On Difficulty In Games

I’m a year and a half late to this debate, but let’s talk about difficulty settings for a bit.

Here are my three main thoughts:

1. Sekrio shouldn’t have an easy mode
2. Celeste shouldn’t have had an assist mode
3. Almost every other game should come with an assist mode or adjustable difficulty

Let’s start with the third point, because it seems to be the consensus among the less insufferable people on twitter.

Certain games I’ve played this year like Uncharted 4 and God of War 2018 have been more fun on easier difficulties. I started playing both games on the “normal” difficulty. I had plenty of fun hacking away in God of War and sneaking around in Uncharted, but there came a point in both games where I stopped having fun.

For God of War, it was when I had to fight the flying dark elves. I must have died 5 or 6 times to these god forsaken enemies. They weren’t even a boss, they were just super annoying. After the 4th time I died I realized I wasn’t having fun anymore. I wasn’t playing God of War for the challenging combat. The combat on normal is actually a little tedious. Basic enemies take way too many hits to kill and need way too few hits to kill you. Every time a combat section would pop up, I’d feel a wave of dejection pass over me. Not this shit again.

So I popped the game into easy mode. Instantly I felt like a real God of War. I wasn’t scared of any enemy. A big ass troll? Hell yeah. I’m about to kill the shit out of this guy. I started looking forward to combat encounters. Who else wants to die mother fucker? I died less and I got to enjoy the story more, the real reason why I was playing the game. It’s hard for me to lose myself in the story when I keep dying.

Uncharted 4 is a little different. I didn’t actually die that often in combat encounters while playing on normal difficulty. Most of the time I died it was because I misjudged a jump or pressed circle while climbing. I played the first 19 chapters on normal difficulty, but there was one encounter near the end where I lost my patience. It only took dying twice in that encounter to make me switch it over to easy. Once again, I started having a lot more fun.

I was sick of cowering behind cover or in stealth, waiting for an opening to sneak up to an unsuspecting guard and perform a melee stealth takedown. I know some people enjoy Uncharted’s combat, but it just wasn’t fun for me. Like God of War, I started dreading every encounter. On easy mode it felt like I was playing a blockbuster movie again. I could run around hip firing my gun while swinging on a grapple hook as I dodged incoming fire. It was awesome.

Both of these games are power fantasies of a certain kind. The fun of Uncharted isn’t the crappy stealth and the fun of God of War isn’t dying a bunch of times. The core appeal of those two games for me was not the challenge but the story and spectacle. If neither game offered an easy mode I would have had a significantly worse time playing them.

This is very different from the core appeal of games like Sekiro and Celeste. For Celeste, challenge is built into the story. Madine’s struggle with overcoming her own obstacles to climbing the mountain becomes a metaphor for the player’s own struggles, both for beating this tough platformer, but also for whatever the player might be going through. Folks have told the games creator that Celeste helped them through a lot of mental health issues. The idea of playing Celeste without challenge feels wrong. It’s antithetical to the message of the game. When life gets hard, we can’t flip on an easy mode. We have to push through. We have finish what we started.

And yet, Celeste has an assist mode. If you’re struggling with beating the game, you can choose to turn off all of the challenge. This honestly ruined my playthrough. Every time I struggled with a hard level I couldn’t get the assist mode out of my head. Maybe I should turn it on for this section? You’re not having fun, right? Instead of battling the level I was batting my own instinct to make life easier for myself. Eventually I caved and turned it on, helping me get through a frustrating section in the 5th chapter, but it made my eventual success hollow. I couldn’t celebrate with Madline on how she overcame her inner demons. I could have persevered but I didn’t. My will was too weak.

From Software games are also about challenge. Difficulty is the foundation those games are built around. This is the core of their identity. There’s a reason the “You Died” screen is the first thing people think of when they picture Dark Souls. You come to a From Software game to get your ass kicked. Triumphing over impossible odds is what folks come to those games for.

During my own playthrough of Sekiro (or at least as far as I’ve gotten) I’ve really enjoyed the feeling of playing a game that’s brutally hard, but trusts that player can beat it. It’s weird, but I love that the developers believe in me in me more than I do. They’re like a tough basketball coach who sees a lot of untapped potential in me. If I put the work in and grind hard I can be more than I ever thought I could be. An easy mode would ruin this feeling.

Well, what about disabled gamers? you might be asking. Don’t they have a right to play those games too?

Of course they do. Obviously they do. This is just my take as an able bodied guy in his mid 20s who’s played a lot of video games. I can’t write anyone’s views for them. I can only speak for myself. Of course everyone should be able to play whatever games they want. I wish modding was easier and more accessible on console so everyone would be able to play games the way they want. That seems like common sense to me.

In writing this, I can’t stop thinking about this now iconic tweet from a From Software fan upset at people using mods to beat Sekrio. To quote @fetusberry:

This got memed instantly because it’s honestly hilarious — Fetusberry himself poked fun at it — but I can’t get it out of my head. It says a lot about what challenging games mean to people and why they remain popular among a certain kind of gamer. The love of the grind is intoxicating. Whether it’s working on a jumpshot, learning an instrument, or to trying to beat this godforsaken chained ogre, pushing yourself past your limits is a deeply rewarding pursuit.

Assist modes like the ones in Celeste are just too tempting for someone like me and I’d prefer if they weren’t included in a game built around challenge. Would I tweet angrily if they were? Of course not. But I’d prefer if they weren’t.

The vast majority of games have been greatly enhanced with adjustable difficulty. Crazy people like videogamedunkey who prefer playing Uncharted on crushing can have just as much fun as I do playing on easy. Easy modes and assist modes are good things and they absolutely should be included in 95% of games. As for the other 5%? I’d personally prefer them to be left in the hands of modders.