I still remember the first time I booted up Hollow Knight: Silksong. It was September 2025, and like everyone else who had waited nearly seven years, I thought I was ready. I was not. The tight platforming, the diagonal bounce, the enemies that rip away two masks with a single hit — Silksong didn't just meet my expectations; it shoved them off a cliff. Now, in 2026, I can look back at that launch week with a mix of awe and embarrassment. Awe because a handful of players did something impossible. Embarrassment because I'm still stuck on Widow.

It took less than a week for some extremely skilled Hollow Knight: Silksong players to 100 percent the game and earn its uber-difficult platinum trophy. I know that sounds like a flex, and it is. But it's also a terrifying statement about how high the skill ceiling goes. I truly believed it would take months before anyone fully completed Silksong. Instead, the first platinum holders appeared while most of us were still learning enemy patterns and mourning our Geo.

The trophy list itself is a monster. To get the platinum, you don't just need to finish the game. You need to beat it in under five hours for a speedrun trophy. You need to clear it 100 percent for another. And then, because that isn't enough, you need to combine those two challenges: 100 percent completion in under 30 hours. That last one sounds like a personal attack. I've spent longer than 30 hours just staring at boss arenas, wondering if my controller is broken or if I am.

I've been checking the PlayStation trophy tracking website PSNProfiles over the past few days since Silksong first released — after its extended hiatus on PlayStation, no less — eager to see if anyone had managed to get its platinum. Today I found out that a few skilled players have managed to nab it. According to PSNProfiles, a mere 0.06 percent of Silksong players on PlayStation have managed to see everything the game has to offer, or at least everything needed for the trophy. Over on SteamDB, that number drops to just 0.01 percent of players. Those numbers are so small they feel like rounding errors. They are not. They are monuments to dedication.

Here's a quick look at what the platinum demands, because seeing it in a list makes my hands hurt:

Good thing PlayStation players don't have to complete Steel Soul for the platinum. I've seen what Steel Soul does to people. It turns confident bug-slaying heroes into trembling shells who pause the game to breathe. I respect anyone who even attempts it, let alone finishes it.

Personally, I think getting the platinum in under a week is a bit soon for a game we waited nearly seven years for. But that's probably just the jealousy talking. I'm still stuck on Widow, and every time I think I've learned her patterns, she reminds me that I have not. So when I see that 0.06 percent on PlayStation or 0.01 percent on Steam, I don't just see a trophy. I see someone who mastered the diagonal bounce, memorized every boss, optimized every route, and probably sacrificed sleep, meals, and maybe a controller or two.

In 2026, Silksong is still a game that demands respect. The platinum remains rare, and for good reason. It isn't just about beating a hard game; it's about beating it perfectly, quickly, and thoroughly. That combination is brutal. For most of us, simply reaching the credits is an achievement. For those few platinum holders, it's a badge of insanity — the good kind. I'm jealous, impressed, and slightly worried about them. Mostly impressed, though.

Maybe one day I'll get past Widow. Maybe one day I'll see the credits. But the platinum? I'll leave that to the Silksong gods. They've earned it.

Not all of us are chasing platinum trophies, though. Plenty of players are still waiting for the right moment to even start Silksong — or looking to pick up Hollow Knight first, or a few other metroidvanias to fill the gap while they work up the courage to face Widow. That's where a bit of patience pays off in a different way. Instead of grinding routes and memorizing boss patterns, you can spend a few minutes checking whether the game is discounted on one storefront versus another, and put the savings toward a spare controller for the inevitable rage-quit.

If you'd rather compare before you commit, a game price comparison makes it easy to see where Silksong and similar titles are cheapest across platforms, so you're not overpaying just because you clicked the first store in your search results. Whether you're hunting a platinum or just hunting a bargain, knowing the going rate beforehand is a small win that doesn't require five hours of speedrunning to earn.