Difficult games aren't disappearing, they're just changing

I frequently read that difficulty in games is going the way of the dodo. 'Players don't want challenges anymore, they want experiences. Punishing games such as Ghouls and Ghosts and Battletoads are a relic of the past, and designers have learned from their errors in difficulty tuning.'

With the release and warm reception of Demon's Souls, however, could tricky games be making a comeback, or is this a brief aberration in the trend towards obscurity?

I don't think difficulty in games is going anywhere. There is a demographic of gamer who likes a stiff challenge and there will always be developers who cater to them. I want to briefly analyze what challenges difficult games face in today's market, whether difficult games can ever become mainstream again and if not, what form difficult games will take going forward.

Does difficulty just get in the way of fun?

The critical verdict on Demon's Souls is that it's hard. Not 'Halo on Legendary' modern-day hard, but 'old school stab somebody in frustration' hard. The Brainy Gamer has an insightful article about how this works for Demon's Souls because it is consistently difficult and that difficulty serves a purpose. He argues that game difficulty when it's consistent and pre-established is acceptable. As long as the world is fair and you aren't merely being screwed by the random number generator, difficulty can be fun.

I would respond that difficulty for its own sake is not necessarily enjoyable, even if it's explained beforehand and has a gameplay reason for its existence. If you set up a fictional world in which there's a compelling plot reason for perma-death deleting your saved games and print it on the box cover, that doesn't exempt a game from criticism.

Fans of challenging games argue that they improve game skill and make success more rewarding, while critics dislike decreased accessibility. The question then is how to make difficult games more accessible?

Here's where the pictures start in – couldn't get them to paste right, if you want to check out the rest feel free and discuss, otherwise SUMMARY: you can't satisfy both hardcore and casual in the same game, difficult games have already started a trend towards simpler development teams, going to see more of the 'extreme difficulty' games appearing in downloadable titles etc.

Are you saying that Demon's Souls is Harder than halo on legendary? Hopefully Demon's Souls has more than one difficulty setting. I'll have to go and read the reviews.

Are you saying that Demon's Souls is Harder than halo on legendary? Hopefully Demon's Souls has more than one difficulty setting. I'll have to go and read the reviews.

rjxtian

There is no difficulty setting, but there are ways to influence the difficulty level, through an in-game feature called world tendency.

The thing about Demon's Souls is that while it is a hard game, you're given enough tools to win (more than enough, actually--I'm sure they could have made this game much harder if they wanted). If you understand how the combat works, and understand that you can't play the game like Ninja Gaiden, the game becomes enjoyable. I'm actually hooked on the game right now; in fact, I'm gonna start playing once I finish this post.

Are you saying that Demon's Souls is Harder than halo on legendary? Hopefully Demon's Souls has more than one difficulty setting. I'll have to go and read the reviews.

rjxtian

Are you saying that Demon's Souls is Harder than halo on legendary? Hopefully Demon's Souls has more than one difficulty setting. I'll have to go and read the reviews.

rjxtian