It was expected but disappointing to see the never-ending debate of video game difficulty rear its ugly head with the release of Elden Ring. To give some brief context to my thoughts on Elden Ring, for a more comprehensive look at my opinion you can check the review I did for the game on UK Anime Network, I did really enjoy the game and, barring some issues I have with open-world games, I think it’s an easy contender for game of the year. However, despite having spoken about it before, I feel the need to discuss video game difficulty once more.
The most common argument that I see as to why all video games should include multiple difficulty levels is that it would allow the game to be played by more people. I understand this argument and, as someone who used to pick the easiest difficulty settings as a child, I can see why people would believe that. However, I also think that this ignores several good reasons why a game may not have a difficulty setting in the first place.
The very first thing that I want to bring up is the idea that everything should be made for everyone which, in my personal opinion, doesn’t make sense. As you readers surely know by this point, I enjoy a lot of works from a wide variety of media such as animation, graphic novels, prose, video games etc. and something that seems pretty obvious about these works is that they are not made for everyone. That can be for a variety of reasons such as subject matter or style but since it seems clear to me that films, TV, books etc. are not made for everyone then I don’t see why video games must make a special effort to appeal to everyone.
Secondly, the difficulty of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s games are an intrinsic part of his vision. To explain, I want to take a look at two quotes from Miyazaki himself. The first is “The intention behind the high difficulty of the games I direct is to evoke a feeling of joy and accomplishment in the player when they overcome these challenges.” and the second is “Overcoming challenges by learning something in a game is a very rewarding feeling, and that’s what I wanted to prioritise in ‘Dark Souls’ and ‘Demon’s Souls.’“. From these quotes, it’s clear that the challenge presented in these games is fully intended to be the experience he’s envisioned. Being forced to compromise this vision is something that I wish upon no creator and I fully believe that he should be allowed to do as he wishes.
Having spoken about Hidetaka Miyazaki’s vision for his games, I now want to share my own thoughts about video game difficulty. Some people that I speak to in my everyday life seemingly think that I love difficult games for the sake of difficulty and that cannot be further from the truth. In reality, I view difficulty in video games as being either fair or unfair and I can’t tell you how much I hate unfair difficulty. My go to example of unfair difficulty is I Wanna Be The Guy, a platformer which has developed quite the reputation for its unrelenting difficulty. However, my problem with difficulty in I Wanna Be The Guy is how it constantly demands that you die so you can learn about upcoming traps. This trial and error style is really unappealing to me as it feels like artificial difficulty for the sake of it rather than to allow the player to develop their own solutions and game style in a more organic manner. To summarise my thoughts on the subject, well designed difficulty allows for a very satisfying gaming experience of taking on seemingly impossible odds and triumphing while poorly implemented difficulty creates a frustrating experience that takes away from the game itself.
The never-ending debate of video game difficulty is going to be just that, never-ending. However, I hope that we can eventually move past the point of thinking that all video games must be aimed at everyone, which I think is a ludicrous idea, and instead look at whether the difficulty in a video game adds or takes away from the experience. Let me know your thoughts on the never-ending debate of video game difficulty, what you think about difficulty in general, whether you agree with me on fair vs. unfair difficulty and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.