There is a certain enjoyment when we challenge ourselves. Forcing ourselves to go beyond our comfort zone to achieve feats we have never accomplished. This is true in life as it is in games. What makes for the best challenge, though? 'Increase the enemies stats, or make me weaker!', says the action/adventure player, dodging enemies and landing extra hits. 'Make the mechanics harder, make me learn patterns!', says the puzzle player, memorizing new details. 'Naturally', says the sports player, 'Make the opponent more aggressive, force me to match them head on!' In gaming these days, there are numerous approaches to how to make games more difficult, but are any of them inherently better? I want to talk about which games I feel get it right, and which ones miss the mark.
This last week I got my first opportunity to play a slightly older game: Super Meat Boy. I saw it was free for PS Plus members this month, so I grabbed the chance to try the new classic. What I was rewarded with was a game that forced me to reevaluate the way I play games. I had to remember what it was like to focus, to be patient, to learn. You can't just sprint through a level like you would in Sonic or Mario games, you have to observe the challenge, and formulate your approach. Each run must usually be attempted multiple times, each time learning a bit more about the obstacles in your way, the timing of jumps and stops, and each time getting that much more further than last time. It was the biggest breath of fresh air I've had in a long time. It was so wonderful to have a game respect my ability to think, to reason, to solve a problem on my own. So very many games these days are developed with sales numbers in mind, in being playable by as many people as possible. This usually results in that game being simplified, easier to play or advance through. Some games these days use micro-transactions to obtain resources that speed up advancement. With SMB, there is no such hand holding. If you fail a level, you know it's because you messed up, but it places you right back into it to try again. When you succeed, you know it was because you played it perfectly. It's like the game is saying, 'Hey, you messed up. Now pick yourself up, and try again. It can be done, and you can do it. Just keep trying.'
I look to another title that places unforgiving challenges at the feet of its players, the Souls' games. Demon's Souls, the Dark Souls series, and now Bloodborne, all present their players with enemies that, even in the earliest levels, can kill them if not handled intelligently. Each and every foe needs to be respected. The game's difficulty is entirely up to the person playing the game. Want to keep enemies away using bow and magic? You're going to have a much safer time. Want to dive headlong into the fray? That's fine, but be wary. Your style of play and skill as a player are what decides how hard the game is. With the Souls games, there is no difficulty changing. No easy mode, no hard mode. Just, the game. That. Is. Beautiful.
How many other action-adventure games make difficulty artificial? Take the God of War games. All of them have difficulty settings, and each add 'difficulty' by increasing or decreasing stats. Easy mode has you cleaving through hordes of foes at a time, while harder modes have you taking only a hit or two to the face before you die whilst your enemies can tank...well, a tank! One can argue this also forces skilled play, forcing you to focus on when to dodge or counter attacks, but the only challenge is the time needed to cleave through your enemies.
All in all, I personally feel that the best way to handle making a game harder to force a player to look at themselves and say, 'OK, this is hard. Now what do I have to do to overcome the challenge?' Respect the abilities of the player, and let them show themselves that they can adapt and overcome without needing to adjust some numbers. Allowing people to have the option to step back and see what is blocking their progress, then approach it in a different way, their OWN way, can have such a stronger impact in my opinion. So what do you all think? Should 'modes' be tossed out the window, or are they just another way of choosing how to be challenged? Do Super Meat Boy and the Souls games represent the best way to present a hard game, or do they take too much control of the desired experience away from the player? Let us know in the comments!
Thanks everybody, and stay Kultured!
-Kuma
This last week I got my first opportunity to play a slightly older game: Super Meat Boy. I saw it was free for PS Plus members this month, so I grabbed the chance to try the new classic. What I was rewarded with was a game that forced me to reevaluate the way I play games. I had to remember what it was like to focus, to be patient, to learn. You can't just sprint through a level like you would in Sonic or Mario games, you have to observe the challenge, and formulate your approach. Each run must usually be attempted multiple times, each time learning a bit more about the obstacles in your way, the timing of jumps and stops, and each time getting that much more further than last time. It was the biggest breath of fresh air I've had in a long time. It was so wonderful to have a game respect my ability to think, to reason, to solve a problem on my own. So very many games these days are developed with sales numbers in mind, in being playable by as many people as possible. This usually results in that game being simplified, easier to play or advance through. Some games these days use micro-transactions to obtain resources that speed up advancement. With SMB, there is no such hand holding. If you fail a level, you know it's because you messed up, but it places you right back into it to try again. When you succeed, you know it was because you played it perfectly. It's like the game is saying, 'Hey, you messed up. Now pick yourself up, and try again. It can be done, and you can do it. Just keep trying.'
I look to another title that places unforgiving challenges at the feet of its players, the Souls' games. Demon's Souls, the Dark Souls series, and now Bloodborne, all present their players with enemies that, even in the earliest levels, can kill them if not handled intelligently. Each and every foe needs to be respected. The game's difficulty is entirely up to the person playing the game. Want to keep enemies away using bow and magic? You're going to have a much safer time. Want to dive headlong into the fray? That's fine, but be wary. Your style of play and skill as a player are what decides how hard the game is. With the Souls games, there is no difficulty changing. No easy mode, no hard mode. Just, the game. That. Is. Beautiful.
How many other action-adventure games make difficulty artificial? Take the God of War games. All of them have difficulty settings, and each add 'difficulty' by increasing or decreasing stats. Easy mode has you cleaving through hordes of foes at a time, while harder modes have you taking only a hit or two to the face before you die whilst your enemies can tank...well, a tank! One can argue this also forces skilled play, forcing you to focus on when to dodge or counter attacks, but the only challenge is the time needed to cleave through your enemies.
All in all, I personally feel that the best way to handle making a game harder to force a player to look at themselves and say, 'OK, this is hard. Now what do I have to do to overcome the challenge?' Respect the abilities of the player, and let them show themselves that they can adapt and overcome without needing to adjust some numbers. Allowing people to have the option to step back and see what is blocking their progress, then approach it in a different way, their OWN way, can have such a stronger impact in my opinion. So what do you all think? Should 'modes' be tossed out the window, or are they just another way of choosing how to be challenged? Do Super Meat Boy and the Souls games represent the best way to present a hard game, or do they take too much control of the desired experience away from the player? Let us know in the comments!
Thanks everybody, and stay Kultured!
-Kuma