The Volatile Flintbeetles: A Hunter’s Tale from The Marrow

Hollow Knight: Silksong Volatile Flintbeetles guide reveals all three The Marrow locations and how to claim every Flintgem.

By 2026, the quest board in Bone Bottom had become a familiar sight to the hunter who moved through Hollow Knight: Silksong’s caverns with a needle in hand and a map in mind. The board was a patient spider, spinning new tasks onto its web as each region fell quiet. One task, Volatile Flintbeetles, asked for three shelled nuisances in The Marrow to be found and defeated. The request looked simple. The hunt was not.

A Board Full of Whispers

The hunter had cleared enough of the world for Bone Bottom to offer more work, and the Volatile Flintbeetles request sat among the newer notices. It demanded three Flintbeetles, each hidden in The Marrow. The game offered hints, but the hints were shy things—placed in likely rooms, half-swallowed by shadow, easy to pass without noticing. Tracking the beetles through the trail of clues made the work smoother. Ignoring the clues turned the hunt into a slow combing of stone and silk.

The trail of hints unspooled like a lantern-fish’s lure through black water—bright enough to follow, strange enough to make the hunter doubt the dark. Each beetle had its own pocket of The Marrow, and each demanded a different approach.

First Flintbeetle: The Ceiling Above the Bone Bottom Exit

The first hint waited by the resting bench near the Bone Bottom exit from The Marrow. From that bench, the path ran west and then upward toward the Mosshome exit. The hunter stopped before the path ended, on the top of the larger area just outside Bone Bottom and below Mosshome. A platform crowned that space, and the Flintbeetle clung to the ceiling above it. A jump and a strike woke the creature. The fight was brief but sharp, and the first Flintgem dropped once the shell cracked.

Second Flintbeetle: The Vertical Shaft

The second hint sat in the next area to the right of that starting bench. Again the path climbed. The vertical shaft in the middle of The Marrow breathed like a sleeping lung, its enemies rising and falling with each step. The beetle waited at the very top. The climb was the real trial: the final stretch held six or seven enemies, many of them flying bugs that tried to pin the hunter against the shaft walls. Patience and clean needle-work carried the hunter through. The second Flintbeetle fell, and the second Flintgem was claimed.

Third Flintbeetle: The Eastern Bench

The final hint was the easiest of the batch to find quickly. It waited at the furthest bench to the east, right under the Hunter’s March exit. The hunter took the path straight up and then turned into the upper room to the left. There, the last Flintbeetle waited. The Flintbeetles were small, hot embers wrapped in shell—not towering monsters, but dangerous when cornered. The third and final Flintgem was collected after a short, explosive scuffle.

How to Fight the Flintbeetles

The shelled bugs were not the biggest threat in The Marrow, but they could catch an unprepared hunter off guard. Their moveset was small, yet each move left fire in the air.

Attack
Tell
Counter

Charge Forward
The beetle balls up and charges, leaving an explosive trail
High-jump over the beetle or use a downward aerial attack, then glide away from the residual blast

Bounce
The beetle rolls into a ball and leaps in an arc, leaving a trail
Stand to the left or right of the landing point; if near the trail, stand in the middle of the arc to avoid the explosion

Explosive Flint
The beetle launches explosive stones
Hit the stones back at the beetle or dodge them outright

Explosive Death
The beetle stands still, flashes, and emits an explosive aura
Back away, dodge the incoming projectiles, then move in to collect the Flintgem

😤 The Charge Forward and Bounce attacks rewarded calm feet. The Explosive Flint attack rewarded a steady needle. The Explosive Death rewarded restraint—the hunter who rushed in too early met a face full of stones.

The Reward and the Return

With all three Flintgems in hand, the hunter returned to Bone Bottom. Interacting with the quest board completed the Volatile Flintbeetles task and granted the Memory Locket, an item used to unlock portions of Crests for combat. The board’s web had given up its prize. The hunter moved on, needle ready, with three fewer embers burning in The Marrow.

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Silksong’s Missing Quality-of-Life Lesson from The Lost Crown

Hollow Knight: Silksong's vast map misses the smart Memory Shards of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, adding needless friction to exploration.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is no longer a rumor, a Kickstarter promise, or a recurring joke in comment sections. Since its 2025 launch, the sequel has been in players’ hands, and it is all anyone is talking about. Team Cherry’s follow-up to one of the most beloved Metroidvanias ever made delivers more of what fans wanted: sharper combat, stranger bug kingdoms, and a difficulty curve that occasionally feels like a wall made of needles. The long wait is over. The celebration is real. And yet, for all its confidence, Silksong arrives with a curious blind spot. It seems to have learned almost nothing from the Metroidvanias that followed in Hollow Knight’s footsteps.

That is not a knock on the sequel’s quality. Silksong is proving to be more of what players love, albeit quite a bit more punishing. Hollow Knight fans are a devoted bunch, the kind of players who treat a brutal boss rematch like a friendly handshake, so many will learn to love the higher difficulty in time. But difficulty is not the same as friction. Confusion is not the same as challenge. And the genre has been whispering lessons into Silksong’s ear for years, only for the sequel to cover its ears and hum loudly.

The Lost Crown’s Memory Shards Were a Quiet Revolution

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown launched to critical acclaim and then slipped out of the wider conversation faster than it deserved. The game revived a dormant Prince of Persia series after well over a decade of silence, and it stood as one of Ubisoft’s most adventurous and experimental projects in years. By May 2025, it had drawn over 2 million players. Despite that, the team behind it was disbanded and reassigned to other projects. A sad coda for a game that deserved a longer victory lap.

What The Lost Crown brought to the Metroidvania table was not just slick platforming or cinematic boss fights. It was the Memory Shard. The feature allowed players to take screenshots of the map and attach them directly to that map. The result was a small but brilliant quality-of-life innovation. Players could retrace their steps more easily. They could remember which skills they needed to unlock a new area. They could leave a visual note for their future selves instead of relying on memory, instinct, and a vague sense of dread.

Critics called it a brilliant new mechanic, though some rightly criticised how it was tied to progression. Players had to locate more Memory Shards in the world instead of being allowed an infinite number of them. That limitation was annoying. The core idea, however, was excellent. The map became a conversation between player and world. It remembered what the player could not.

Silksong’s Map Is Bigger, but Its Memory Is Not

Hollow Knight’s success was a major turning point for the Metroidvania genre. Many consider it the best Metroidvania ever made, and its level design, exploration, and combat have become a blueprint for the games that came after it. But it would be silly to ignore that those inspired games have done some things better. A genre does not evolve by bowing to its ancestors forever. It evolves by listening to its cousins.

Backtracking through Hollow Knight’s map to see whether newly acquired skills open previously blocked areas can be tiresome. Players can buy colour-coded markers to add to their maps, helping them identify what is inaccessible and what is simply unexplored. But unless someone is highly organised, it is easy to forget what each marker meant. Was this pin for a wall that needed a double jump? A gate that needed a key? A strange bug that needed a conversation and perhaps a snack? The map stares back with coloured pins that refuse to explain themselves.

Players return to annoying-to-reach areas, marked with good intentions, only to realise they still cannot access them. They waste time fighting through rooms that were never the problem. The path forward was somewhere else. The map knew. The player did not.

Silksong’s map is significantly bigger than that of the first game. That scale is exciting, but it also makes the absence of a Memory Shard-style feature harder to ignore. Such a mechanic would not reduce the difficulty. It would reduce the busywork of aimless exploration. Fair enough, Silksong is meant to be punishing. The combat can bite. The platforming can sting. But confusion is not difficulty. A map that refuses to remember is not a boss. It is a chore.

What Silksong Could Have Borrowed

A Memory Shard system could have served Silksong well without sanding down its edges. Team Cherry did not need to copy The Lost Crown wholesale. It could have adapted the idea in a dozen ways:

• 📸 Visual memory: let players attach small snapshots to map pins.

• 🧠 Context: show what skill, key, or tool was missing at a blocked path.

• 🗺️ Less friction: reduce aimless backtracking without removing exploration.

• ⚔️ Difficulty preserved: keep combat and platforming as sharp as ever.

• 🕰️ Optional use: make it a convenience, not a requirement.

Need
Memory Shards
Traditional markers

Remember a blocked path
📸 Screenshot attached to map
🎨 Colour-coded pin

Recall required skill
🧠 Visual context
🧠 Player memory

Reduce aimless walking
✅ Strong
❌ Weak

Preserve difficulty
✅ Yes
✅ Yes

Respect player time
✅ Yes
⚠️ Sometimes

Here is the thing, though: Team Cherry does not owe players a photocopier. It owes them a map that communicates. The studio could tie shards to benches, limit them to a handful, or attach them to an NPC with a dry sense of humour. The point is not to make Silksong easy. The point is to let players remember why an edge exists. The map waits. The player wonders. The answer is often no.

A Genre That Learned from Hollow Knight Deserves a Sequel That Learns Back

Countless Metroidvanias have learned lessons from Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight. Some borrowed its moody atmosphere. Some borrowed its corpse-run tension. Some borrowed its map-making rituals and then improved them. Silksong does not seem particularly keen on learning from its descendants. That is a shame, because those descendants have had some pretty darn good ideas.

The Lost Crown’s team may have been disbanded, but its ideas remain in the world. A sequel can honour its ancestors and still listen to its cousins. The best Metroidvanias are not museums. They are conversations. Hollow Knight spoke. A generation answered. Silksong should answer back.

And look, the devoted fans will endure. They will learn to love the higher difficulty. They will memorise routes, curse softly, and return. But love should not require a notebook and a prayer. Silksong can remain punishing and still be kinder to memory. The map is bigger now. The wait was long. The lesson is small, but it matters.

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Silksong in 2026: How I Cheese and Skip Moorwing

Moorwing skip in Silksong: use the Reaper Crest cheese or Simple Key gate to bypass this Greymoor boss safely and fast.

If you're stuck in Greymoor staring down Moorwing in Hollow Knight: Silksong, I've got good news: you don't have to fight fair. Look, I get it—Greymoor is a maze, the bench at Halfway Home feels miles away, and Moorwing has a habit of turning a simple boss fight into an airborne tantrum. So let's talk about the cheese. And then let's talk about walking around the problem entirely. No judgment here. 😄

The Reaper Crest is your secret weapon

Before you go anywhere, sit at the Halfway Home bench in Greymoor and switch to the Reaper Crest. Hornet gets several Crests in the story, and each one changes her basic attack and downward attack. The Reaper Crest gives you heavy arcing slashes, extra Silk from defeated enemies, and—most importantly—a downward arc swing that can hit Moorwing from a spot where the boss simply cannot reach you. That downward arc is the whole trick. Without it, this cheese doesn't exist.

Once you're back in the arena, approach Moorwing just enough to wake it up. The moment it starts attacking, run to the right and ride the currents upward toward the ledge where you first dropped in. Now face the wall on your left. Moorwing will fly right underneath you, and you can bonk it with downward arc swings until it dies. It takes a few hits. It is also completely, almost comically safe. The boss can't touch you. It just keeps buzzing underneath like an angry ceiling fan.

Simple. Effective. A little rude.

Two ways to skip Moorwing entirely

Word on the street is that you can skip the fight altogether. As of 2026, these two methods are still the ones people bring up, though I'd take the second with a grain of salt.

Method
What you do
Risk level

Simple Key gate
Follow the red route on the map above and use a Simple Key to open a locked gate. You enter the boss area from the left instead of the right.
Low, if you have the key

Flea Caravan
Find the five lost Fleas for Fleamaster Mooshka in The Marrow. The Caravan then appears where Moorwing would normally show up.
Medium—the boss may return once the Caravan moves again

The first method is the cleaner one. You're basically coming into the fight from the wrong side of the theater, and Moorwing doesn't appreciate being ignored. The second method is wilder. You help Mooshka, the Caravan parks itself in the boss spot, and suddenly the arena is a flea market instead of a nightmare. But here's the catch: once that Caravan moves again, Moorwing might show up anyway. Trust me, I'd keep a backup plan.

Why bother?

Because Greymoor is annoying enough without a boss wall. Beating Moorwing opens the way west to Haunted Bellhart, where the Threadspun Town quest happens, and then onward to Shellwood. You're almost to Act 2. If you can save yourself ten deaths and a headache, why not? The cheese spot is safe, the skip routes are tempting, and Moorwing is a flying problem that deserves a little disrespect. 🦋

So grab the Reaper Crest, pick your method, and get out of Greymoor. Your sanity will thank you.

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Silksong's The Slab: Kidnapping, Escape Route, and Exit Guide

Silksong's The Slab guide: escape the prison, recover Hornet's gear, and survive the freeze with a clean route.

Silksong's The Slab is one of those areas that players do not choose so much as stumble into after a very bad encounter. In 2026, the prison still works the same way: Hornet gets kidnapped in Deep Docks, wakes up without her cloak, needle, tools, and equipment, and must claw her way back to freedom. The detour is nasty, but it is also memorable. The Slab mixes scripted capture, trap-heavy platforming, freezing outdoor rooms, and a satisfying sneak kill into one compact escape sequence. Players who understand the route can turn a grim prison break into a clean checklist.

🧱 How to Reach The Slab

Getting captured is the easy part, though it rarely feels that way. Players first need the Wall Jump ability from Shellwood. From there, the route leads to the top-right section of Deep Docks. Near the red ants, there is a wall-climbing section. After the climb, players should head right until they spot an enemy carrying a cage. Hitting that enemy a few times triggers the trap: the enemy jumps up and slams the cage down on Hornet. The screen fades to black, and Hornet wakes in The Slab stripped of her gear.

🔑 Escaping The Slab: The Core Route

From the spawn cage, players should press any button repeatedly to break out. The first move is downward, then through the left passage. Near the door that demands the Indolent Key, players should look up. A breakable wall hides the way forward. This is where traps become a constant companion: stepping on a pressure pad can spawn spikes below Hornet, so careful movement matters more than speed.

After heading up and left, players will see several enemies above holding Hornet's cloak and nail. The goal is not to fight everything. Going past this point leads outside, where the freeze mechanic appears. The longer Hornet stays outside, the faster her health drains. Players should either return inside or find a heat source. Heading down and through the right passage leads to a room with three enemies. All three can be ignored. The far right side holds the Indolent Gate.

Going down the hole brings players near Grindle, who is on the opposite side of the door. Heading left reveals the Indolent Key hanging on a chain. The catch is that grabbing it spawns enemies. Players should take the key and run right immediately. The door where Grindle was standing can then be opened. Beyond it, players should follow the passage until they see an enemy patrolling the platform below. The right passage leads back to Grindle, and next to him is a bench. Before leaving, players should check the right wall for a hidden path. That path reveals the map for the area, which is a small mercy in a place this hostile.

After resting at the bench, players should exit left and make their way down. The right passage leads to a door that accepts the Indolent Key. Inside, a group fight is mandatory. Hornet's damage feels low without her usual gear, so the traps on the ground become tools. Players should lure enemies over them and let the environment do some of the work.

Once the room is clear, the route turns into a parkour section. Without cloak and needle abilities, players can rely only on jump and dash. Going all the way up and exiting leads outside again, where freezing returns. The target is the left side, with occasional stops next to fire points to keep Hornet's heat level up. Near the lever on the other side, players should head back a little and wall climb, then move left while jumping over enemies. A hole leads down to a bench. Healing there is wise. Further down, Hornet ends up directly above her captors. The attack option triggers a sneak kill, and her gear returns. A multi-enemy fight follows, but her equipped tools are still unavailable. After the fight, players receive the Key of Heretic. A bench to the right allows tool equipping and a Crest change if desired.

The next stretch is a chain of doors and drops. Players should interact with the right door, follow the passage, drop to the bottom, take the left passage, and use the Indolent Key. After dropping and heading right, they return to the platform where the enemy was patrolling. Dropping down and using the Key of Heretic opens the passage below. A lever to the right opens the metal flippers. The left passage contains an enemy, and further down is the Bellway Station sign. A breakable wall on the right leads to another breakable wall and a drop. At the bottom, a bench sits on the right and a Bellway Station on the left. That station is the exit from this grim place.

🗺️ Quick Route Checklist

Stage
Key Action

Capture
Unlock Wall Jump in Shellwood, go to Deep Docks top-right, trigger cage enemy

Wake Up
Break out of cage, head down, take left passage, find breakable wall above Indolent Key door

Key Run
Grab Indolent Key on chain, run right through spawned enemies

Map and Bench
Find Grindle, rest at bench, check right wall for hidden map path

First Gate
Use Indolent Key, clear enemies with ground traps

Freeze Crossing
Use fire points, wall climb near lever, reach bench above captors

Gear Return
Sneak kill captor, survive fight, collect Key of Heretic

Exit Prep
Use Key of Heretic, open metal flippers, reach Bellway Station

❄️ What to Do After The Slab

Once players are ready to leave, the next step depends on progress. If the game has reached Act 2 and the Clawline ability is unlocked, players can go left of the Bellway Station to enter Mount Fay. This area is brutal because freeze is always in play. The reward at the top is a very important ability that can make the rest of the game more accessible. Players should treat Mount Fay as a challenge route, not a casual victory lap.

If Act 1 is not finished, players can return to Shellwood from the Bellway Station and head to the top-left section of the map. That path leads to Blasted Steps and a difficult boss encounter with a grueling runback. In 2026, that runback remains one of the area's biggest tests of patience. Players should upgrade what they can, equip a comfortable Crest, and prepare for a fight that punishes sloppy approaches.

The Slab is harsh, but it is not unfair once the sequence is known. The prison break is a reminder that Silksong often turns setbacks into exploration. Hornet loses almost everything, then earns it back one key, one bench, and one sneak kill at a time. For players who enjoy a grim detour with a clean payoff, The Slab is a standout chapter.

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How I Finally Beat the Savage Beastfly in Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Savage Beastfly boss guide reveals smart positioning, attack timing, and phase-two survival tactics.

The first time I dropped into Hunter’s March in Hollow Knight: Silksong, I thought I was just taking a quick detour. I had already poked around The Marrow and Deep Docks, and this optional area felt like a side room with attitude. Then the Savage Beastfly introduced itself, and I learned that a short fight can still feel like a full-blown siege. When I came back to the game in 2026 for another run, I promised myself I would actually learn the fight instead of panic-jumping through it. This is how that went.

First Things First: Hit the Switch

Before you even think about the boss, look near the exit of the arena. There is a switch there, and you should strike it immediately. Let me tell you, that switch saved me more times than I care to admit. It unlocks a quick way back in, so you do not have to retrace the whole path every time the Beastfly flattens you. That alone makes the fight less frustrating.

The Beastfly does not have a huge move list, but the randomness is the real enemy. Its dash and slam attacks can chain in ugly ways, and the summons in phase two turn a clean duel into a messy brawl. I had to stop treating it like a straight fight and start treating it like a positioning puzzle.

Reading the Dash Attack

The dash is the move I had to respect first. The Beastfly launches from one side of the room to the other, and the obvious answer is to jump over it. The catch is that if you are already in the air when the attack is queued, it will adjust toward your position. That little detail punished me constantly. So when I saw the wind-up, I forced myself to land, plant my feet, and then jump.

After the boss smashes into the wall, you get a gift. I could squeeze in one or two downward aerial attacks before it recovered. That damage adds up, and it also puts me in a better spot for whatever comes next. Later in the fight, I even used that bounce to bait a higher dash while I dealt with the smaller bugs. ⚔️

The Slam Attack Is a Trap and a Tool

The slam looks simple: the Beastfly floats above me, follows my movement, and points its head down. I had a brief moment to step left or right. If I stayed close, it could slam up to three times, and the counterattack window was tiny. But if I positioned well, I could land one hit as it rose for another slam. Enough damage stuns the boss, which buys room to hit it more or heal.

Healing is the scary part. The window is tight, and it gets tighter as the fight goes on. I learned not to heal just because I was nervous. If I picked the wrong moment, I would eat a slam and lose all the progress I had just made. That pause before the screech? It still makes my shoulders tense.

Phase Two and the Summoning Problem

The second phase is where the fight really begins. The Beastfly screeches and calls in help, and from that point on, the arena gets crowded fast. Trust me, the RNG here can hand you a clean run or a nightmare. At first, only one bug joins, but as you damage and stun the boss, it starts summoning two, then three.

Summon
What It Does
My Answer

Beastfly
Rams at you and pushes you into bad positions
Use Silk Spear to remove it fast, or an upward strike to send it over your head

Kilik
Releases back spines when you get close
Jump the spikes and kite it into the boss’s slam

Vicious Caranid
Uses its tail to create a damaging zone
Stay calm, keep distance, and drag it into the slam

The Vicious Caranid is the one that made me sweat. It is the biggest and most aggressive summon, and it can lock down space quickly. The Kilik is less dangerous alone, but its spines can trap you while the boss is charging. The small Beastfly is annoying because it forces you into awkward air positions, so I tried to delete it with Silk Spear whenever I could.

The Strategy That Worked for Me

Here’s the kicker: the boss can damage its own summons with the slam. That changed everything for me. Instead of trying to kill every bug immediately, I stayed near the corners, baited the boss, and kited the mobs into the slam. If I moved too far away during the slam, the boss would reset the attack, so I had to stay relatively close while still dodging. It took a few attempts, and I definitely got hit by bugs I forgot were behind me.

My loop looked like this:

• Stay near the arena corners when possible.

• Jump the dash and punish with one or two downward aerial hits.

• Dodge the slam, then land quick normal attacks when it hits the ground.

• When a summon appears, adjust based on the bug type.

• Use the boss’s slam to clear Kiliks and Caranids whenever I could.

• Keep composure when two or three bugs show up. Panic is what gets you hit.

It is not a fast fight. It is a patience fight. The Beastfly wants you to rush, overextend, and heal at the wrong time. Once I slowed down, the fight became readable.

The Reward Is Worth It

After the fight, the reward sits in a room to the left of the boss arena. The Crest of the Beast changes Hornet’s moveset in a big way. It alters the downward aerial attack, healing, and attack patterns. The range is shorter, but you can spend silk to heal by striking enemies, which pushes a much more aggressive playstyle.

I walked away from Hunter’s March with sore thumbs and a new favorite toy. The Savage Beastfly is optional, but if you want a crest that rewires how you play, it is absolutely worth the trouble. Just hit that switch first, keep your feet on the ground, and let the boss do some of the dirty work for you. 🏆

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Silver Bells in Silksong: My Hide-and-Seek With Eight Shy Bells

The Silver Bells quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong is a hidden bell hunt—find all eight with this concise spawn guide.

I thought the Silver Bells quest in Hollow Knight: Silksong would be a cozy little errand. I had just beaten the Widow in Bellhart, freed the town, and felt like a hero who deserved a quiet walk. Then the quest board handed me a note that basically said: find eight silver bells. No map. No choir. Just vibes. Not gonna lie, I laughed. That laugh aged quickly.

🔔 Starting the Quest Without Losing My Mind

To unlock the Silver Bells side quest, I first had to defeat the Widow boss in Bellhart. That fight was the gatekeeper. Once Bellhart was free and the quest board opened, the Silver Bells request appeared among the other jobs. The hint was charmingly vague, the kind of note that points toward a general direction and then lets the wind do the rest. I grabbed it, sharpened my needle, and told myself I would not spend an hour running in circles.

I spent an hour running in circles. Okay, fine, maybe two.

🗺️ Where the Bells Hide

The actual search begins at the Bellhart bellvein, the fast travel station. From the spot where I summoned the Bell Beast, I headed right and kept going until I passed through a wall into a chamber lined entirely with bells. The bellvein felt like a sleeping creature; its metal ribs hummed when I walked, and every bell seemed to be whispering, nope, not here. The Cling Grip skill is essential here, because this place is a tall square playground of ledges, gaps, and breakable paths.

The structure is simple once you see it: one huge square, with entrances and pathways you break open as you descend, creating shortcuts back to the top. The bells are the tricky part. They do not always spawn each time you pass their location. They may appear in different spots for different players, and they may just refuse to show up because they are little gremlins with a sense of drama. I had to run through the bellvein several times before all eight finally showed themselves. It was not Christmas in the city, but these bells were still playing hide-and-seek.

Here is my bell-spawn cheat sheet, based on what I found and what the marked map helped me confirm:

Bell
Where I Found It

1
Second level from the top, after fighting an enemy. A blockade above it can be broken for a shortcut back to the top.

2
One level down, through the right-side entrance with the large bell bug. On the floor next to a path leading upward.

3
Following the path and breaking barriers, then dropping back into The Marrow and climbing up. Across the gap on that level.

4
Very top of the bellvein, top level, center.

5
Same spawn as bell two.

6
Same spawn as bell four.

7
Same spawn as bell one.

8
From the top level, head left and drop to the level above the spike trap on the left side. Check the alcove.

That marked image saved me from at least one meltdown. Still, I learned not to trust a single clean run. My best method was to sweep each level one by one before taking an exit, then repeat the circuit until the counter filled. The bells are shy, random, and a little theatrical. I respect that. I also threatened them with a very stern look. They were not impressed.

🎁 The Reward Is Small but Sweet

After the eighth bell finally rang its little victory note, I returned to the quest board and collected my reward. The Silver Bells quest does not shower you in legendary gear, but it does give you rosary beads strung together. Those beads cannot be lost, and they contain 120 beads that you can break apart and spend whenever you please. Compared with some of the more brutal side quests in Silksong, that is a pretty fair trade for a bit of bell-hunting.

In 2026, with all the maps and guides floating around, this quest still has a mischievous streak. The bells do not care about your schedule. They do not care that you have already checked that ledge twice. They appear when they want, where they want, and then they act like it was your idea. I walked away with 120 rosary beads, a fresh shortcut or two, and the quiet satisfaction of out-stubborn-ing eight tiny metal menaces.

Would I do it again? Honestly, same. Probably yes. But next time, I am bringing more patience and fewer dramatic sighs. ...

Quests like this one are a good reminder that the best part of a game is often the detour, not the destination. If that detour has left you curious about what else is worth picking up, or you are simply eyeing Silksong and its backlog neighbors while waiting for the next patch, it helps to know where prices are actually reasonable. I have been checking [cheapest steam keys]( on DealNest between bell runs, and it is a low-effort way to see what is discounted before committing.

No grand strategy involved, just a habit of looking before buying. Bell-hunting taught me that much: check the same spot twice, and sometimes you get lucky.

https://dealnesthq.com

The 2025 Action-Platformer Trifecta That Still Owns My 2026 Playlist

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and Hollow Knight: Silksong made 2025 a standout action-platformer trifecta for under $30.

I still measure 2025 by the nights I lost to three very different blades. As a player who keeps a chaotic spreadsheet of releases, I expected the year to be defined by big sequels, but I did not expect a late-summer action-platformer trifecta to hit me quite so hard. Looking back from 2026, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and Hollow Knight: Silksong feel less like three separate launches and more like one perfect season. Each arrived within weeks of the others, each asked for precision and patience, and each cost less than $30. That last detail still feels almost unfair: I bought all three for roughly the price of one full-priced AAA game, and I got months of discussion, frustration, and delight.

The ninja who reopened the door

My summer started with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound at the very end of July. I had been curious because it came from the studio behind the Blasphemous duology, and I loved how that team handled grim atmosphere and exacting combat. Ragebound traded gothic gloom for vibrant pixel art and a 2D side-scrolling structure, but the discipline was still there. I remember sitting forward on my couch during the first real boss attempt, learning that the game's speed was not an invitation to mash. Its combat was frenetic but thoughtful, and every death felt like a lesson rather than a punishment. The challenge was tough but fair, a phrase I usually distrust, yet here it fit.

The critical response matched what I felt. Ragebound ended up with an 86 Top Critic Average on OpenCritic, and 93% of reviewers recommended it. What impressed me most was how it set a bar for both 2D action and ninja-themed games without feeling like a nostalgia trip. It was a proper return to 2D for a long-running franchise, and it made the rest of the year feel more competitive.

A rival worth respecting

A month later, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance arrived, and I will admit I expected overlap fatigue. Two high-profile action-platformers with ninja DNA, released so close together? It sounded like a scheduling mistake. Instead, Shinobi carved out a distinct identity with a striking hand-drawn art style and light Metroidvania elements. Where Ragebound felt like a tightly wound combat gauntlet, Shinobi felt like a journey through a living illustration. I loved the way exploration broke up the action, and I loved that the game did not simply copy its closest rival.

The numbers were just as strong: an 87 Top Critic Average and 95% of reviewers recommending it. I found myself in the strange position of defending both games in the same group chat. Ragebound had the sharper pixel-art punch; Shinobi had the more elegant flow. They were not redundant. They were complementary, and together they made August feel like a mini-festival of classic franchises being revitalized with care.

The sequel that stopped the internet

Then came September 4, and Hollow Knight: Silksong. I had been waiting for this sequel for years, like so many others. The two-week sprint between the release date reveal and launch was feverish. On launch day, I opened my storefront of choice the second the clock turned, and I watched the internet buckle. Steam, the Nintendo eShop, and the Xbox marketplace all crashed for around half an hour. I remember laughing at my own refresh button, then realizing that the chaos was a kind of tribute. Reviewers had not been given early codes, so there was no comfortable critical cushion before launch. Players were going in together, discovering the game in real time.

From my 2026 vantage point, the launch chaos has become a fond memory. Silksong improved on its predecessor's formula in significant ways, and it delivered the kind of sequel that makes seven years of development feel justified. I spent my first week with Hornet learning new rhythms, sitting on benches, and getting humbled by enemies that punished lazy movement. The game was a triumph in its own right, and it also completed the trifecta. It was the third and final part of a powerful 2025 trio that I still recommend to anyone who asks what they missed last year.

Why the trio still matters in 2026

Game
2025 release window
What I remember
Critical snapshot

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound
End of July
Frenetic but thoughtful combat, vibrant pixel art, tough but fair challenge
86 Top Critic Average; 93% recommended

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
One month later
Hand-drawn style, light Metroidvania exploration, distinct identity
87 Top Critic Average; 95% recommended

Hollow Knight: Silksong
September 4
Seven-year wait, massive launch, refined sequel formula
No early review codes at launch; strong player sentiment

What I find most remarkable, even now, is the value. All three cost less than $30 each. In a year packed with huge releases, this trio offered a concentrated dose of craft without asking for a premium. I have paid more for single games that gave me less to think about. The 2025 action-platformer movement was not just a marketing phrase; it was a real run of quality, and these three headliners exemplify it.

If I could give my past self one piece of advice, it would be simple: clear the calendar from late July through September. Play Ragebound first, let Shinobi surprise you, and save Silksong for last. Then, in 2026, come back and see how well they hold up. Mine still do. 😄

That advice comes with one practical footnote from my own experience: availability and pricing for these three have drifted since launch. Ragebound and Shinobi show up in seasonal sales at wildly different discounts depending on the storefront, and Silksong's post-launch pricing has shifted too as bundles and regional storefronts have filled in. If you are hunting down the trio in 2026, it pays to look across several retailers before committing, since the same title can differ by a meaningful margin from one shop to the next.

Rather than opening a dozen tabs and refreshing each one, I have started keeping a short list of comparison tools for exactly this kind of backlog shopping. DealNest is one I return to when I want a quick read on where a game is cheapest right now, and it saved me from overpaying on a couple of impulse purchases last year. If you are putting together your own late-summer marathon, it is worth a look — you can [compare prices here]( before you check out, and put the difference toward the next game on your list.

https://dealnesthq.com