Fan Analysis Suggests Silksong’s Pharloom Map is Twice the Size of Hollow Knight’s Hallownest

Exploring the intricate design of game worlds is always a fascinating endeavor, especially when a new installment in a beloved series promises a larger scale. This is precisely the kind of in-depth analysis we appreciate here at Digital Tech Explorer. Recently, Reddit user Karmyuh undertook a significant task, creating a direct size comparison of Pharloom and Hallownest. This comparison carefully addresses how the upcoming world of Silksong has been scaled up to accommodate its taller protagonist, Hornet. Karmyuh shared their foundational insight: “By overlaying screenshots of Hornet across both games, I found out that Hornet actually takes up the exact amount of space across the screen.”

Cornifer, the mapmaker, exploring in Hollow Knight

This consistent character scaling—with Hornet occupying precisely 225 pixels on screen in both titles—enabled a direct, pixel-for-pixel comparison of corridor heights. Karmyuh elaborated on their meticulous approach: “I tried finding the smallest corridor that is represented with the ‘thin corridor’ graphic on the map, because they are represented by the same height on both maps.” Their analysis focused on a corridor leading to Nox in Hallownest’s Deepnest and a path to Pinmaster in Pharloom’s Blasted Steps. The findings were striking: the Blasted Steps corridor registered a 12.5% taller pixel count. By applying this difference across Pharloom’s map, Karmyuh concluded that Silksong’s new game world is approximately twice as large as Hallownest in terms of sheer volume, promising an even grander adventure for players.

Other Game World Scale Comparisons

This ingenious method of comparing disparate game worlds by identifying common scalable elements isn’t entirely unique in the realm of game analysis. As part of our commitment to exploring all facets of digital innovation, we’ve seen similar fascinating discoveries. For instance, FromSoftware dataminer Zullie the Witch famously uncovered that Armored Core 6 and Elden Ring were built to the same underlying scale. Despite their vastly different thematic and visual levels of detail, this comparison dramatically showcased how the largest bosses and background models from Armored Core 6 are so immense that they would significantly dwarf the entire world map of Elden Ring, offering a compelling perspective on scale across different gaming genres.

A vibrant gameplay screenshot from Hollow Knight: Silksong, featuring Hornet exploring a new area.

For those eager to dive deeper into the world of Silksong and prepare for its eventual release, here are some helpful resources: