Unlocking Steel Soul Mode in Hollow Knight: Silksong

Despite only being out for a few days now, some players have already managed to rush through and complete the final boss of Hollow Knight: Silksong, ready for the next challenge to come. Even if you’re still struggling to get through the regular difficulty of Silksong, it’s alternate difficulty – Steal Soul mode – isn’t far out of reach.

Although Hornet has a significant amount of tools and moveset abilities at her disposal to combat the enemies of Pharloom, Silksong has still been faced with plenty of complaints regarding its unforgiving difficulty curve. Whether you’ve mastered the game or simply want to see just how punishing Hollow Knight: Silksong can be, Steel Soul mode is the ultimate challenge.

What Silksong’s Steel Soul Mode Changes

All Steel Soul Mode Differences Explained

The biggest change that Steel Soul mode introduces to SIlksong‘s gameplay is its permadeath mechanic, acting as a hardcore mode that disables your save file the moment upon Hornet’s first defeat. Given how grueling a challenge some of SIlksong‘s hardest bosses and levels can be, this mode offers a significant difficult jump just like its predecessor’s identical version.

The original Steel Soul mode in Hollow Knight also changed a few details regarding its shopkeepers, with certain NPCs that sell irrelevant items being killed or replaced with others instead. While Silksong‘s permadeath mode makes Rosary Strings entirely useless, other items like mask shard, tools, and powerful weapon upgrades become drastically more important.

Knowing which areas to avoid and come back to is also a vital asset to survive Steel Soul mode, but saving and quitting right before death will bring Hornet back to her last used bench at full health, which can save you countless wasted run attempts.

Every Way To Unlock Steel Soul Mode In Silksong

Every Unlock Option For Steel Soul Mode Explained

The intended way to unlock Hollow Knight: Silksong‘s end-game challenge mode is to simply beat the game once through any of its various endings. Once completed, you’ll be prompted with a new menu after starting your next save that asks whether you want to play in Classic Mode, or the Steel Soul variation.

Thankfully, if you’re a glutton for punishment or want to try getting SIlksong‘ associated achievements early, some players were able to discover an early way to unlock the mode without even starting your first save. By going into the extras menu and entering the inputs Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, after which a sound effect will play to acknowledge that you’ve unlocked it fully.

While I wouldn’t recommend attempting Steel Soul mode’s absurd challenge without having experience beating the base game of Hollow Knight: Silksong, it’s still a fun way to see how far your skills have progressed while forcing you to experience a completely different playstyle.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Systems

10/10

Released

September 4, 2025

Developer(s)

Team Cherry

Publisher(s)

Team Cherry

Engine

Unity

Franchise

Hollow Knight