I wish more game companies did this. It's just childish to insult and shit-talk the people who just gave you $60+ by calling Easy Mode things like "the stupid mode for stupid babies" or putting a picture of a guy in a baby bonnet and pacifier next to it. (*coughWolfensteincough*)
(pic via https://twitter.com/Stupacabra/status/970295188802465795, see also Dan Brown's "assist mode" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NInNVEHj_G4)
@alahmnat While I think anyone shaming someone for wanting an easier difficulty level or to have some kind of accessibility features is an asshole, difficulty in itself can be used as a component to convey meaning or tone in a game, so I don't think it makes sense in all games.
I would like to see more options in more games though.
(Also though, while the Wolfenstein difficulty level totally plays into bad gamer culture, I see it as a dumb callback rather than trying to demean the player)
@Takanu I totally agree that difficulty can be a critical element of a game's tone or narrative, but I disagree that a fixed difficulty is ever truly necessary to express that. Sure, you could cheese Dark Souls if it had accessibility options, but you could also just as easily skip playing it entirely and watch a Let's Play. Neither is the "true" experience, but an easy play-through will always beat passively watching someone else do it for you every day of the week.
@Takanu I think giving someone with a disability greater access to games is more important than the purity of a (usually very able-bodied) dev's vision for what "hard" means, especially in a skill-based game.
I wonder if the industry has to get collectively older before more people start cottoning on to the idea that not everyone can play games the same way, or even the way they themselves could 30 years earlier.
@alahmnat In most games where difficulty or a particular kind of control system isn't being used to communicate an idea or feeling, I agree, and this applies to most games.
The Witness however is a good example where some of the puzzles having accessibility options wouldn't make sense, as the sensory lens some of those puzzles had were quite specifically the point.
@Takanu That's certainly a fair point to make, and I do actually agree that it's harder (or impossible) to put difficulty sliders on puzzle games and the like. I guess I (rightly or wrongly) lump that sort of challenge into a different bucket than tests of physical skill, since you can still cheese puzzles by using hints or a walkthrough to give you the solutions.
(Full disclosure: I haven't played The Witness yet, but my impression from coverage is that it's not a _physically_ demanding game.)
@alahmnat It's not a physically demanding game, it just does a lot with what it has where no adaptation can be made without the puzzles losing the point.
My main argument is just that accessibility and difficulty options can't apply to all games due to the nature of design and games as an art form and means of expression, and things should be taken on a case-by-case basis.
