It's very easy not to see the funny side of Hollow Knight: Silksong. Don't worry, I've been there. Something about bashing your head against a boss for the 20th time takes away the giggles a little bit, and that's okay. But you have to hear me out here: I haven't laughed this much at a game in a very long time.
It tickles a very Looney Tunes-esque niche that I didn't realise I still found so funny. There's none of the surrealism of Thank Goodness You're Here or the quips of Portal, but if you're the kind of person who likes watching Wile E. Coyote finally catch Roadrunner only to immediately land a heavy anvil to the noggin, then Silksong has more than enough opportunities to laugh away the pain.
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I first noticed this at the end of my battle with The Last Judge — the final boss of Act 1. I know that I'm not alone when I say that this battle was a pain in the butt. I threw countless, and I mean countless, attempts at this bell chucker (steady), and just when I thought I had wrapped it up at last, it landed one final twisted joke: a massive explosion.
I'd defeated my much-battled foe and was in the process of performing my victory dance around the sofa when I spotted the smoke spilling from its mace. I dived back to my controller and hit dash just in time to see the whole thing go up in flames, instantly hitting me for three points of health and leaving my already dishevelled Hornet with just one Mask left.
If I had been caught in the epicentre of the blaze and died in the process, it's unlikely that I would have found it as funny, but after hours of trying to beat this thing, the way that it so very nearly got the last laugh was enough to tickle me pink.
It's that last-minute bait and switch that Silksong does so well. It butters you up to the point of thinking you've beaten its toughest challenge, only to then drop a metaphorical Acme Anvil on Hornet's head. If you don't laugh, you'll cry.
And I started to see it everywhere. I'd be patting myself on the back after clearing a particularly perilous bit of platforming along Sinner's Road, only for the floor to crumble away and chuck me into a pit of spikes below. Hunter's March is home to the nasty bench of doom. And what's the High Halls' gauntlet challenge if not a Pharloom rendition of the broadcaster brawl from Anchorman?
But like the very best comedies, there are layers to Silksong's laughs. Take the NPCs, for example. When was the last time that you laughed this much at a little guy? They might have a particularly comical look like Garmond's sublime 'stache [Zan-zi-baaaar! - Ed.] , a voice that gets funnier the more you hear it (you know we're talking about you, Caretaker), or just a generally giggle-worthy vibe like... well, all of Trobbio. The more I played, the more I chuckled whenever I ran into a new or familiar face.
There's a sprinkling of slapstick, too. The bug-obsessed Nuu is funny enough on looks alone — Sly Snootles fans, rise up — but let's not pretend that watching Hornet deny their kissy advances with a swift slap to the face didn't make you snort.
Perhaps that's what it all comes down to: Hornet is the ultimate straight man. The weirdness of Pharloom gets dialled up to eleven because we experience it all through the never-wavering emotionlessness of Hornet's mask. I laugh at all of the above examples because I can feel Hornet pulling a The Office-style look-to-camera whenever something unexpected happens. You just know that this fearless warrior hates how goofy she looks floating in the Drifter's Cloak or being relegated to riding with the mutts in the back of the Flea Caravan.
I've only seen the one ending of Silksong so far, but I fully intend to go back to it one day and wrap up Act 3. I hear the finale is tough, like really tough, but as long as my beloved little weird guys continue to crop up all over the place, I know I'll have a laugh seeing it through.
