September 2025 Good Things

September 30, 2025

In my ongoing quest to write more, here are some things I've been enjoying this month. If I can, I'll write one of these each month.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

This game has taken over my free time since I bought it earlier this month. I loved the original Hollow Knight, with its melancholy, brooding atmosphere, beautiful art, and tough but satisfying gameplay. In fact, I replayed it (including beating The Radiance, which I hadn't done before) before I allowed myself to buy Silksong, just to get in the right frame of mind.

Having spent many hours with the game, I can confidently say that Silksong is a worthy successor to the original Hollow Knight. The incredible music and art direction are back, with stunning environments that feel very alive and at times very hostile. The story, focussing on Hornet as the protagonist, ties in satisfyingly with the original game without being limited by it. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers, but there are also some incredible twists later in the game that will leave you amazed at the sheer ambition of Team Cherry.

The biggest change is the gameplay. While the game follows the tried-and-true Metroidvania formula, the world is significantly bigger than Hollow Knight, and the challenges noticeably harder. Having just replayed the original, I found the first Act of Silksong manageable in comparison, but from Act II the difficulty spikes significantly. While bosses are a bit tougher than Hollow Knight, the real difference in challenge for me came from the environment and regular enemies. Benches (save points) are few and far-between, and some of the compulsory platforming sections are extremely tough, interspersed with high-damage enemies for that extra level of risk.

While the increased difficulty is at times frustrating, the feeling of satisfaction at defeating a particularly powerful boss - or navigating an impossible-feeling platforming sequence - is commensurately higher. Without wishing to spoil anything, I can say that beating the game's final boss left me suffused with adrenaline and feeling triumphant for hours afterwards.

Hollow Knight is one of my favourite games ever, and Silksong is as good a sequel as I could have hoped for, so I'd give it a 9.5/10.

Tame Impala

Everyone's favourite one-man psych rock polymath Kevin Parker is back at it again with a new album, Deadbeat, due out in October. So far there are three singles out, End of Summer, Loser, and Dracula. While the Tame Impala subreddit's reaction has been decidedly mixed - people are mad that the music isn't as exploratory and emotionally resonant as his old stuff - I have personally enjoyed all three tracks so far. Dracula is definitely my favourite, an upbeat dance-pop number about a never-ending party with an extremely catchy chorus.

Parker also did a wide-ranging and interesting interview with GQ in which he talks about his childhood, his creative process, but also his - as far as it appears to me - intense self-criticism and dissatisfaction with his own achievements. For example:

“I know that everyone that sees me and my life and my career thinks that I am the furthest thing from being a deadbeat, because I’m successful,” he says in a rush. “But the more success that I have, the more I feel like I’m living a lie. It’s a sham.”

It's hard to believe that someone who has singlehandedly created a musical vehicle of the scope and level of success of Tame Impala would feel this way, but perhaps this inner critic has been a part of what has driven his constant reaching for musical growth. Nonetheless, it makes me a little sad that Parker isn't able to appreciate his achievements for what they are. As someone who struggles a lot with my own inner critic, it is quite humanising to see that even someone as conventionally successful as Kevin Parker faces a similar challenge. For me, it just reinforces the idea that satisfaction can't come from external validation - it has to come from self-acceptance and making your own meaning.

Lost and Grounded Brewery

A couple of my friends and I went to a fun Oktoberfest event at Lost and Grounded the other day. They had some great live music, and an excellent Festbier on tap. Although they have a somewhat limited range, Lost and Grounded are definitely one of my favourite Bristol breweries - Keller Pils is a fantastic flagship beer.

Greens Organise

Zack Polanski's recent victory in the Green Party's internal leadership elections seems to have supercharged the movement somewhat, which is really exciting. We recently surpassed 80,000 members in the party, and Zack is doing a fantastic job of staying in the public eye with a series of high-profile news articles and interviews.

Meanwhile, Greens Organise - a membership group within the Green Party with the aim of organising activists to achieve the party's eco-socialist and left-wing goals - had its first AGM yesterday. It was really energising to see lots of people coming together to discuss how to help the Green Party reach new heights, but also strengthen its ties with the wider Left.

With Labour currently trying to pander to right-wing scaremongering about immigration, and showing no signs of the boldness needed to improve the lives of people in the UK, the Green Party needs to continue to grow and provide a viable left-wing alternative to stand up for the disenfranchised in society. If you're already a Green Party member, I'd recommend signing up to Greens Organise. If you're not - what are you waiting for? https://join.greenparty.org.uk/

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