When Hollow Knight: Silksong, the highly anticipated sequel to the acclaimed 2017 game, was released last summer, journalist Keza MacDonald found herself in a battle of her own – one against debilitating nerve pain that had plagued her for months.
Diagnosed with brachial neuritis, a condition that causes intense pain radiating from the shoulder down to the hand, MacDonald was unsure if she would even be able to play the game. Yet, she decided to take on the challenge, viewing it as a potential parallel to her real-life struggle.
Over the course of four months and 40 gruelling hours, MacDonald meticulously made her way through the dark, atmospheric world of Pharloom, the setting of Silksong. Hampered by her physical limitations, she was forced to play in short bursts, often having to stop due to the pain.
However, this slow, deliberate approach allowed MacDonald to fully immerse herself in the game’s intricate details and brooding narrative. She found herself slipping into Pharloom not just on her Nintendo Switch, but in her mind, contemplating the plight of its tortured inhabitants and the futility of their pilgrimage to the corrupted Citadel.
“Unexpectedly, this makes Pharloom begin to feel like a parallel dimension, somewhere I can slip into not just on my Nintendo Switch but in my mind,” MacDonald writes. “I have to stop playing when pain starts to travel to my hand, so I keep playing it in my head.”
The challenging boss battles and punishing gameplay of Silksong mirrored MacDonald’s own struggle with pain, teaching her that determination alone is not enough to overcome such a debilitating condition. Instead, she had to learn to pace herself, acknowledge her limitations, and find ways to work around the pain, rather than trying to power through it.
“Pain is the brain’s danger signal: if you ignore it, it only gets louder. If you start listening instead, observing and acquiescing, your brain might put away the megaphone,” MacDonald reflects.
As she nears the end of her Silksong journey, MacDonald has gained a newfound perspective on suffering, one that acknowledges its lack of inherent meaning or narrative resolution. Yet, she has also discovered that by adapting to the pain and modifying her life accordingly, she can continue to find joy and fulfillment, even in the midst of adversity.
“There doesn’t need to be a point to it; it doesn’t necessarily come with a tidy narrative of perseverance and eventual redemption. But you can learn to work around it. You can make your way through.”
