How to unlock Steel Soul Mode in Silksong

If Hollow Knight: Silksong is too easy for you, or you've finished it and want further punishment, there is a much more difficult way to play it: on Steel Soul Mode. In the original Hollow Knight, accessing Steel Soul Mode meant defeating the main game at least once. In Silksong the same is true, except there is also another easier and quicker way to unlock it too.

But first, what is it? Steel Soul Mode is basically a permadeath mode for Silksong. When you die it's game over, and if you try to re-access the save file you'll be asked if you want to overwrite it. There's no going back, and as a result some items related to death have also changed in Steel Soul mode. For example: the Dead Bug's Purse, a tool which lets you retain half of your rosaries on death, becomes a Shell Satchel, which increases Hornet's tool pouch size.

If Hollow Knight's Steel Soul mode is any indication, there will also be some minor changes and additions in the adventure that will make the punishment worthwhile for completionists.

How to unlock Steel Soul Mode in Silksong

The most legitimate way of unlocking Steel Soul mode in Silksong is to simply complete the main game. But if you want to dive straight into it before that, you have to head to the "Extras" screen from the main menu and input the following:

Up, Down, Up, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right

Yes, that is a shortened version of the Konami code.

If you input these commands correctly you'll hear a deep "whoosh" sound, and the screen will flash white very briefly. Then, when you start a new game in an empty save slot you'll be given the option to start in Steel Soul Mode:

(Image credit: Team Cherry)

If you die on your run—and I mean, you probably will?—this is the new death screen you'll encounter:

(Image credit: Team Cherry)