Hollow Knight: Silksong is quite the beautiful game, its music is equally gorgeous, and it tells a riveting story of a tragic kingdom corrupted by power. However, none of that would make it one of the best games of the year if it also didn’t feature some of the smartest, tightest, and most satisfyingly challenging platforming we saw not only in 2025, but in the history of gaming.
It starts with a grandiose map featuring a wealth of interesting biomes to explore. Silksong’s areas are each a unique array of platforms and perils designed to make you use the most of the main character Hornet’s considerable strength and mobility. Pogoing, in which you attack downwards to bounce off an enemy or obstacle on hit, is once again a star of this show, turning daunting tunnels of spikes into trials to be overcome.
The enemies too, put players to the test. These battles aren’t just brute force, hack-and-slash fodder. They ask the player to use the platforming skills they’ve learned to carefully navigate what are often bullet hell gauntlets while you figure out where your offense fits into any given second.
Ultimately, it feels like nearly every part of Hollow Knight: Silksong plays in strong complement to some part of the platforming. It all makes for a well-oiled machine where every jump, every ledge, and every life-saving pogo is placed just so perfectly and feels endlessly satisfying to overcome. It took a long time to get Silksong, but Cherry clearly fine-tuned just about everything one would want out of a hard platforming game, and that’s why it’s Shacknews’ Best Platformer of 2025.
