How to get Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong
How to unlock Silksong Act 3 and the true ending
Wondering how to get Act 3 in Hollow Knight: Silksong? Hornet's journey through Pharloom has three acts, and Acts 1 and 2 have fairly obvious delineation points. But while Act 2 seemingly completes the game with a final boss showdown, that's not where Team Cherry's latest adventure ends. There's a Silksong Act 3 hidden away that's only accessible if you've been thorough during your playthrough and completed a lot of side content.
If you're vying for 100% completion, trying to see the true ending of Hollow Knight: Silksong, or simply love investigating the secrets hidden in good Metroidvanias, you owe it to yourself to see Hornet's quest to its real conclusion.
In this guide, we've explained how to get Act 3 in Hollow Knight: Silksong, delving into all of the steps you need to complete in order to truly see everything that Pharloom has to offer.
How to get Act 3 in Hollow Knight Silksong
If you want to get access to Act 3 in Silksong, you first of all need to complete a few prerequisites:
- Finish as many Wishes as possible on the Wishwalls in Bone Bottom, Bellhart, and Songclave.
- Move the Flea Caravan to its ultimate destination at the Putrified Ducts in Fleatopia.
- Get your very own Bellhome in Bellhart. Which, incidentally, requires completing Bellhart's Wishes!
- Obtain the Threefold Melody, which consists of the Architect, Conductor, and Vaultkeeper melodies. You also need to gain access to the game's final boss, who lurks in The Cradle.
At the moment, some believe that you need to complete all Wishes in order to unlock Act 3, but this has yet to be confirmed. It's known that the quest Silk and Soul, described further below, won't be available at the Songclave Wishwall until you complete a majority of Wishes elsewhere, so it's a good idea to try to finish as many Wishes as you can until the quest unlocks.
Besides this, you'll need to complete the Lost Fleas quest and find the majority of the Fleas scattered throughout Pharloom to move the Flea Caravan. As with Wishes, you don't need to necessarily find every Flea in the game, but you need to find enough to move the Flea Caravan along.
Once you've done all of the above, you need to complete the Silk and Soul quest from the Songclave Wishwall.
Speak to the Caretaker who appears over the course of the Silk and Soul quest. The Caretaker will eventually give you access to something very special called Soul Snare, which traps the final boss.
Ascend The Cradle and challenge the boss - but instead of binding her, use the Needolin to activate Soul Snare. You should unlock an achievement dubbed "Snared Silk" to let you know that you've done this correctly.
With these conditions completed, you'll achieve the ending and then be returned to Silksong's title screen. However, when you go to load up your save, you'll notice that it's covered in black strands that you can break by activating the save file multiple times. Guess what, you've unlocked a whole new stretch of game to consume. Welcome to Act 3 - it only gets harder from here on out!
For all you gluttons for bug punishment who want to achieve every ending possible, now you know how to unlock Act 3 in Hollow Knight: Silksong. If you're not quite at this point yet in your playthrough, refer to our walkthrough and bosses list for all the details you need to know in order to achieve total completion of this massive Metroidvania.
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