The Thing about Difficulty: Good vs. Bad

Picture Source: Dark Souls

Last week a portion of the Nintendo occupied Internet blew up about the information of an easy mode in Star Fox Zero. Players will be able to pilot an invincible Airwing and complete Missions and the Story that way. Of course we don't know more about this, and with the fact that StarFox is a arcade like game, I don't think that you'll be able to earn High Scores and the like in that mode. Also there will be another Airwing that deals double damage, but also takes twice as much damage from enemy fire, is completely ignored by the outraged fans.

But the whole argument got me thinking about difficulty, what it means for games and if an Easy Mode truly hurts the enjoyability. So let's talk about that.

First let's start with a definition of difficulty:

Difficulty refers to the amount of skill required by the player to progress through, and finally finish, the game. Higher difficulty obviously means that more skill is required. Skill, in that case, doesn't only refer to the typical physical aspect of playing a video game, for example reaction time, but also to other aspects like memorization and strategy.

Difficulty in Video games can generally be categorized into two forms:

• Artificial Difficulty
• Natural Difficulty

Let's elaborate on these two terms before we continue.

Artificial Difficulty:

Artificial difficutly is the type of difficulty most commonly found in video games. And despite it often being associated with bad game design, it's not a bad thing by default. It's just the type of difficulty achieved by altering the elements of the game.

Picture Source: Super Smash Bros.

Even though it may sound complex this just means the changes when you switch a game from normal to hard. Common ''difficulty increases'' include increased enemy health and damage, tighter time constraints, fewer lives and reduced resources like, for example, ammunition. But, and that's the important factor, the core of the gaming experience, like level design, enemy behavior and solutions to puzzles don't change.

A good example of this kind of system can be seen in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. On normal difficulty the game presents a fair challenge and difficulty curve. There are well placed Checkpoints, the player can take up to four hits before dying (two for your Kong buddy and two for Donkey Kong) and you can buy helpful items in Funky Kongs Shop. The Hard Mode, on the other hand, does not feel nearly as fair. There are no checkpoints and with only one hit the player dies. But the layout of the levels, enemy placement and enemy strength remains exactly the same as in normal mode. This is what I call an artificial difficulty increase.

 Picture Source: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Natural Difficulty:

Natural Difficulty on the other hand, is difficulty baked into the very systems of the game. For example, things like the aforementioned level design, enemy behavior and solutions to puzzles.

This kind of Difficulty can take many types of forms, from enemies with complex attack patterns that try to flank you all the way to levels designed as mazes for the player to get trapped in. To explain this kind of Difficulty better I'll take a look at a game that employs this idea perfectly. And for once this isn't a Nintendo game.

Picture Source: Dark Souls

Dark Souls is the perfect example of Natural Difficulty, because almost everything baked into this game seems to have been made the way it is simply to make the players life miserable. The game is incredibly unwelcoming from the start, with a tutorial that offers almost no explanation of the systems behind the game, except for several short messages from the developers. This leaves players struggling from the very beginning to figure out where they are supposed to be going and what they are supposed to be doing. The infamous graveyard next to Firelink Shrine is testimony to that.

The Combat is also extremely difficult. Strong Enemies are often grouped together forcing disadvantageous group battles. To make things worse, dying is punished by dropping all the players resources onto the ground. They can only be recovered if the player makes it back to where they died without dying again. If you fail then your resources are lost forever.

Many small things, like missable items or neutral NPCs that murder other helpful NPCs also add to the difficulty. Dark Souls is a game that was clearly designed from the ground up with idea of being extremely challenging. It's difficulty comes naturally.

Bad Difficulty; Good Difficulty:

Picture Source: Silver Surfer (NES)

Now that we've established the difference between Artificial and Natural Difficulty, we'll take a look at the ways in which these two different systems affect the players experience.

At it's core Artificial Difficulty is shallow, providing a difficulty level that is neither satisfying nor enjoyable for the player, often feeling cheap and unfair. In contrast, Natural Difficulty typically offers the player great satisfaction once it's conquered because the challenge presented felt organic and fair.

Every Video Game is designed around a set of systems, and these systems are tuned to work together to create the overall game experience. On normal difficulty these systems are usually balanced perfectly, allowing the player to experience the game with a fair amount of challenge. With the Artificial Difficulty these systems get out of balance.

 Picture Source: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Normally if confronted with an enemy or challenge the player has time to compose themselves and then approach the situation. This is the core, where the games fun originates.

However, with the difficulty artificially cranked up, this pattern doesn't really work any more. Foreknowledge and trial and error become the only reliable ways of completing sections within the game, because any confrontation often means instant death if not handled immediately in the right way. This type of system can be very frustrating for most players, leaving the game feeling like a grind, as trial and error based progress can often feel unfair and contrived.

Because of this these extreme difficulty modes are usually included for the sake of completionists, who have already played through and enjoyed the game once and are hungry for more. Often this hard modes require you to beat the game once in order to unlock them.

Now this sounds quite negative, but Artificial Difficulty isn't necessarily bad. To exemplify this let's take a look at Tropical Freeze again.

The hard mode is a seperate mode, that is unlocked after not only beating the game, but completing every single level. That includes the temple stages and Incognito Island. This is already quite a challenge, so players who have achieved that, are well prepared for the brutal hard mode. This is a separate experience from the main game.

Also Tropical Freeze is an excellent designed game. The normal mode offers a nearly perfect Natural Difficulty and a great difficulty curve. Building on this strong foundation the Artificial Difficulty of hard mode doesn't feel cheap, but more like an even further extension of the Natural Difficulty Curve, even though it isn't.

Artificial Difficulty isn't a bad thing. It just has to be handled correctly. I generally prefer Natural Difficulty to its Artificial counterpart, but in the end Artificial Difficulty is only bad when it happens in form of difficulty spikes. Still in the end it will always feel a little bit shallow. At least in my opinion.

Picture Source: Dark Souls

In contrast to this philosophy, we have Dark Souls, a game which shoves crushing difficulty down its players throats from the moment they turn it on, yet somehow manages to be fun and (almost) never feel unfair. This is because the core gameplay loop in Dark Souls is designed with difficulty in mind. Everything in the game, from the persistent enemy placement and behavior to the checkpoint system is designed around the idea of trial and error. Difficulty is fun because it doesn't break the core gameplay loop. It is the core gameplay.

Why should a game be hard?

Now that we have an overview about difficulty, let's talk about why a video game should be hard.
There are many things difficulty can bring to the design of a game beyond just offering something for masochists to beat their heads against.

Conquering a difficult section of a game has the potential to give the player an immense feeling of satisfaction. Overcoming a truly difficult obstacle feels like a real triumph and this feeling will really add to a players experience with the game. Many of us still remember our victory over the final boss of THAT game fondly. For example the first time I beat Kapitain K. Rool in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is forever etched into my memory as one of the most satisfying victories of my life.
Still you need to be very careful, because there is a fine line between doing this right and doing this very wrong.

In Dark Souls, the player often encounters overwhelming and seemingly impossible obstacles and conquering them feels like a true testament of skill. This is because though the challenges may seem impossible at first glance, with repetition players will see patterns arise in the chaos and find that things aren't so difficult after all. Rarely does Dark Souls demand incredible skill from the player; it only asks for patience and understanding of its trials. In fact, playing through Dark Souls a second time through isn't that difficult at all once you understand its challenges.

More than just for satisfaction, difficulty can be used as a tool in building immersion. When something is difference, progress is often slow and methodical, giving the player time to truly soak in and understand every aspect of the game, including it's narrative and thematic content.

This does not mean that every game should be difficult. Difficulty for difficulty's sake has ruined many games, especially during the NES days. Just take a look at some of the Angry Video Game Nerds episodes and you'll see what I mean.


Now what does this mean for Star Fox Zeros Easymode? Well we'll have to wait with a final verdict till next time, when we take a look at easier difficulty levels and why they are needed too.
But let me say this much. An optional easy mode doesn't ruin a game, just like an optional hard mode doesn't. But more on that and easy difficulty next week.



I'll hope you enjoyed this short read,
and as always

thanks for reading