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.
