Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Home to My New Favorite Sound in…

Sound design has always been one of my favorite aspects of video games. It's often an element that goes overlooked in favor of shiny graphics, intense action, and an emotive story, but it's no less important than any of these other elements. Audio design is what reinforces every moment of gameplay, and it can easily be the difference between a good game and a great one. Thankfully, Hollow Knight: Silksong is home to some stellar audio design.

While Christopher Larkin's excellent score takes center stage for much of Hollow Knight: Silksong's moment-to-moment gameplay, it's accompanied by a vast library of distinct, hand-crafted sounds that punctuate the player's every action. From sprinting along a metallic platform to pogo-ing off an enemy's back, Silksong is filled with noises that we may not consciously register, but scratch something deep inside our brains. And there's one Silksong sound in particular that's quickly becoming one of my favorite pieces of audio in any video game.

I Can't Get Enough of Hollow Knight: Silksong's Beads

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Beads. Bees? Beeeads.

About half an hour or so into my Hollow Knight: Silksong playthrough, I stumbled upon a peculiar-looking string hidden deep in the recesses of a mossy tunnel. Stretching from floor to ceiling, this string had a series of deep-red beads dangling from it.

Though I hadn't participated in Hollow Knight: Silksong's currency system just yet, I had an inkling that these beads weren't just set dressing. My video game instincts kicked in, and I started hacking away at the rope without thinking twice. What followed this mindless action has now become an unforgettable gaming moment for me.

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Each strike at the rope resulted in a handful of beads falling to the floor. The light 'twang' of the string gave way to the most satisfying 'tap' sound effect I've ever heard in a video game, with each bead rattling gently as it first touched and rolled along the ground. The satisfaction this noise brought me was compounded by each new bead that hit the floor, and the cathartic rhythm of the two-second-long interaction burrowed deep into my brain.

Hollow Knight Silksong Rosary Beads Ground

Every Rosary Bead deposit I've encountered from that point forward has been the site of a sort of personal ritual. I find the deposit, take a moment to lean forward in my chair, and revel in the sound of each individual bead hitting the ground in quick succession.

More Than Just a Satisfying Sound

But while Hollow Knight: Silksong's Rosary Bead deposits sound incredibly satisfying, my love for them goes far beyond just the noise itself. It's also about what that sound represents.

To put it lightly, Hollow Knight: Silksong's economy isn't balanced to perfection. Most bosses don't drop Rosary Beads, most benches cost beads to unlock, in-game items and upgrades are expensive to purchase, and given Silksong's difficult nature, many players will end up losing more beads than they pick up.

These Rosary Bead deposits are one of the only reliable sources of wealth in the entire game, and they're a bit of a rarity. So whenever I find one of these deposits, I'm not just reveling in the literal sound produced by the beads hitting the floor, I'm enjoying the rare feeling of earning a valuable resource. I'm celebrating the fact I'll now finally be able to purchase that one tool I've been wanting to buy since I first found the Forge Daughter in Deep Docks many hours ago.

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