Hollow Knight: Silksong may be riding high with global reviews, but in China, it’s a different story. Nearly 20,000 Chinese-language users have left feedback on Steam, with only 42% giving it a thumbs up, a sharp contrast to the game’s 80% “Very Positive” rating worldwide. The main issue? Players say the Simplified Chinese localization is not just weak, but completely off-tone.
Team Cherry responds to complaints
Team Cherry has acknowledged the problem and promised to fix it. Publishing and marketing lead Matthew Griffin wrote on social media that the studio would work on improving the Chinese translation in the coming weeks. The statement thanked players for their feedback and stressed that the team takes the criticism seriously.
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Critics say it’s more than grammar
Industry voices suggest the issues go deeper than spelling or grammar mistakes. Tiger Tang, who led the Chinese localization of Omori, said Silksong’s translation feels like “a Wuxia novel” instead of matching the game’s intended mood. Others compared it to nonsensical improvisation, with dialogue that sometimes drifts into pure gibberish.
Fewer translators, bigger problems
Part of the backlash is linked to the smaller team behind the Chinese version. The original Hollow Knight had six people working on localization, but Silksong credited only two. Kotaku noted that one of them, Hertzz Liu, has been accused of leaking details about Silksong’s release on Chinese forums earlier this year, including an estimated pre-Christmas launch.
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Players worldwide raise difficulty concerns
Beyond localisation, some players worldwide are questioning the game’s difficulty curve. Silksong recently peaked with over 535,000 concurrent players on Steam, but forums and Reddit threads show many struggling with the tougher mechanics.
Several players complained about “double damage” attacks, where many enemies take away two masks instead of one. “I feel like they’re really overusing double damage so far,” wrote one frustrated fan. Others agreed, pointing out that in the original game, double damage was mostly limited to late-game bosses.
Some players even said the difficulty has taken a toll on their enjoyment. One Redditor admitted, “I was looking forward to my most anticipated game ever… played it, and it made the depression worse. I’m upset I don’t like it and I’m upset I’m not good enough at the game to like it.”
What’s next for Silksong?
While global players are debating difficulty and Chinese fans are demanding better localization, the hype around Silksong remains massive. Team Cherry now faces a balancing act: fixing translation issues for one of its biggest markets while ensuring gameplay challenges don’t push too many players away. For now, fans will be watching closely to see if the studio responds with more than just patches.
