With the release of the Ni-Oh timed demo and it's unforgiving difficulty I started to think about how difficulty can mold a different type of experience the player has while playing it. Some gamers, like myself included love the thrill of a difficult game and love when a game can punishes me for every mistake I make. While I do love that challenge sometimes when I play a game I want to feel like that unstoppable, powerful, hero capable of going through anything thrown my way on my journey.

Would Dark Souls feel and play the same way if it wasn't so difficult? The answer to that question is no it wouldn't. The charm and appeal to Dark Souls is the fact that no matter what enemy I'm fighting if I'm careless I will be killed. If I try to fight to many enemies at once like I'm a superhero I will die. You can't slack in a game like that and it makes the elation I feel so much stronger when I beat that monster that has killed me several times before or powering through a tough boss battle makes all the frustration worth it.

Another thought is would Dynasty Warriors feel the same if a weak, unimportant, no name soldier could kill you? It wouldn't feel the same at all. The feeling of being that all-powerfull general on a battlefield going thorough waves and waves of enemies is something that makes Dynasty Warriors what it is. Also when you finally find that other general or warlord you're supposed to kill it makes the confrontation feel all the more epic because he doesn't just fall to your most basic attacks.

There are ways that difficulty not only affects the gameplay but also in the way how it makes the atmosphere and environment around you. A good example of this is Fallout 4's survival mode. When playing on non-survival mode the wasteland feels like a dangerous place, but it always feels like something you can handle. When you switch to survival mode the wasteland feels like an entirely different thing altogether. You question everything you do and every choice you make can lead to your demise. The same can be said for Dead Space's impossible making the whole game a tense experience that will challenge you in ways you never expect.

While difficulty can certainly change the gameplay for the better it can also change it for the worst. Halo 2 is guilty of this by making the harder in unbalanced ways. Bullet sponge enemies and Jackal snipers that seem to headshot you everytime no matter what. Even when you finish the battle or fight you don't feel that same relief you feel from Dark Souls. When playing Dark Souls or Bloodbourne and I die the deaths don't feel cheap. I know I made a mistake and feel like I've gotten better at the game and become more skilled. Halo 2 kills in ways that are unfair that even when you beat the level or fight you feel you just got lucky and haven't actually improved. Some games forgo a difficulty setting altogether like Dark Souls, but what they add is a dynamic difficulty. A popular game that does this is Resident Evil 4, something I only found out recently. When you go around headshoting zombies and killing everything in sight the game adds more enemies for you to fight and makes the game encounters tougher as a result. It works in the opposite way as well as in when you die over and over in the same fight the game will take notice and lower the amount of enemies you have to face or take the tougher enemies away.

The difficulty in a game is something that adds to a game in a myriad of ways, maybe in ways, you wouldn't realize. Give it some thought next you are playing a game that is beating you down or you're just coasting through it. Also tell me if you like playing games on the hardest difficulty or do you play on a more easier one to have a more relaxing experience. Thank you for reading and have a nice day.