Geeky Nerd

This post is about level of difficulty in games and how to understand which one is the “correct” level to play on. To begin with, to answer the question of the title, “no”, playing on easy difficulty doesn’t make you a bad gamer, but there is a bit of nuance involved in the matter.

What do difficulty levels do in a video game?

To put it simply, difficulty levels in video games mean to balance the challenge that the player gets while playing. Setting the challenge to low and the rewards at the end of each level don’t feel so rewarding; setting it too high, on the contrary, can leave players frustrated and not willing to waste time on a game they effectively cannot complete. There are no certain criteria to follow when balancing a game, so players should focus on their comfort and developers – on the players’ feedback.

Needless to say, sometimes the extreme difficulty of the game is a deliberate feature exampled by the games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring. However, they are not part of today’s discussion since they belong to the genre effectively named souls-like. As you can see, the name speaks for itself, these games have practically started and developed the genre defined by higher than average difficulty level.

Does every game need a difficulty system?

To put it simply, no. Not every genre requires it or even is geared to have a difficulty system. For instance, three-in-a-row or puzzle games. It’s true that puzzle games can give you hints, but it’s not a difficulty system, it’s a feature of the genre. Surely, the level may become har more difficult over time, but the difficulty system is about being able to play the same level but with a different challenge level.

Furthermore, the game about which I have recently written about, Chants of Sennaar, hasn’t got a difficulty system simply because it doesn’t require one. It’s two gameplay features include puzzles and easy stealth sections which do not require any difficulty adjustment.

Standard difficulty levels 📈

There are three main difficulties that a game with a difficulty system has:

• Easy difficulty; it is perfect for people who are new to games or to a specific genre and still grasp the basics of game mechanics.
• Normal (“middle”) difficulty; usually, it’s the standard difficulty setting meaning to provide a good challenge for an average player but still not requiring a master level of game mechanics.
• Hard difficulty; usually provides greater challenge for the player in order to keep them more engaged.

Some games may have even more difficulty levels but these are the main ones. Usually the game experience does not change much with this settings, but there are games when choosing a difficulty level will result in a very different perception.

A classic example is Minecraft. Its “peaceful” mode will remove all agressive mobs basically reducing all challenger and it even disables the hunger system which excludes the food management mechanic completely. On the other hand, there is the “hardcore” mode which means that if a player dies from any cause, then they cannot respawn and continue playing in that save file. As you can see, it’s a very drastic change which leads to a completely distinct game experience.

So, which difficulty level is correct?

Again, the quick answer is – the one you are comfortable with. Sure, some players who think highly of themselves or put their gaming skills on a pedestal since they have no other significant achievement in their lives may say otherwise but playing a game for fun in a way that would actually be fun for you is important.

If you feel like you absolutely have to play on normal difficulty but lack the skill, then my advice would be to lower the difficulty, get the hang of the game and then return to replay it on the more challenging setting.

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In conclusion, with this post I wanted to clarify a little what the difficulty setting is supposed to be about since it seems to me like some people don’t give it enough thought. I remember the times when my own skills were nor that good and had I realized sooner that changing the difficulty won’t really affect my experience but even enhance it, I would have played some of the games that I were too difficult for me to handle.