There are many things that collectively define metroidvania games, but perhaps the most ubiquitous and iconic is the map. The metroidvania template was established back in 1994 with Super Metroid and perfected in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, both of which featured similar maps that are virtually expected in these games, since they tend to be fairly obtuse. Hollow Knight: Silksong takes this to an extreme, being borderline obtuse with its secrets, liberally spread throughout a massive game. It may come as a shock, then, that there’s no map immediately available when starting the game! This page will cover how to obtain maps in Hollow Knight: Silksong as well as additional items that improve their functionality, like the Compass.
Buying Maps from Shakra¶
To unlock maps and map-related accessories you will need to find Shakra, a flying yellow-and-black warrior insect with a knack for cartography. She will sell you crude maps and essentially accessories like the Quill and Compass in exchange for Rosaries. The first time you’ll encounter Shakra is along the northwestern edge of The Marrow, not all that far from the Bell Beast. You will need to buy new maps from her when you find her in new areas, and once you’ve depleted her inventory in a region she’ll stop appearing there. This means that when you enter new areas, most of the time you won’t have a map at your disposal - you’ll need to find Shakra in new areas and buy her maps. Even when you buy maps from Shakra they’ll start out incomplete, little more than crude sketches… marginally better than nothing without mapping accessories, especially considering the maps aren’t terribly detailed.
Buy a Quill,
and you’ll be able to further fill out and refine your map as you explore.
Quill¶
One of the first accessories you should buy from Shakra is the Quill, which will allow Hornet to fill in the crude maps Shakra sells. Fresh from Shakra, maps are black-and-white sketches, but with the quill, areas Hornet has explored will be filled in with sharp, solid lines, colored, and given better detail. Some areas also won’t be on Shakra’s map, but as Hornet explores she’ll fill out the missing details, updating them when you rest.
Buy pin and marker bundles,
and points of interest will be added to the map automatically, and you can add your own markers.
Pins and Markers¶
A filled out map is a wonderful thing, but it’ll grow even more useful if you buy various pins and markers from Shakra. The former will cause Hornet to automatically mark various points of interest depending on the pin types purchased - benches, merchants, etc. Markers, on the other hand, allow the player to add their own custom markers, likely for the many locked doors, unreachable ledges and suspicious objects you’ll find as you explore. Adding these points of interest to the map makes it even easier to get your bearings and find the more important locations!
Equipping a Compass will mark your location the map,
but it’ll consume a tool slot to keep the Compass equipped.
Compass¶
In addition to lacking detail until you buy a Quill, Pins and Markers, the base map has another weakness - it doesn’t track Hornet’s location. This can make navigating somewhat tricky, requiring you to possess a basic understanding of each area to know where you are, which is somewhat less than ideal for a map in a Metroidvania. On the other hand, there’s an opportunity cost to using the Compass - it must be equipped in a yellow tool slot, which of course deprives you of the effects of whatever else you could have equipped.
Silksong does indeed have the standard Metroidvania maps we all know and love, but it’s been somewhat complicated compared to the originals from thirty years ago. At the very least, getting the most out of your maps in Silksong will have a price, be it Rosaries or tool slots.
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