Hollow Knight: Silksong released on 4 September 2025, eight years after the original. You play as Hornet, and the setting is the kingdom of Pharloom rather than Hallownest. The mapping system will feel immediately familiar, because it is built on the same rules, but almost every name has changed.
How maps work in Silksong
The core loop is unchanged from Hollow Knight. Each region has its own map, you buy it from a travelling cartographer, you need a quill before the map records anything new, and the map only redraws when you rest at a bench.
Shakra is the cartographer. She fills the role Cornifer had in the first game, and like him she moves from region to region as you progress rather than staying put. She appears in twelve areas across a full playthrough and sells the map for whichever region she is currently in.
Finding her works the same way too. Shakra sings, and she leaves rings scattered around the environment on the approach to her camp. If you start seeing her markers, you are close. Once you have met her, you can also summon her back to Bone Bottom by ringing the bell on the raised platform there, which saves a trip if you missed her.
The quill costs 50 rosaries. Without it, a purchased map only shows the part Shakra already surveyed and nothing you explore is added. This is the same trap as the Hollow Knight quill and it catches the same people. Buy it as soon as you can.
The compass costs 70 rosaries and shows your current position on the map, exactly like the Wayward Compass charm in the first game.
Region maps cost roughly 40 to 90 rosaries depending on how far into the game the region sits. Early areas are cheap. Later ones cost more.
The map system only comes online once you leave the opening area, Moss Grotto, which is why the first stretch of the game has no map at all and is not supposed to.
The regions of Pharloom
Pharloom is organised into two large groupings rather than one flat list of areas.
Outer Pharloom
The bulk of the game. The named areas here are Moss Grotto, Bone Bottom, the Marrow, Deep Docks, Far Fields, Greymoor, Bellhart, Shellwood, Hunter’s March, Blasted Steps, Sinner’s Road, Wormways, Bilewater, Mount Fay, Verdania, Sands of Karak, the Slab, Underworks, Putrified Ducts, Weavenest Atla, Wisp Thicket, the Cradle, the Mist, Red Memory and the Abyss.
Rough progression, without spoiling the specifics: Moss Grotto is the opening, Bone Bottom is the first settlement and hub, and the Marrow and Deep Docks follow soon after. Far Fields, Greymoor, Shellwood and Bellhart open up the middle of the map. Blasted Steps, Sinner’s Road, Wormways and Bilewater sit deeper in. Mount Fay, Verdania, Sands of Karak and the Abyss are late.
The Citadel
The great structure that dominates Pharloom and the game’s second half. Its named areas are Choral Chambers, Cogwork Core, Grand Gate, High Halls, Memorium, Whispering Vaults and Whiteward.
The Citadel is effectively a region made of regions. Each of its seven areas has its own map, its own benches and its own character, and they stack vertically rather than sprawling sideways.
Areas with no map
Four areas are not included in the world map: Moss Grotto, the Mist, Wisp Thicket and Red Memory. Moss Grotto is the opening area and predates the map system. The other three are small or unusual enough that no map exists for them, which is the same design choice the first game made with the White Palace and the Abyss.
Benches and pins
Benches work exactly as they did in Hollow Knight. They save, they heal, they let you change your crest and tools, and they are the moment your map updates with everywhere you have walked since the last rest.
Shakra also sells pins and markers. Pins mark categories of thing you have already discovered, such as vendors, fast travel points and specific enemies. Markers are placed manually, which makes them the right tool for noting a door you cannot open yet. If you played the first game, the system will feel identical.
Collectibles overview
Silksong reworks most of Hollow Knight’s collectible categories rather than reusing them.
Mask shards. Four shards make one extra mask of health, the same ratio as Hollow Knight. There are 20 in the game, giving five extra masks in total.
Spool fragments. These extend the silk meter, Hornet’s equivalent of the soul gauge. Two fragments add one notch to the spool. There are 18 in the game, so nine extra notches.
Silk hearts. There are three. Rather than increasing your maximum silk, each one refills a bar of the silk gauge when you run out, which is a meaningfully different effect from spool fragments.
Rosaries. The currency. They replace geo and are used for maps, the quill, the compass, tools and most shop purchases.
Tools. Tools replace charms. Rather than passive modifiers in notches, tools are equipped items with active and passive effects, slotted into a crest. Many are consumable in the sense that they use resources that refill at benches.
Crests. There are seven: Hunter, Reaper, Wanderer, Beast, Witch, Architect and Shaman. A crest changes Hornet’s attack pattern and determines how many and what kind of tool slots she has. You start with the Hunter Crest and can swap freely at any bench, which makes crests closer to a class system than to charms.
Memory lockets. These increase the number of tool slots on a crest, so they work as the spiritual successor to charm notches.
What carries over from Hollow Knight
If you are coming from the first game, the useful mental model is: the map system is the same, the currency and the build system are not.
The same: buy a map per region, buy a quill once, rest at a bench to update the map, buy a compass if you want to see where you are, and hunt the cartographer by sound.
Different: rosaries instead of geo, tools and crests instead of charms and notches, silk instead of soul, and a region structure split between an overworld and a single enormous Citadel rather than a flat network of caves.
A note on accuracy
Silksong is a large game and a lot of what circulates about it online is still second hand. Everything above is limited to what is well established: the release date, the map and quill system, Shakra’s role, the region names, which four areas have no map, and the collectible counts for mask shards, spool fragments, silk hearts and crests. Where exact per-region prices or completion figures are concerned, treat any single source with caution, including this one, and check against the game.
For the original game, the full Hallownest map guide covers the equivalent ground, and the interactive map has every marker in Hollow Knight on one screen.
Frequently asked questions
When did Hollow Knight: Silksong release?
4 September 2025, on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. It is the sequel to Hollow Knight, it stars Hornet rather than the Knight, and it is set in the kingdom of Pharloom rather than Hallownest.
Who sells maps in Silksong?
Shakra, a travelling cartographer who fills the role Cornifer had in Hollow Knight. She moves between regions as you progress and appears in twelve areas across the game. She throws rings and sings, which is how you find her, and she sells the map for whichever region she is currently in.
How much do Silksong maps cost?
Between roughly 40 and 90 rosaries depending on the region, with cheaper early regions and more expensive late ones. The quill, which lets your map record new rooms, costs 50 rosaries, and the compass that shows your position costs 70.
Do I need a quill in Silksong too?
Yes. As in Hollow Knight, buying a region map only shows you what the cartographer already surveyed. The quill from Shakra is what lets new rooms get added as you explore, and the map still only redraws when you rest at a bench.
How many regions are in Pharloom?
Pharloom is split into two large groupings. Outer Pharloom holds around 25 named areas including Moss Grotto, the Marrow, Deep Docks and Bilewater. The Citadel holds seven more including Cogwork Core, Whiteward and High Halls.
Which Silksong areas are not on the map?
Moss Grotto, the Mist, Wisp Thicket and Red Memory are not included in the world map. Moss Grotto in particular is the opening area, and the map system only comes online once you leave it.
What are the main collectibles in Silksong?
Mask shards for health, spool fragments for silk capacity, silk hearts, rosaries as currency, tools that replace Hollow Knight's charms, crests that change Hornet's moveset and tool slots, and memory lockets that add tool slots to a crest.
How many crests are there in Silksong?
Seven: Hunter, Reaper, Wanderer, Beast, Witch, Architect and Shaman. You start with the Hunter Crest and swap between them at any bench. Each crest changes Hornet's attacks and which tools she can slot.