this is way more nested ternary operators than I would ever use (which I understand is for the sake of example) but if you rearrange them so that the simplest statements are in the true branches, and use indentation, you can make it at least a little more readable
a = a <= b ?
(b < c ? a : d)
: b <= c ?
d
: (a < d ? c : a);
Exploration is a task that has inherent difficulty in the genre, it's uncommon to have actual points of no return as you describe, but if you can't see through a particular segment to the next checkpoint, yeah sometimes giving up will cost you. An actual point of no return probably means you're on the cusp of a sweet new ability though.
There are mechanisms in both games that allow you to remotely retrieve your body if you are desperate not to lose it. Hollow Knight is definitely less forgiving than Silksong in this respect though.
I disagree. Having a slight forced intermission between attempts both gives me pause to reflect on what I needed to do better, and presents a risk of not making it back to my death point, which keeps me mindful.
I like Silksong's runbacks a lot more than I've liked the ones in 3d soulslikes though. In Dark Souls for example the risk of losing your corpse felt really high, whereas in Silksong you very often have either a gate that unlocks a quicker route back, or a clever acrobatic solution that reliably avoids all the enemies.
You yourself admit it's a fallacy! This isn't exactly a "skill issue" situation, but in future efforts on these kind of games you might try being more thoughtful about when to take a break and spend accumulated currency.
Although as others have pointed out elsewhere in the thread, learning to accept not retrieving your stuff is sometimes necessary too. I lost around 1500 at a certain boss by getting too cocky trying to fight enemies on the runback instead of skipping them, and it took me a while to make peace with it lol.
If you do end up playing Silksong you should know that there is a mechanic specifically addressing this, where you can convert your currency into consumable items at a bit of a loss to keep them across deaths.
"Fragile and reactive" IMO is a fair take, but I think what the game is pushing you to do is become comfortable enough with your mobility to be aggressive while still avoiding hits. I don't know exactly where you are in progression, but you continue to tack on new capabilities to your kit that make it easier and easier to avoid things while still laying out damage.
I am sure there is enough room in the game design for people to take totally different approaches here, though. If you know a given enemy's movement well, you can absolutely be confident in using your silk for attacks instead of healing.
I also especially like a particular early game trap for this:
the cluster spike trap, because if you throw it well just before initiating a boss cutscene, it can activate and hit them 6-7 times while they are doing their initial taunt.
The game is so much more massive than I ever expected. I can tell you that you're still super early in the game based on what you've found. There are many, many red tools and while you'll absolutely have favorites, there are definitely some that seem underwhelming until you find a specific situation or region where they excel.
There is a crazy huge amount of content and capability in the game, and if it seems like a slow burn for you now, IMHO that's because the game does a pretty good job of pacing new things so that you have time to evaluate and master each new piece of kit as it comes up.
The other thing about shards is that you have to sort of learn to find a balance with how much trap usage you employ; what seems to me to be the intended design (based purely on vibes) is that you mostly only use them against certain bosses/arena rooms or in situations where your needle can't easily work due to the terrain.
I thought similarly to you at first, with shards being a huge surplus and not necessary. I think this is an introduction period of sorts where you can get used to how the controls work and experiment freely. But then there were wide stretches of the game where I had a relative drought of them. Now that (I THINK??) I'm approaching the end, I've learned to use my shards reserve as a sort of measurement for whether I'm comfortable enough fighting in a certain situation. If it dips below half, I'm leaning too much on traps and need to take a step back and think harder about how to approach things with needle combat.
On the topic of yellow tools... I can definitely relate to the compass feeling mandatory, but there were several places for me where I had compelling reason to choose to forego it for something else. That was legitimately interesting and I don't have many other examples of games where that's possible. There are a bunch more yellow tools you'll find with more interesting effects as well. And eventually (being deliberately vague) you will reach a point where you won't feel like you're sacrificing as much to keep the compass equipped if you want. (Though there is also a point where you will have seen enough of the world that you won't need it, strictly speaking, because you either have the areas memorized or can navigate based on room shapes and major landmarks without your precise location.)
I haven't bought a bottle of liquor from a Republican state in a long time and intend to keep it that way. The west coast makes some fine bourbon style whiskeys if you *know where to look.
Some of the newer Gen 5 NVME SSDs can create enough heat that they need heat sinks.