Backhand of Justice

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?

I assume my health will recharge, right? Any minute now … still waiting on that recharge

Can a difficult game be accessible?

Difficulty in games is frequently tuned to give access to the dreaded casual gamer while still creating a worthwhile experience for the hardcore ‘real fan.’ The problem there is that within the set of players who really appreciate crippling difficulty like Mega Man IX or Ninja Gaiden, accessibility ruins the experience for them. Having a trophy for passing a game on a higher difficulty isn’t enough for most of these players. They want to be the only ones who can ‘earn’ the experience of a game.

While I admit to feeling the same way some of the time, I don’t want to argue whether or not this is a rational reaction. I am merely saying that accessibility in a difficult game is not just very hard to implement, it is impossible. Unfortunately, it’s a zero sum game between the hardcore and the casual.

Allowing casual access to the same experiences diminishes the worthiness of the accomplishments to the hardcore. We have seen this backlash time and again as World of Warcraft is made increasingly accessible and hardcore raiders rail against the dilution of their accomplishments.

The real difficulty for the developer of Battletoads was kicking his addiction to PCP. Seriously – Battletoads?

Regardless of the above complication, is it even possible to adjust a game’s difficulty without creating two different experiences from scratch? Difficulty sliders rarely change the mechanics of a game and infrequently introduce real difficulty of the Demon’s Souls variety. On-the-fly ‘Left4Dead director-esque’ AI difficulty adjustments are difficult to implement, especially in a cinematic game without player or situational fun generation. Likewise, tiered World of Warcraft-esque reward systems only really work with multiplayer games as nobody wants to play ‘easy mode’ of a single player game and end up with less powerful equipment.

It is increasingly clear that real difficulty in games can’t simply be adjusted, or come from a last minute change in enemy health. It has to come from core mechanics and must be present from the start. Because accessibility strongly correlates with sales potential, developers of difficult games are intentionally shrinking their target demographic.

What will ‘difficulty’ look like in 5 years?

Because development budgets for AAA games are increasing so quickly, the cost of cutting edge technology will soon be too high for all but the surest of hits. A deluge of lower budget casual games will rush to fill the vacuum left in the wake of the mega blockbusters, and this is where hardcore difficulty games will settle.

We have already seen a partial move in this direction with many casual and downloadable games using difficulty mechanics like repetition. While this seems like a retro mechanic I’m unsure that there are any other game mechanics that offer real difficulty. Even a modern difficult game like Demon’s Souls requires re-running the same areas until you’re aware of the enemies and their patterns in order to progress.

Ok, I’m going to run through this level one more time, and then I’m going to hang myself with this controller cord. Seriously, I hate you Arthur

In the 1980’s, a game like Ghosts n’ Goblins could not just be published, but be strongly received both critically and commercially. It’s tough to imagine that scenario today as modern blockbusters share very little in the way of frustrating mechanics with their predecessors. The best selling games of 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively were Wii Play, Halo 3 and Madden.

I enjoy a stiff challenge and often the best accomplishments are those we really struggle to overcome. That being said, I think it’s unreasonable to expect AAA games that are truly difficult in today’s market. I can’t even envision a game like Demon’s Souls in a few years as the hardcore simply won’t grow as fast as the casual. Very few hardcore gamers are just entering the market. While the growth of the industry is a good thing overall, there are some regrettable casualties, and challenging games will soon be a relic of the past.

I’m interested in your thoughts on the matter. Hit up the comments!