An era of easy games, and Dark Souls

I drafted this piece nearly a year ago, as I was playing through Dark Souls, with the intention that it would have been a starting point for a website article. The idea never really got off the ground but it occured to me that I could post it up here so it wasn't a total waste. Enjoy.

 

Dark Souls is a relic of a bygone era, a game that demands just as much in terms of patience and persistence as it does in terms of skill. For most gamers it seems like such a challenge is simply too much, and it certainly didn’t come as much of a surprise when I spotted pre-owned copies of the game on store shelves only a day or so after its launch. The strategy guide was on prominent display too, and when I displayed an interest the manager gave me a wry smile and said that I’d need all of the help I could get. Dark Souls has done well for itself, but just how many people will ever make it through to the end credits seems to be less certain and that’s a shame. The real question though is probably one that can be asked on a broader scale: do gamers want difficult games anymore?

Personally speaking, I’m a bit of a relic myself in gaming terms. With my first gaming machine being the almighty Spectrum 128k, which had roughly the same capabilities as a dubious Mario gaming watch from a few years later. Games at the time were plentiful, cheap and usually as hard as nails. Seriously, if you know anyone that “completed” Jet Set Willy then I’d be eminently surprised. The same could be said of titles at your local arcade, where the challenge was less about reaching some mythical end screen and more about setting a high score that didn’t just prop up the ass end of the scoreboard. Back in the day games by their very nature were challenging and had to be so to get the best out of players and keep them coming back for another go.

Obviously, in terms of difficulty, the whole issue is entirely subjective as a game that may well stymie one player for months could last another, more experienced gamer, mere days. However, can you honestly think of a recent game that was so difficult you literally couldn’t complete it, a game that made you give up in frustration and never go back? The answer is probably no, as most people have no problem getting to the end of the majority of modern games. It’s certainly apparent that changes in the basic technology involved in making and playing games may well have played an important role in this trend, not to mention the changing make up of gamers themselves.

At the moment you can be knee deep in a game, swatting aside your foes as your press towards your ultimate goal. Suddenly the greatest force of evil known to man rears its head and says, “Put down that controller, or we’ll be late!” Yes, the wife is going to drag you off somewhere and there is naught that can be done, other than saving your progress of course. Such a simple mechanic and yet probably the single biggest reason that most games seem that much easier compared to their older brethren. Older titles had to be completed in one sitting, and while this usually made them shorter as a result it also meant they had much more tension and being down to your last life, energy bar or quarter actually meant something. Nowadays if you bite the big one, then you’re free to restart at your last save or checkpoint with no strings attached.

Without a sense of ultimate failure then where is the tension? Even playing a game on the hardest difficulty merely becomes a case of trial and error until you find the right route or merely get lucky in some way. Notable examples do exist, like the limited save features on Dead Space 2 or Hitman, or the brutal difficulty of games like Lost Planet and Ninja Gaiden where mere persistence will not be enough. However, these games have seemingly become the exception to the rule and when it comes to previews/reviews the sheer difficulty present is often mentioned above and beyond any other feature of the game, as if it was some kind of freakish, rarity to be examined scientifically from a distance rather than enjoyed. Instead of welcoming a challenging game, players often shy away from it and spend their time on something else.

Could this be down to the way games themselves have evolved though? Older titles, even stretching towards the NES era, used to just give you the basic controls in the manual and then throw you in at the deep end. Players had to rely on their own intelligence to survive, which often meant grasping the rules of the world they were pitted against and then reacting accordingly. Nowadays, even the biggest game world seems to have some kind of tutorial attached to it. Be it the most flagrant on screen pop ups that tell you which button is punch (usually the button you’ve been using to punch for five minutes) or the slightly sneakier route of having a short intro level or dungeon, that guides you through the mechanics without putting you in any extreme danger. With so many costs and implications attached to putting a game into the world it seems that developers cannot risk alienating people from the get go, annoying them with tutorials maybe, but not putting them off entirely.

Players now can rightly expect to complete pretty much any title that is set down in front of them, most of the time without much in the way of external guidance, and that is pretty much down to the way the market for games has developed. Old arcade titles and computer games were much cheaper to produce, and it wasn’t uncommon for entire titles to be developed by just one or two people. Now though entire teams are dedicated to just one title and the cost of failure is that much higher. Companies can no longer take the risk of making a game too challenging, as it is more than likely to be a stumbling block towards future sales, instead they have to provide players with an experience that balances the experience with the rewards on offer.

As the market for games has grown, so too has the make up of that market. The so called hardcore market of gamers has been joined by an equally large portion of players that simply may not have the time, skill or inclination to persist with a title that introduces you to the Game Over screen at an early juncture and then keeps it as your most constant companion. Similarly, as the average age of gamers continues to grow then those people that had a lot more free time to play games at a young age will find themselves with far more responsibilities in terms of work and family as they get older, thus meaning that an easier and shorter game is much more welcome as it will allow them to have the same experience without pouring in countless hours. 

Developers find new ways to lure in these gamers, by adding in tutorials, checkpoints and co-op play in a bid to keep their interest until the credits roll. Then a wealth of potential side-quests, online modes and collectibles can provide the extra content that the lack of difficulty takes away. So when the inevitable sequel rolls around, players will be more interested in picking up a game that has a story they are familiar with, controls they enjoyed and a more comfortable difficulty level than a game they just a few hours into and then got no further.

From a business perspective a decrease in difficulty is exactly what the market demands, as more and more people become drawn to the console market but do not have the time or disposable income to spend on a wide range of titles. However, such a move may also take away some of what makes games such an interesting medium. Instead of being challenged throughout a title, you are practically taking part in an interactive movie, with titles becoming increasingly linear and similar. The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that used to come from completing a title is simply replaced by a sense of “what’s next?” as gamers move onto the next big thing. Setting that high score or beating that almost impossible game are rapidly becoming things of the past, as if you’ve completed the latest Call of Duty or Gears title then you can safely assume that the vast majority of other players have too, and in half the time it took you, with one hand tied behind their back.

Dark Souls is a relic, but it is also a relic that drew me into its world for three weeks and over a hundred hours of my life. A relic that made me celebrate every hard fought boss battle, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact it took me ten attempts to finally emerge triumphant. A relic that is sadly becoming a much rarer breed in today’s marketplace of quick thrills and simplistic gaming. Not every game needs to be this hard but, thankfully, it serves as a pertinent reminder of why some games should be.