Difficulty: How does it affect gameplay?

     Difficulty is the term to describe the level of challenge a game provides. Some games have a static difficulty level whereas others give players the option to adjust the difficulty. This raises a few questions: namely, the titular question “How does it affect gameplay?” and other questions such as “Can a game be too easy or too hard?” or “Is difficulty subjective?” I suppose I could answer the first question right now.

      Difficulty is the way the game challenges the player. There are typically three major difficulty modes and they are Easy, Normal, and Hard. Easy mode is basically a casual stroll through the park. You can spend more time stopping and smelling the roses than you can trying to save your own skin in the middle of a gunfight. There is very little danger or threat to the player and is an ideal difficulty for newcomers to the gaming scene or someone who has had a bad day and just wants to vent their frustrations against enemies who cannot hope to win.

      Normal mode is a balance of challenge and fairness. It is meant to keep the player engaged enough to pay attention to the game, but is never too taxing for the player to handle. At least for the average player. A newcomer may stumble and trip their way through Normal, but they can get the hang of things and overcome adversity to reach the end. Normal is the most commonly picked difficulty in any game that has a difficulty select option.

      Hard mode is just absolutely nuts. This mode is almost always designed to give the player a sense of utter dread after they lose countless times. It is built to test the most hardcore of gamers, to challenge the most skilled of players, and to be taken up as a dare for $1.00 USD for the guys who don't really know what they're doing and so his friends can laugh at his demise. Why do some of us enjoy Hard mode? I dunno. Maybe we're masochists? Or quite possibly the intense feeling of reward gained from overcoming the seemingly impossible odds! Yeah, we are masochists, aren't we?

      Can a game be too hard? Of course it can. This can be subject to a slew of factors such as the game mechanics, the player's skill and understanding of the rules, the controls, the jeers of your peers, and uncontrollable aspects such as undodgeable attacks. If the player is just not able to keep up with the game's pace or how many things are going on at once, it can be overwhelming and they might deem it too difficult. A hardcore player, however, may delight in the idea of complex mechanics and hectic environments. But hey, if a game is too hard to handle, it isn't the end of the world. You don't need to worry about beating it on the hardest difficulty. Plus, difficulty is a perfectly good reason for disliking a game. Even if it is trivial as opposed to frustrating.

      Speaking of trivial, a game can be too easy, as well. If the mechanics end up being too simple with no expansion or variety, the game can get boring fast. It doesn't have to be complex, but it still needs to be interesting. The worst part is sometimes the difficulty can be mislabeled. Any of you familiar with Dust: An Elysian Tail, the Normal difficulty mode feels like it's set to Easy. I played on Tough to get a bigger challenge out of it, but it felt like a Normal difficulty compared to other games. It gave me a modest challenge and I even failed on numerous occasions. Anytime you play a game and it feels too easy, try upping the difficulty. It might become more engaging.

      Overall, difficulty is subjective. One player may play on Normal and find it an adequate challenge, but another player may play on the same difficulty of the same game and argue that it was trivial. Different modes provide a different experience depending on the player. On that note, what do you all think of difficulty? Should all games have a setting for difficulty or be static? Is there a limit to how hard a game should be? Just tell me what you think in the comments below.