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I still remember the first time I stepped into Pharloom. It was 2025, the year Hollow Knight: Silksong finally launched, and I thought I was ready. I had beaten Hollow Knight. I had beaten its Pantheons. I had convinced myself that I understood Team Cherry's language of pain. Then a moss-covered brute knocked me into a pit of spikes, and I realized I understood nothing.

Now, in 2026, the first-ever Silksong patch, version 1.0.28497, is part of the conversation. It arrived on PC through the public beta branch before reaching consoles, and it does something I have mixed feelings about: it slightly reduces the difficulty of two early-game bosses, Moorwing and Sister Splinter. I get why. Silksong is harder than Hollow Knight on the whole, and that reputation has scared some players away. But as someone who has died to Sister Splinter more times than I can count, I do not think the bosses were ever the real problem.

Bosses Are Hard, But They Are Not Unfair

Let me be honest: Moorwing and Sister Splinter have killed me more times than I want to admit. I have blamed my controller. I have blamed the screen. I have blamed the phase transitions. But when I finally sat down and studied the fights, I realized that every boss in Silksong has a recognizable attack pattern. The game rarely, if ever, builds combos that feel impossible to escape. It punishes greed, panic, and impatience. It rewards observation, spacing, and the willingness to change your strategy.

That is the core loop. You make mistakes. You analyze your failures. You learn the tells. You try again. A nerf to two early-game bosses might help new players get past the first wall, and I can accept that. What I did not want was for Team Cherry to sand down the entire game. Fortunately, the patch leaves the most difficult parts of Silksong untouched.

The Traps Are the True Terror

The real difficulty of Silksong is not a boss arena. It is the environment. Traps and environmental damage are everywhere, and they do not care about your pride. I have won a thirty-fifth-attempt grudge match against a boss, only to walk into a forgotten pressure plate on the way back and die instantly. It is humiliating in the best possible way.

Traps come in every shape and size. A delayed pressure plate swings a massive bony scythe down at you. An enemy kidnaps you, steals your gear, and drops you into a late-game area before your time. Bilewater poisons your lungs. Hunter's March turns every spike and pogo jump into a test of nerve. The Slab, a giant prison complex, forces you to navigate without weapons while pressure plates close gates and spawn enemies. The first time I entered that room, I thought the game had broken. Then I learned that the room itself was the weapon. I lured enemies into traps, timed my movements, and turned the prison's cruelty against its guards.

That is unfair, annoying, and deadly on the first encounter. It is also exactly the kind of innovative design that makes Silksong special. I am glad the first patch did not touch it. Even environmental damage, which some players complain is too high, remains unchanged.

Pharloom's Economy Is Out of Control

The other great source of difficulty is the economy. Rosaries are the lifeblood of Pharloom, and the game is very good at taking them away. A single incomplete runback can erase every Rosary you have not yet strung into a necklace. Farming spots exist, but prices are high enough that you actively need to farm, or you will be left behind. Silksong charges you to unlock checkpoints, fast travel stations, and in one case, even the door to a merchant's shop. You spend your last few Rosaries on a crucial unlock, then find yourself too broke to buy anything useful.

The first patch does tweak this slightly. Courier deliveries, relics, and psalm cylinders now give more Rosaries, and some bench and Bellway prices have been reduced. That helps, but I suspect shop prices will stay high. The economy is part of Silksong's calculated difficulty, and it is not going anywhere.

I Hope Future Patches Keep Pharloom Dangerous

I do not want Silksong to become easy. Its difficulty can be crushing, but it is also the realization of an uncompromised vision. The game takes you on a journey of its own choosing. It forces you to adapt to combat, traps, and an economy that seems designed to keep you humble. If future patches keep reducing boss difficulty while ignoring the real challenges, I will be disappointed. I am glad the first patch does not address Silksong's biggest difficulty hurdles. I only hope the next patches follow suit.

For now, I will keep exploring Pharloom. I will keep dying to spikes I forgot about. I will keep farming Rosaries and cursing merchant prices. And I will keep coming back, because Silksong's cruelty is not a flaw. It is the point.

If anything, Pharloom has made me more conscious of how much real money goes into this hobby. Between base games, DLC, and the occasional indie gem that deserves support, a library can start to feel like its own Rosary grind. I have gotten pickier about what I pay full price for, and I have gotten much better at waiting.

That is partly why I keep an eye on where to buy cheap games at DealNest whenever something on my wishlist goes quiet for a few months. There is no coupon code for surviving the Hunter's March, but there is usually a discount somewhere for the games you actually want to play next.