Sekiro's Difficulty: A Discussion from a Souls Perspective

 Sekiro's Difficulty: A Discussion from a Souls Perspective 

First and foremost, I don't believe that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice needs an easy mode. This includes any mode that decreases the amount of damage that enemies deal, that increases the amount of damage you inflict, that slows down the world, that depopulates the zones, or that otherwise fundamentally changes the design of the game. On the other hand, I want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy the trials and tribulations of Sekiro for the experience that it is. There is a conversation to be had here between these two ideologies if we can only sift through the poisonous swamp of mistrust and knee-jerk reactions.

The Shared Experience of a Single Player Game

The first illusion that I want to dispel is that the majority of the Soulsborne community is jealously guarding their hobby, only allowing the 'worthy' to join their ranks, and that they are opposed to an easy mode because they are elitist jerks who bump chests while chanting, "Git Gud", completely ignorant and uncaring of those with disabilities. This is flatly wrong. As demonstrated by numerous Reddit threads and various Discord servers prior to the release of Sekiro, most Soulsborne players actively encourage as many people as possible to give the games a shot. I know this from personal experience as I have hounded my family to play Bloodborne for ages and when I finally got someone too, I was overjoyed at the prospect of playing it with them. The more interesting question then becomes why is there so much resistance to a straight-up easy mode?

I think that this question has several answers depending on individual players but the easiest way to boil it down stems from the idea of 'shared experience'. A recent study in Psychological Science and detailed in The Atlantic found that groups of people who shared even a mundane activity were more engaged and produced better feelings than those of single person experiencing a more interesting event. My contention is that this applies in a similar way to From Software games are their fan base. We want more people to have the same experience so that we can commiserate with them. It's not about preventing access to a club, its about being able to empathize with them on a level that transcends a single player video game. Common conversations about these games revolve around what different tactics you utilized to overcome a particularly challenging section or how you felt when you finally defeated that one boss that was just so hard. The addition of an arbitrary 'easy mode' would diminish the communal experience of overcoming these games and would rob those who don't think that they can do it from actually facing that challenge, overcoming it, and the subsequent feeling of joy and accomplishment. That rush of victory is so pure that we don't want anyone to miss out. There is a vast difference between the publicized intentions of the Soulsborne community to hoard their gaming experience and the actual reality of the community desperately wanting more people to enjoy it.

With that being said, there has been a response from the community that I don't quite agree with until you look beyond the face value of it. That response is that this game just isn't for you. I don't agree with that. I think that these games can and should be for everyone. However, there is a big caveat to this. Playing and enjoying Sekiro requires enduring defeat multiple times, becoming frustrated over and over again, and then learning from those mistakes. If someone comes to this game with the wrong expectations, expectations that lead them to believe that they're going to casually march through the experience, then they will be swiftly cut down to size due to no fault of the game's. Furthermore, if you are like Jim Sterling and you don't like the mechanics of the gameplay, then this game actually probably isn't for you, just like fighting games are not for me. However, as long as a person understands what they are getting into and enjoys the fundamental mechanics, then I believe that this game can be amazing for anyone.

The Creative Intent is For More People to Play a Hard Game

Another common misconception is that the concept of challenge does not tie directly into the idea of creative integrity. It does. Hidetaka Miyazaki has stated this much on multiple occasions and proven this vision several times over with the release of the previous From Software games. On the other hand, he has also stated that he wants more people to play these games with further options for accessibility. But it is important to understand that overcoming daunting obstacles is one of the core foundations that From Software holds itself and its games on, making it a clear part of their creative design. However, this concept of difficulty as creative intent shouldn't be haphazardly hoisted as a defense against people who want an easy mode. If blistering difficulty was all that From Software wanted, then that would be their decision to make, whether we like it or not. That would also give the argument for an easy mode some actual legs to stand on. However, just like in the Soulsborne games, From Software has cleverly injected a variety of safety valves in Sekiro to assist new players along their journey.

First off, there is a prevalence of shrines or checkpoints in Sekiro, allowing significant progress to be saved each time. Second, if you get in a dangerous situation outside of boss room, you can just nope the heck out of there with your grapple and your enhanced mobility. Third, the vast majority of side bosses can and should be stealth attacked to immediately erase half of their health bar. Fourth, there are almost always multiple paths to travel, so that if you get stuck, you can always try going another way. Fifth, the accessibility and clarity of this game is at an all-time high compared to previous titles (I will expound on this topic further later in the article). Sixth, if you die, you can literally resurrect once during each fight. Seventh, one of the first, difficult minibosses (Juzo the Drunkard) has an NPC that will join you during the fight if you ask him to. Eighth, every single boss has a shrine directly outside their boss room, with one or two enemies between you and the boss door which is actually a good thing because it refills your resurrection power enough to generally use it twice during the fight, once after each deathblow. Ninth, since the main bosses are the most objectively challenging parts of Sekiro, every single encounter has a significant weakness to an available prosthetic tool or item, rewarding creative thinking and experimentation. Tenth, you can pause the game at any time if you need a quick break. I could go on but, for argument's sake, let's just say that it is not From Software's creative intention to have an impossibly difficult game and, instead of a traditional easy mode, they have implemented a variety of in-game tools to assist you.

Just Add an Easy Mode, It's That... Well, Easy

Another idea that has been floating around is that an 'easy' mode has never ruined a video game and hardcore fans would still get the exact same experience as they have now. On the face of it, this is completely true. Fans of the series or those seeking a challenge would choose to play the game as intended and have the same experience. However, it's not about our experience. It's about the person's experience who hasn't faced such challenge in the modern gaming world. We want maintain the glorious experience of those that don't believe they can do it and then, after hours of attempts or even after scouring guides on the internet, they finally, finally take them down, proving something to themselves in the process. This may sound like hyperbole or just an excuse to keep people from playing but it's honestly not. We have all been there, in the thick of it, cursing and screaming, until it finally clicks. This is a better teaching moment than anything you could manufacture in a classroom and it is absolutely a core aspect of the game that would be tarnished by an easy mode.

Furthermore, Sekiro isn't designed with an easy mode in mind and doesn't have settings that are friendly to arbitrarily lowering health pools or increasing your attack damage. A game has to be built from the ground up with a difficulty slider baked into the cake to be done properly or it simply breaks the game. If From Software announces their next project and makes it clear that they have designed an experience around two difficulty modes, then that changes the conversation. They could even do it in a way that isn't so intrusive like an in-game bell that you ring where it warns you that you won't receive item drops and trophies will be turned off, but certain mechanics will be more forgiving. Either way, a successful implementation of difficulty modes entirely depends on the developer's initial intentions when crafting a game and we, as the consumers, have to trust them to present their product in the best light possible.

Disability and Accessibility

Finally, we get to the topic that has the most dangerous waters to navigate: accessibility for people who have disabilities or who are physically or mentally impaired. First off, as I said in my review, to those of you out there that are simply holding up the disabled community as a shield for your own frustrations, you are classless swine who are using people's genuine difficulties for personal gains and should be ashamed of yourselves. Now, with that being said, it's important not to make light of a serious conversation that should be had. IGN recently posted what I think is one the best expressions of this debate from someone who has significant limitations when it comes to gaming and other activities. In this article, they clearly define the difference between accessibility and difficulty in a way that I think anyone can appreciate. To take this a step further however, I would like to say that those who live with these sort of restrictions deserve the chance to prove themselves against difficult challenges just as anyone does. It's a sign of respect to the player, to every player, that the developer believes you can overcome this game. Sekiro provides a level of accessibility that no other Souls game can match with button remapping, a clear and readable UI, easily digested item descriptions, various sound settings, a pause button, and a literal training dummy in the starting area. None of these features hinder the overall experience and they streamline the experience for anyone who has struggled with From Software titles in the past, not just the disabled community.

With that being said, From Software could implement even further accessibility options into Sekiro or into their future projects that would help people with disabilities to enjoy the game on their own terms without diminishing what makes it so rewarding to play through. First of all, the more gameplay and sound settings that can be tweaked in the menus, the easier it would be for someone to adapt the game to their specifications. Further enhancements such as color sliders, augmented auditory signals, and buttons that could perform two, individual actions, one if held and another if simply pressed, could assist individual players' limitations. I would also like to note that this is an argument that doesn't just revolve around From Software games but for the gaming industry as a whole.

Simulated Solutions

More specifically, with relation to Sekiro, there is a lot of pressure in this game to perform well. There is a death mechanic that punishes you for dying. There is no option for summoning someone to help. There are bosses that will impede story progress. That pressure can become overwhelming, especially if someone already has to battle their own disability in order to progress. Therefore, we are seeking a solution that doesn't dilute the primary experience but also relieves some of that pressure. To begin, I think it's fair to say that the real difficulty hurdles come in the form of the minibosses and the major bosses. Most of the exploratory parts of the game can be completed while in stealth which is not taxing on reflexes or the senses and, even if you're spotted, you can usually grapple out of danger and wait for the enemies to go back to their patrols. When you're in a boss encounter, there's no backing down and the demand on your senses is intense, jacking up the pressure to succeed.

So, while I'm certainly not advocating for easier boss battles, I believe that a simulation mode that you could select from the main menu would be a terrific solution that both newcomers and old veterans would embrace. Imagine that when you encounter a boss for the first time, they would be able to be unlocked in a simulation mode. You could then back out of the main game and head to the simulation room. There you could select whichever boss you're having difficulty with and it would create a generic arena that would allow you to tweak the settings to your heart's content. Maybe you'd like to try fighting the boss at half speed to identify the correct time to deflect or dodge or jump. This would give players with disabilities a safe space to learn the mechanics of a fight without the pressure of failure. Then, when they feel like they're up for the challenge, they can head back into the game and give the real boss another attempt, not only preserving that feeling of accomplishment when they defeat them but also allowing them to learn the mechanics in an arena that doesn't punish you for failing. Even veterans of the Souls series could have fun with this mode by masochistically turning the speed up on bosses, making every hit a one-shot, and letting you use only the basic level of damage. Furthermore and most importantly, this wouldn't fundamentally alter the shared experience of the game, there would be no compromise of the developer's intention, and everyone could overcome the game's challenges at their own pace.

Thoughtful Listening

I honestly believe that this conversation became so volatile and polarizing the same way that political issues become so divisive: a combination of miscommunication and the knee-jerk reaction time that the internet cultivates. People see headlines such as "Sekiro Needs to Respect its Players and Add an Easy Mode" or "Sekiro Isn't a Game for Everyone and It Should Not Have to Be" and then they react immediately, thoughtlessly. There is an important conversation to be had here but it becomes exponentially harder to have when no one takes the time to listen. What would be your instinctive reaction be if someone told you that a new, recreational experience is just not for you? What would your reaction be if someone demanded that you fundamentally change your hobby because not everyone in the world can have that same experience? I can't fish but that doesn't mean I start yelling at the people who made the fishing rod. People don't just show up to a basketball court for the first time and expect to be able to shoot three pointers consistently. But they also don't expect to have to play with a deflated ball or fish with a spear. There's a balance to this discussion just as there is in any other and finding that balance is the key to moving forward. I've tried my best to see both sides and I encourage everyone to do the same.

Thanks for reading and if I missed the mark somehow, let me know in the comments.