheerful as ever. You can perform with your Needolin alongside him and Pavo nearby.





With the residents free, I unlocked a new achievement called Fanatic and gained a new main town area to frequent. Now I can progress to the rest of the game. If you're stuck on the Silken Curse, I hope this guide helps you free Bellhart and enjoy the vibrant community that emerges. Happy hunting! ?

That same patience you practice while waiting for the right opening in a boss fight pays off outside of Pharloom too. Anyone who hunts down gear, collectibles, or a long-awaited game on sale knows the feeling of watching a price for weeks before finally pulling the trigger — and it's a lot easier when something else does the watching for you.

If you'd rather not refresh store pages by hand, this price tracking tool from DealNest keeps an eye on listings and lets you know when the number actually drops, so you can spend your time playing instead of comparison shopping. Whether you're restocking your setup between sessions or waiting out a discount on that one title you've been eyeing, it's a handy companion for anyone who likes to buy smart.

As someone who has thrown myself against Hollow Knight: Silksong's bosses more times than I care to admit, I almost dropped my controller when I saw the trophy comparisons this week. The PlayStation version is effectively a lighthouse with its two most blinding lamps unscrewed: it is missing both the Steel Soul and Steel Heart trophies, which Steam and Xbox players are forced to earn for 100 percent completion.

Let's be honest about Silksong itself. The original Hollow Knight had tough spikes, but Silksong behaves like that from the moment the first screen loads and never really releases the pressure. I have watched friends who breezed through the first game get flattened by Pharloom's early encounters, and the curve barely flattens after that. A normal playthrough already asks for pin-point timing, resource management, and patience that borders on meditation.



Steel Soul mode, which returns from the first game as an unlockable extra after clearing the game or by using a recently discovered cheat code, removes the safety net entirely: one death and the run is over. It is like trying to thread a needle while falling through a silk storm, a cruel demand for a game this precise. And then there is Steel Heart, which asks you to 100 percent the entire game under that same no-death rule. I still cannot say that name without flinching.



Earlier this week, reports noted that skilled PlayStation players managed the platinum even though the game had not been out for a full week. When I inspected the trophy list for myself, the absence became obvious. Steam and Xbox players need to beat the game in Steel Soul mode for one achievement, then 100 percent the entire game in Steel Soul mode for another. That second one is the kind of request that makes me whisper 'Dear god, no' into an empty room. PlayStation players, however, do not have those two trophies at all. The game mode still exists on Sony's console, but completing it only grants bragging rights, not a shiny digital trophy.

The comparison looks like this:

Platform
Steel Soul trophy
Steel Heart trophy
Platinum difficulty

PlayStation
No
No
Much easier

Steam
Yes
Yes
Brutal

Xbox
Yes
Yes
Brutal



This explains why skilled PlayStation players were able to grab the platinum within days of release, before most of us had even stopped mistiming Hornet's down-slash. On Steam and Xbox, a full achievement completion is still a frozen waterfall being climbed with buttered gloves, but on PlayStation that waterfall conveniently ends before the final ice wall. In 2026, that difference matters even more because trophy hunting has become its own competitive side of the Silksong community, and Sony players now have a considerably shorter route to the top.

For me, the situation is bittersweet. I like that more players will experience the platinum without needing to treat Silksong as a second job, but I also know that Steel Soul runs are where the game's knife-edge combat truly sharpens into something unforgettable. The original Hollow Knight had a similar split, with some platform trophy lists feeling like they had their teeth pulled, and history has repeated itself here.

If you simply want every trophy in Silksong, the PlayStation version is the clear route. If you want to prove something to yourself, both Steel Soul and Steel Heart are still waiting in the shadows on every platform, even if Sony will not hand you a trophy for surviving them.

Whether you pick up Silksong on PlayStation for the friendlier trophy list or on Steam and Xbox for the full Steel Soul gauntlet, the platform decision tends to come down to more than achievements alone. Most people juggle a handful of stores at once, and the same copy of the game can sit at noticeably different prices depending on where and when you look, especially once sales start rotating through the season.

That is roughly where DealNest becomes useful. Instead of opening a dozen tabs and jotting numbers down on a scrap of paper, you can compare prices here and see what each storefront is charging before you commit. It is a small step, but it keeps the money side of the hobby as uncomplicated as the PlayStation trophy list, leaving you free to worry about the part that actually hurts: Hornet's down-slash timing.

I still remember the first time I stared up at a seemingly unreachable ledge in Hollow Knight: Silksong. The Abyss loomed above me, its dark tendrils mocking my feeble jumps. I had no idea that the key to breaking free lay in an Ancestral Art called Silk Soar—the Super Jump that would change everything. After hours of exploration, countless deaths, and a few choice words at my screen, I finally claimed it. Let me walk you through exactly how I unlocked Silk Soar in Silksong, so you don't have to suffer as much as I did.



The Long Road to Act 3

Before you even think about getting Silk Soar, you need to unlock Act 3 and reach the Abyss. And let me tell you, that's no small feat. The game doesn't just hand you the keys. You have to earn it.

Here's what I had to do:

Complete quests in Bone Bottom, Bellhart, and the Songclave Wishwall. These aren't just busywork; they weave into the story and open the path forward.

Collect at least 25 Fleas. Yes, 25! Those little critters are scattered everywhere, and you'll need to bring them to the Flea Caravan.

Get the Flea Caravan to move three times until it reaches the Putrified Ducts. That's right—three times. Each move unlocks new areas and eventually the Abyss.

I spent a good chunk of my playthrough hunting fleas. It felt like a game of hide-and-seek with a bunch of hyperactive insects. But trust me, it's worth it.

Descending into the Abyss

Once Act 3 is active, head to the Abyss. This place is no joke—it's dark, filled with void monsters, and the platforming is brutal. But the Silk Soar is impossible to miss because you literally need it to escape. If you find yourself stuck down there (like I did for an embarrassing amount of time), here's the route:

From the southern bench, head right into the void monster-infested area. Jump, glide, hook, and sprint your way to the right. Keep going until you hit a wall that you can climb up. Hook onto that wall, then go left a little to find some ground and gain height. Keep pushing upward until the right wall blocks you. Then cross to the left and hang onto the left wall. Now, hook onto the black bubbles—they'll boost you up. Aim right, and soon you'll see a door that requires the Needolin song. Use the Needolin to open the gate, then continue descending until you finally reach the Silk Soar skill.

I can't tell you how many times I fell into the void. The Abyss is like that one friend who keeps pranking you—relentless but ultimately teaching you something. ?

How to Use Silk Soar (Super Jump)

Once you grab Silk Soar, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. Here's the control scheme:

Platform
Input

PC
Hold Down Arrow + S

Xbox
Hold LT

PlayStation
Hold L2

The skill needs a short charge time, so you can't just spam it while enemies are chasing you. You have to find a safe moment, hold the buttons, and then release. Hornet will soar far up, reaching heights and distances that were previously impossible. It's an absolute game-changer for exploration.

The first time I used it, I felt like I'd been given wings. The charge-up adds a bit of tension, but when you release and Hornet launches skyward, it's pure satisfaction.

Escaping the Cave and Beyond

After you obtain Silk Soar, the game immediately forces you to use it to escape the cave. It's a brilliant design choice—you get to experience your new power in a high-stakes situation. I barely made it out, but the rush was incredible.

Since unlocking Silk Soar, I've been able to access hidden areas, reach new benches, and even find some secret bosses. It's not just a mobility upgrade; it's a key that unlocks the rest of the map. As of 2026, this skill remains one of the most essential abilities in Silksong. If you're struggling to get it, take a deep breath, follow the steps, and don't give up. The Abyss may be dark, but Silk Soar is your light.

Happy soaring! ?️✨

While you're still riding the high of Silk Soar, it's tempting to dive straight into another metroidvania—or finally pick up a title you've had your eye on. If you're planning your next purchase, DealNest is worth a look: it's a handy game price tracker that collects discounts from different storefronts so you don't have to hop between tabs.

I've started using it to keep an eye on sales for games I'm curious about, and it's been a quiet little time-saver. Whether you're waiting for a price drop or just want to know when a deal pops up, DealNest keeps things simple—so you can spend less time hunting prices and more time actually playing. ?

In the quiet aftermath of 2025, as 2026 rolls on, Hollow Knight remains one of indie gaming's crown jewels. Eight years after its release, the game has earned nearly 440,000 positive Steam reviews and fewer than 14,000 negative ones. That ratio is the stuff of legend. But when Hollow Knight: Silksong finally arrived, it brought a flood of new players into Hallownest, and with them came a small but noticeable shift in how the original game is being reviewed. For the first time in its history, Hollow Knight's recent Steam reviews slipped from Overwhelmingly Positive to Very Positive. It is not a crisis, but it is a fascinating wrinkle in the story of a modern classic. ?



The Numbers Behind the Shift

According to SteamDB, in the first ten days of September 2025, Hollow Knight received 660 negative reviews. That may not sound like much for a game with hundreds of thousands of reviews, but it was the highest monthly negative total in the game's history, and September was only one-third over. The previous record was set in August 2025 with 378 negative reviews. Before that, January 2025 held the record with 340 negative reviews. To put it plainly, the game was not suddenly review-bombed into oblivion. It was simply being played by more people than ever before. ?

Period
Negative reviews
Notes

First 10 days of September 2025
660
Highest monthly total ever, with two-thirds of the month remaining

August 2025
378
Previous monthly record

January 2025
340
Record before August 2025

Lifetime before September 2025
Fewer than 14,000
Against almost 440,000 positive reviews

Why More Players Meant More Mixed Feedback

The surge in reviews was not just negative. Hollow Knight actually received more positive reviews than in any other month. But the ratio changed. More players than ever before were trying the game, partly because Silksong had finally launched, and partly because the sequel sent curious newcomers back to the original. Between August 23 and September 2, the game broke its own concurrent player count record almost every day. On September 7, it hit a peak of 95,655 concurrent players. That is a lot of nails being swung. ⚔️

When a game reaches a new audience, some of that audience will bounce off. Hollow Knight is brilliant, but it is also challenging, cryptic, and occasionally unforgiving. Not everyone wants to wander through Deepnest without a map. Some negative reviews likely came from players who expected a more conventional sequel-style experience, or who found the original's pace slower than Silksong's more aggressive combat. It is a classic case of a rising tide lifting all boats, including the ones carrying complaints. ?️



Silksong's Own Review Storm

It is worth putting Hollow Knight's review shift into perspective. Silksong, despite still holding a Very Positive rating on Steam, has received more than double the negative reviews that Hollow Knight has received in its entire lifetime. That is a wild statistic. Part of that is due to a poor Chinese translation, which Team Cherry has said it will rectify. Part of it is due to the game's perceived higher difficulty, something the developers plan to address in an upcoming patch. In other words, Hollow Knight's 660 negative reviews in ten days look like a gentle breeze next to the hurricane that greeted its sequel. The original game is still an all-timer, and its overall score remains Overwhelmingly Positive. The recent review change is a footnote, not a fall from grace. ?️

What This Means for Hollow Knight in 2026

As 2026 unfolds, the dust has settled. Hollow Knight is still beloved. Silksong is still being patched and debated. The review ratio shift says less about Hollow Knight's quality and more about the strange alchemy of a sequel's release. A new game can send players running back to the old one, and not all of them will leave a five-star review. Some will complain about the map. Some will complain about the difficulty. Some will complain about the lack of a sequel for eight years, even though the sequel now exists. That is the internet for you. ?

But there is no need to sound the alarms. Hollow Knight has survived worse: the wait for Silksong. If anything, the renewed attention proves that Team Cherry created lightning in a bottle twice. The first game's review score is still the envy of the indie world. The second game is still finding its footing. And players are still talking about both. In the grand scheme, a few hundred extra negative reviews are a storm in a teacup. The Knight's journey through Hallownest remains one of gaming's great modern epics, and no temporary dip in recent review sentiment is going to change that. ?

If all this talk of revisiting Hallownest has you itching to replay the original—or finally give Silksong a try despite the review storm—you might as well keep an eye on your wallet while you do it. Between Team Cherry's patches, DLC speculation, and the sheer number of indie metroidvanias that have flooded Steam in the wake of Hollow Knight's success, there has never been a better time to be a patient, bargain-hunting bug enthusiast. A good steam deal finder can save you the hassle of refreshing store pages and waiting for seasonal sales to roll around.

That is exactly the gap DealNest aims to fill. Rather than scrolling through hundreds of discounted listings or guessing when a price drop might hit, you can let the site track the games you actually care about and surface the moments when they become genuinely affordable. Whether you are hunting for a cheap copy of Hollow Knight to gift a friend or waiting for Silksong's first meaningful discount, it is worth having a tool like DealNest in your corner.

This is a poll!

Just some links to help you make the theme your own, if you're not sure where to start.

---

Fonts

• Google Fonts - tons of fonts
  
• Fontjoy - Pairings
  
• Monotype - Pairings
  

---

Buttons

• CSS Scan - Style Gallery
  
• Devsdash - Button generator
  

---

Icons

• Font Awesome - Popular, lots of free icons
  
• The Noun Project - Icons for things you didn't know you needed (not free)
  
• Google Material Icons/Symbols (what you see here)
  
• Line Icons
  

PUT EM HERE. Add screenshots if needed.

I can do/add/change just about anything if I put my mind to it, but there are some more complex functionalities like account-switching that there are already well-established plugins for, and I'm not out to reinvent the wheel.

Sexy testing.

Omg this thread is so sensual.

Do you hate it?

Hide it with content filters.

Every couple of years, something gets under my skin and I cobble together a MyBB theme for roleplaying purposes. This usually starts with flipping through the custom themes already available and deciding none of them have the vibe I want, so I rip it all apart and start from scratch. And every time, the process of disassembling all the awful built-in tables and hacking everything into some level of responsiveness is a giant pain in the ass. I've wanted for ages to just make myself a very basic responsive theme that fits my aesthetic needs so that the next time I want to do up something fancier, I can start from that instead. I've procrastinated for a long time, thinking that MyBB might drag themselves into the modern era at some point, and they still might, but I finally sat myself down and did my own, and I'm sharing it for everybody who, like me, enjoys that good old Jcink vibe but wants to self-host.

This theme comes with

• Mobile-first, readable-first philosophy. Do you die a little when the very first thing you have to do after a site loads is zoom in 200% to read anything? Not with Playground! I took inspiration as much from long-form reading-centric websites as existing roleplaying forums, so text remains large and legible and the most important thing on any screen. Did you know that the ideal length of a line of text on a website is 45-80 characters? I've tried to maintain that for any significant blocks of text.
  
• No reliance on hovering over things to see information.
  
• Built in light and dark modes, defaulted to approved material design colors.
  
• Customizable Google material symbols for icons.
  
• A metric ton of commentary/explanation/rambling notes in the code, so you know what does what.
  
• Zero required plugins/code changes. There are a couple of optional php edits to include recent threads on the index and user info popups that you can read about in this post. They're very easy to implement and I haven't bothered to make a plugin out of them. Feel free to skip them and/or go find plugins with similar functionality.
  
• Some really stupid bells and whistles because I couldn't help myself. Toggles toggles everywhere. Chroma.js, so you can change the color scheme on demand! (You'll probably want to delete that if you have a more opinionated design in mind.)
  
• Content filter system: series of customizable checkboxes that users can check/uncheck to literally prevent themselves from seeing the posts in any of the objectionably prefixed threads. Just in case they accidentally click into one. This could be easily be edited to hide tagged threads from view completely, if you prefer.
  
• No terms of use. Playground is meant to be a jumping-off point for something prettier, not a final product. Take it. Use it. Change it. Break it. Bop it. Credit me me or don't, I don't care. In exchange, I make no guarantees of support or answering questions. My only request, which I know is in no way enforceable, is that you not attempt to profit off of anything you use this theme to build.
  

---

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional coder or designer!! I just do this for fun and as an exercise to keep from forgetting my basic bitch frontend skills. I've kinda tried to sidle up close to decent UX and best code practices, but ultimately everything is just cobbled together with floss and chewing gum. Deploy at your own risk.

On smaller/mobile screens, this theme has a sticky footer to facilitate navigation by thumb. There is enough space at the bottom of each page that it shouldn't interfere with reading anything. Don't like it? Move it to the top by switching the main grid structure in the header.