A New Level of Absurdity: Player Beats Hollow Knight and Silksong Bosses Simultaneously on a Single Controller

The release of “Hollow Knight: Silksong” has ushered in a new era of gaming challenges, and one player has immediately taken it to a mind-bending extreme. A YouTube creator known as HandowShandowed has embarked on a truly absurd challenge run: defeating bosses in both “Hollow Knight” and “Silksong” at the exact same time, using a single controller to control both games. This feat of superhuman concentration and muscle memory has captivated the gaming community and set a new, impossible standard for Metroidvania players.

The challenge, which is documented in a series of videos, involves the player running both games in sync. Every button press, every stick movement, every input on their controller affects both the Knight in “Hollow Knight” and Hornet in “Silksong” simultaneously. This means that while one character is dodging a projectile, the other is performing the same action, often with wildly different consequences due to the unique physics and level design of each game.

Early Success and Escalating Difficulty

HandowShandowed’s initial videos showed an impressive, if awkward, victory over the first bosses of each game: the False Knight in “Hollow Knight” and the Moss Mother in “Silksong.” While the player had to constantly shift their focus between the two screens, the synced inputs allowed for some surprisingly effective maneuvers. This early success gave the player the confidence to move on to even more formidable pairings.

The difficulty has escalated exponentially with each new video. In one particularly grueling attempt, the player took on the infamous final boss of “Hollow Knight,” the Radiance, and a late-game boss from “Silksong” simultaneously. The attempt, which was aptly titled “pain,” did not end in a victory, but the fact that the player was able to survive for over a minute against two of the most relentless bosses in the Metroidvania genre is a testament to their skill. The player has since taken on other boss pairs, including the Massive Moss Charger and the Bell Beast, with varying degrees of success.

• The False Knight & Moss Mother: The first bosses of each game, these early fights proved to be a manageable test run for the player’s unique control scheme.
• The Radiance & [Redacted]: The true final bosses of each game, this pairing was a brutal exercise in split-second decision-making and remains a daunting challenge.
• Massive Moss Charger & Bell Beast: The player’s most recent attempts have focused on these two bosses, which share similar attack patterns despite being in different games.

In a comment on a recent video, HandowShandowed reflected on the journey, stating, “I think it probably just gets harder from here on out, so I’d do well to actually get good at Silksong’s bosses before I venture into anything crazy like Trobbio + Grimm.” This sentiment highlights the enormous difficulty of the challenge and the player’s recognition that the gap in difficulty between “Hollow Knight” and “Silksong” is real. Team Cherry has stated that “Silksong” is more demanding due to Hornet’s increased agility and the more complex combat encounters, making this dual-game challenge a true test of a player’s mastery.

While the series has been a source of entertainment and amazement for the gaming community, it also serves as a strange and beautiful testament to the dedication of players to push the boundaries of what is possible within a game. The “Hollow Knight” and “Silksong” simultaneous boss fight is not just a challenge run; it’s a piece of performance art, a demonstration of skill that few will ever be able to replicate.