Initially, you are introduced to Hornet, who has been captured by some bugs, drained of her abilities, and is being transported across an unknown land to an unknown destination. A mysterious Lumafly (firefly) touches the cage Hornet is being transported in, reawakening her powers. She then breaks free from the cage and destroys the bridge that the bugs are transporting her across in the process.
The bugs and Hornet fall into a chasm, and she reawakens free to explore. This is the beginning of Act 1 of the main story: Pharloom.
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Initial Controls Breakdown
After waking up, Hornet will grab her needle, and you will gain control of her. You will initially be told to press the Circle button (PlayStation), B button (Xbox), A button (Switch), or A key (PC) to Bind. This allows Hornet to recover some health, three hits to be exact.
Bind can be activated when Hornet has collected enough Souls from defeated enemies. An icon resembling a spool of thread will appear just beneath the health bar and fill up as enemies are killed. Once it is full, you can use Bind again.
Much like the original Hollow Knight, Hollow Knight: Silksong is extremely light on tutorials and tips to help you out in this early stage. We will run through the basic controls and attacks to get acquainted with them in this empty initial room.
You can move Hornet left and right with the joysticks on consoles or the left and right keys on PC. Additionally, she can jump by pressing the following button/key: Cross (PlayStation), A (Xbox), B (Switch), or the up arrow key (PC).
She will also mantle up to platforms if she is level with the edge of them.
Finally, Hornet has a basic attack, which can be used with the following button/key: Square (PlayStation), X (Xbox), Y (Switch), or X (PC). This will be your main way of dealing damage throughout the entire game, but especially early on, as it is your only attack.
Passing Through Moss Grotto
With the basic controls out of the way, it is time to begin exploring Moss Grotto.
Before you even leave the first room, turn around and jump up towards the wall at the back of the cave. Aim for the top half of the moss-covered wall, and you will find a secret pathway.
Inside this path is a small cave with a statue. Attack the statue three times to drop some Shell Shards. Run over them to pick them up.
Shell Shards are one of the game’s main resources and drop from these statues, as well as from defeated enemies. Later on, they can be used to repair and craft the various tools Hornet can use in exploration and combat.
Before we leave this room, there is actually another secret cavern in here. If you jump up to the right at about 45 degrees, you will enter another secret cave.
In here, there is a big beast that will deplete your life by two hits each time you get hit. It can be killed right now, and the only attack it has is a charge. The trick is to land one or two hits, jump back down to the previous room and wait until it stops charging. You can hear when it stops, as it will begin panting, and the noise it makes while charging will disappear.
As soon as it stops, jump back up, land one or two hits, and immediately run back out. If you are late jumping up, only go in for one attack, as otherwise you will be hit by its charge. Simply repeat this over and over again until it dies.
When it is dead, you will pick up some Stone Shards, as well as a Beast Shard, which can be used later in the game.
Progress to the left and kill the caterpillar-like creature on the ground. This is one of the simplest enemies in the game, as it has no real attack, just a crawl that can deal damage if you are hit by it. But if it takes two hits, it will die. Plus, it can be pushed back by attacking it.
Jump up the two ledges ahead and kill the second creature.
You will be greeted by some vines, which can be destroyed by using Hornet’s basic attack four times.
In the next room, you can follow the path up. However, instead, stick to the bottom of the area and swim through the water, underneath the bony platform.
Continue swimming through, and you will find a secret pathway.
This pathway leads directly up and allows you to practice vertical attacks on a caterpillar on the wall.
Hornet can attack upwards by holding the joystick up or pressing the up arrow on PC and then using the attack button. If you do this after jumping, Hornet can attack upwards while in the air.
With the path clear, jump up to the ledge and then the main cliff above you. Up here you can find some more vines to destroy that just open a path that leads back out to the main area you just came from.
Instead, continue jumping up. By jumping in one direction as Hornet and changing direction in mid-air, you can jump out and avoid hitting the ledge, while grabbing onto it on your way down to climb up. So jump to the left, away from the ledge and as you get high enough to reach the ledge, move back towards it.
Up in this crevice, you can find a shell. Attack it to gain some more Shell Shards.
Continue onwards and return to the platforms leading up to the main room. As you climb, you will come across the second enemy type in the game, these winged caterpillar creatures that fly.
They take three hits to kill, and while you can jump in the air to defeat them, it is better to wait for them to charge a ground slam, move out of the way and attack them while they are at ground level.
Continue to the right, and you will find a more open section of the room with another of these enemies to defeat. A little further on, there is a caterpillar too.
But, before progressing onwards, climb up to the platform above where the caterpillar is.
Jump up the two additional ledges and hop along the platforms above the room below. There is a winged caterpillar here, but it is best to ignore it and traverse to the other side. Once on the other side, try to defeat it, instead of having to attack it in mid-air and land your jumps on the platforms.
On the other side, you can grab a Mossberry by attacking the green fruit attached to the branch. These are needed for an NPC quest a little later in the game, so it is worth grabbing them now to avoid backtracking too far.
Jump back down and defeat the two caterpillars in the open room beneath you. Continue to the right, and Hornet will suddenly become encumbered by a strange sound before regaining her composure.
Ahead, you can jump to the right or jump down into the chasm below. If you hold the right joystick down or press the down arrow, you can move the camera and see what is below. If you hold the right joystick up or press the up arrow key, you can look upwards.
If you look down the chasm, you will see a glowing spot on the ground on a ledge. Jump down and interact with this spot by holding the joystick up or pressing the up arrow key. You will get a Frayed Rosary String. These strings grant you a chunk of Rosary Beads when broken in your inventory. Rosary Beads are used to buy a variety of items later in the game throughout Pharloom from NPC shops.
Jump back up to the platforms. If you fall, you will return to the spawn room in Moss Grotto and have to travel back through the entire level to reach this point.
At the top, continue to the right. In the next room, you can see another Stone Shard statue above, but you can’t reach it yet.
Instead, continue onwards and defeat the flying caterpillar. Head all the way to the right and jump over the spikes.
Ahead, you will find another new enemy type. This is a bug that will roll around a platform’s outer edge once before stopping and repeating the attack. You can defeat it by jumping over it and attacking while it recovers. It takes three hits to kill them.
Another of these bugs can be found on the platform above you. This one requires you to jump and attack it.
Climb up to find two shells, which you can destroy to get some Shell Shards.
Return to where you fought the flying caterpillar and jump up to the platforms.
On the third platform, you can find another of the rolling bugs to defeat.
Jump up to the right to find a locked door you can’t open yet.
If you return to the platform and jump to the left, you will find a caterpillar to kill and can continue to ascend the Moss Grotto, or descend.
Before ascending, jump down and hug the right wall. Jump down again and move to the right to land on the platform with the statue you saw at the beginning of the room. Destroy it to gain some Shell Shards.
Climb back up to where you just were, via the platforms in the main room and climb up this time. Kill the caterpillar on the wall and the flying caterpillar above.
On the ceiling, you can find the second Mossberry hanging from a branch. However, you can’t reach this just yet.
Don’t continue to the right, as you will end up by the locked door again. Instead, continue to the left.
In the next room, hop over the gap and look down. Although it looks like there is nothing below, there is actually a secret room just out of view. Jump down and hug the left wall.
You will land on a platform with some vines. Destroy them and pass through to the left. In this room, you can find two flying caterpillars to kill.
Jump up and interact with the bug carcass. A group of Rosary Beads will pop out of the carcass, which you can collect to spend later.
Exit the room and jump down to the spawn room (which is the only way you can go). You will land in the spawn room and have to traverse back to where you were.
Upon returning to the room with the large chasm in the middle, jump over the gap and continue to the left. Destroy the vines on the wall and continue through.
Hornet will once again be encumbered by a strange force, freezing in place. After some time, you will regain control of her and enter the Ruined Chapel.
Traverse the Ruined Chapel
In the Ruined Chapel, which is a sub-area of Moss Grotto, you can find a bench straight ahead.
Here you can sit to save the game. Each bench you interact with will also act as a checkpoint.
Jump up to the platforms above and destroy the two sets of vines on the left. Continue through to the next room, which houses the game’s first boss: Moss Mother.
Moss Mother Boss Fight
As a tutorial boss, the Moss Mother only has fairly basic attacks that will test your knowledge of how to perform aerial attacks and dodge simple swoops and dives.
The Moss Mother will begin by slowly floating up and down one side of the room, and then performing a quicker dive bomb low to the ground moving to the opposite side of the room. While floating upward slowly, you’ll be able to jump up and perform a few slashing attacks while you wait for her dive bomb to begin.
Once you hear her screech, she’ll begin to move low to the ground. Consider this a good time to practice your own dive attack. Unlike the first Hollow Knight, Hornet’s downward aerial attack is a dive at a 45 degree angle, but landing the strike will cause you to bounce upwards to avoid taking any damage in return. Try to position yourself in front of her charge to dive into the Moss Mother at an angle, then bounce off to the other side as she passes.
After performing a dive bomb, the Moss Mother will change things up by slamming up into the ceiling to shake the room. Doing so will dislodge several chunks of rock to come crashing down after a moment, and damage you if you don’t evade them.
Your visual cue comes from the small shafts of light and dust falling from the ceiling. the rocks are fairly small, so just avoid the indicators of the 2-3 rocks and keep focusing on the Moss Mother.
Every other ceiling slam, the Moss Mother will summon some of her Moss Grubs instead of rocks, which will fall to the floor before wiggling around to limit your movement. Don’t waste any time in slashing at them before they can start to inconvenience you.
After dealing a good amount of damage, the Moss Mother may become temporarily stunned, indicated by a circle above its head. This should be your moment to press the attack to deal even more damage before the boss can recover.
After being stunned once, the Moss Mother will usually perform her moves a bit fast, she may dive twice back and forth, and she’ll summon two grubs instead of just one.
Keep focusing on staying near her after a swoop to attack in the air, either from the side or attacking upwards as you jump.
Once she gets stunned a second time, keep slicing until the boss is defeated.
The walls on the side of the arena will disappear, and you can continue to the left.
In the next room, ascend the chain, and Hornet will once again become stunned by the strange force. However, this time she will pass out as you walk forward. After some time has passed, a strange creature called the Chapel Maid will wake Hornet up.
She will explain that the land of Pharloom is filled with dangers, but Hornet is adamant that she will find out why the bugs transported her to this land, seeking out the Citadel in the process.
At this point, you will obtain a new task:
- The Great Citadel – Ascend through the lands of Pharloom to reach the Citadel at the kingdom’s peak.
You can speak to the Chapel Maid and most NPCs several times to hear new dialogue. Most of the time, this won’t provide any new items, but you can occasionally find new quests, items, and secrets by speaking to NPCs multiple times. So, it is worth speaking to every NPC until their dialogue repeats.
Once you have exhausted all of the Chapel Maid’s dialogue, continue to the right, and you will enter the first village in the game: Bone Bottom.
Bone Bottom
Bone Bottom is the game’s first village and serves as a hub of sorts during the early game.
At the start of the village, you can find a bench where you can save.
Talk to the Little Pilgrim, who will ask about your journey to the Citadel. They will say you should rest here for a while before heading out.
Just to the right, you can find a hut which you can enter. Head down and speak to the Fearful Pilgrim. Hornet will mention that they have decided to rest in an area that looks built for travel. The NPC won’t offer much help for now, but we will be returning to this area later once fast travel opens up after defeating the Bell Beast in The Marrow.
Leave the hut and talk to the small bug sitting near a rock. This is Pebb, the local vendor.
They will sell a total of five items initially, which can be purchased with Rosary Beads. However, you won’t be able to afford many of these items until we return later.
The items Pebb has initially are:
| Item | Rosary Bead Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Magnetite Brooch | 120 Rosary Beads | This stone’s a beauty, isn’t it? They say it’ll help you gather up rosaries on the road ahead. You’ll come back and share some with me. |
| Mask Shard | 300 Rosary Beads | Just a piece of something greater, but finely crafted. You should take it with you, traveller, for luck. |
| Craftmetal | 60 Rosary Beads | A rare find, this. Shinier than faith and harder than a Craggler’s hide. A skilled craftsbug could fashion something nice out of it, if they’ve got the knowledge. |
| Simple Key | 500 Rosary Beads | Seems like just a key, but who knows what it’ll unlock? I reckon it’s come from the Citadel, so it must open the way to something holy! |
| Rosary String | 80 Rosary Beads | Loose rosaries filling your pockets? I can string ’em up safe, so you won’t go losing them. Might seem a simple art, but it takes some talent to keep ’em properly secure. |
Just to the right of Pebb, you can find Flick the Fixer. They are building a Wishwall, which will serve as a side quest board, showing optional objectives. But, this isn’t finished yet and won’t be until you defeat the Bell Beast in The Marrow.
Ahead, while you can climb up, there is nothing there yet, so continue to the right.
You will then enter a small set of caves just past Bone Bottom.
Some rooms in Hollow Knight: Silksong aren’t clearly distinguished as being a part of one area, or the area name won’t pop up until some time into the region.
For example, this section of Bone Bottom technically appears on the in-game map as within The Marrow, but ‘The Marrow’ area name won’t appear until later on.
Therefore, throughout this walkthrough we have chosen to include small sections of the game like this in the region where they make the most sense for progression through the main story.
Directly ahead, you can find Sherma, an NPC who is singing a song to try to open the wooden gate ahead to pass towards the Citadel.
However, you can’t open this for them just yet.
Instead, head back to the left and jump up to the ledges above.
Jump up to the left one final time, and you will meet an enemy that disguises itself as a skull on the ground. These skull-bug enemies will walk along the ground and can easily be pushed back with an attack. They don’t pose much of a threat, if any and will die in just three hits.
Continue jumping upwards and then to the platform on your right. Defeat the enemy just up ahead.
Now, you can either continue down or jump to some additional platforms. We will jump up as the bottom path actually leads back to Sherma and an inaccessible pathway.
Jump up the first few platforms and then jump to the cliff on your left.
While there isn’t anything of value here, you can destroy a shell in the wall above you to get some Stone Shards.
Now, jump to your right and walk forward until a larger version of the skull bug pops out of the ground.
These have a charge that you will need to jump over. It is a simple attack, and once you are over the bug, you can turn around and land two or three hits, depending on whether it has finished its charge or not.
You will need to land six hits to kill the bug. Simply repeat this jump evasive maneuver until it dies.
Continue to the right and kill the small skull bug.
You can’t reach the platforms above you, so head down and look at the wall on the right. This can be destroyed with a few attacks.
The path behind this wall leads to a secret, small challenge room that will require you to dodge falling rocks from the ceiling in the dark. This room is designed to catch you out if you stop moving.
So, instead of taking each jump one by one, simply run forward, jump on the edge of the cliff to the platform, and jump once again to the second platform instantly.
Do the same to the final platform and run forward to avoid the final rock from the ceiling.
At the end, you can find some bug statues with Rosary Beads on them. Attack to remove the beads and then walk over them to pick each one up. Be careful, as there is another rock in the ceiling above the first Rosary Bead pillar.
You can then return to the room you came from.
Continue along the bottom of the screen to find another new enemy type. These flying bee-like bugs will charge at you in a horizontal line for around a third of your screen’s width.
They die in three hits and can be easily dodged by jumping or staying on the ground if it is in the air. Landing attacks right after it finishes its charge is the best strategy, as it takes it a few seconds before it decides to try and charge again.
Once it is dead, continue left and step on the platform. It will disappear, and you can jump down.
In this room, you will enter a small combat trial. While this isn’t a boss, it will pit you against a few enemies at once.
The first wave includes one of the flying bugs you just defeated, followed by two of the smaller crawling skull bugs. The skull bugs don’t spawn until you have defeated the singular flying bug.
The next wave includes two of the flying bugs. This is a little trickier as their attacks will often happen at the same time from both directions. But make use of the platforms to jump over them and deal damage as they recover.
Finally, one of the larger skull bugs will spawn. Jump over its charges and deal damage in between them.
Once it is dead, the fight will be over.
A path to the left and below you will open up. The path to the left leads back to Sherma, so take the one heading down.
Once you drop down, head left and attack the switch hanging from the ceiling. This will open the door Sherma was trying to open, and they will be very proud of themselves because their song worked (in their eyes).
We are almost finished with Bone Bottom. Finally, head to the right, past the sign with a bench on it.
On the way, you can find two sets of Rosary Beads hanging from the ceiling. Attacking them will drop the beads, which you can then pick up.
If you inspect the contraption ahead, you will be able to spawn a bench. However, it costs 30 Rosary Beads. Despite requiring the currency, these are worth activating whenever you come across one in the game.
Just after the bench is a sign that has some general lore about Pharloom on it.
Finally, continue into the next room, and you will enter The Marrow at last. Here you will unlock some key upgrades and face off against another tough boss.
