Difficulty



Opinion

Difficult video games: The resurgence of punishing gameplay



By Josiah Sapp

    Games are fun right? They’re made to be enjoyed by an individual, a collective group or an entire community. People play games for all kinds of reasons. High score chase, a means to relax, or even to escape into a whole other world. Recently, however, a specific style of gaming has emerged over the past few years and it’s not the kind that first catch your attention. Difficult games have been on the rise and there are no signs of slowing down this community. These aren’t just difficult titles. They’re punishing. Brutal. So frustratingly hard that it will have you question why you’re playing it even after you’ve tried the same task for hours. Why do gamers put themselves through this torture? The history of challenging games is in our DNA and in the genealogy of game design.



Dragon's Lair Death Screen

    Pick out any arcade title from the 1980s and you’ll see a recurring trend in the ways those games were made. They were made with failure in mind and that’s how they made their money. One quarter at a time. The boss level on Contra too hard? Insert coin for another go. Bragging rights were on the line so of course you found another quarter to continue. Dragon’s Lair was front and center in the season 2 premiere of Stranger Things and that game is notorious not only for it’s hand drawn graphics but also for its difficulty. Kids would spend all day memorizing every move in it’s five hour long campaign. Games were tough because they had to make money back then but what’s the excuse today? Why play a game that punishes you for the tiniest mistake?

Halo 3 Legendary difficulty

    When playing a game you either want to be rewarded for the time you’ve spent or you want to be the very best at it. Punishing games fall in the latter category. People who play near impossible games get a rush of adrenaline when they feel like they’ve mastered something that no one else has. Studies have shown that there is only a small percentage of gamers that relate to games this way. Most gamers say they want to play a game that they can easily master and be rewarded for. I definitely fall into this category. If a game get’s too difficult, I don’t get any enjoyment out of it but that doesn’t mean I’m not up for a challenge. I’ve done my fair share of trophy hunting and late night Halo 3 legendary mode runs. These games go beyond a mere challenge though. They test your patience, your wit, and the durability of your controller as you throw it against the wall. That small percentage of gamers that enjoy this punishment is in an up swing and it’s produced some of the finest and most creative games we’ve ever seen.

Dark Souls death screen



    Demon Souls is a franchise made by Fromsoftware and they’re at the heart of this movement. Released in 2009 to positive review, Demon Souls follows a medieval knight in a fantasy setting where stuff happens. Seriously that’s it. You are dropped into the world with no backstory, no explanation, a ton of reading, a minimal tutorial, and no direction. It says “figure it out now or die” and oh boy will you die! The average player will die approximately 4,768 times in their amount of time playing. That doesn’t sound like fun and yet Demon Souls has gotten four mainline sequels called Dark Souls, a few spinoffs and has inspired an entire genre of games with releases like Nioh and Lords of the Fallen. It doesn’t just stop with medieval action games. Recent releases like Cuphead, which was inspired by Contra, are getting amazing reveiws despite its steep difficulty curve. People are flocking to these titles with their wallets open and their hearts set on having a torturous time. These games will continue to be made and push the limits of its audience as long as gamers want to master the challenge. Games may not take quarters any more but people will pay in hours as long as it means they get to accomplish the impossible.