Season 1 Ep 9: Difficulty in Games

Some members of the video game community were annoyed because other players used mods to ease the difficulty in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software). Most people think this is a pretty ridiculous position, but it prompted some interesting discussion in the MindGames crew. Inspired by this recent 'controversy' we discuss what difficulty means, how challenge has been used in games, and what this means for designers and players. This one's a bumper episode - so sit back, and enjoy!

Recommended Watching: Depth vs Complexity (Extra Credits) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVL4st0blGU

A Difficult Subject (The Jimquisition) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIWivb-8C1w

Dragon's Lair Playthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-dg4J9_nes

Analysis: The Effects of Salt (Core-A Gaming) https://youtu.be/ZbjSeBOP-MA

Today's Games (in order of appearance):

Tetris (Alexey Pajitnov & Vladimir Pokhilko)

World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

Offworld Trading Company (Mohawk Games)

Europa Universalis IV (Paradox Interactive)

They Are Billions (Numeria)

F.T.L. (Subset Games)

Dwarf Fortress (Tarn & Zach Adams)

Rimworld (Ludeon Studios)

Dark Souls 1, 2 and 3 (From Software)

Street Fighter (Akayuki Nakayama)

Tekken V (Namco)

Dragon's Lair (Rick Dyer & Don Bluth)

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S (Arc System Works)

Divekick (One True Game Studios)

Starcraft II (Blizzard Entertainment)

Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works)

Golden Sun (Camelot Software Planning)

The Secret of Monkey Island (Lucasarts)

Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet)

Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studios)

Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian Entertainment)

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Game Studios)

Left 4 Dead (Turtle Rock Studios/Valve)

Super Meat Boy (Team Meat)

Final Fantasy VII (SquareEnix)

Mario Kart (Nintendo)

Blur (Bizarre Creations)

Albion Online (Sandbox Interactive)

Catherine (Atlus)

Hollow Knight (Team Cherry)

Dear Esther (The Chinese Room)

Firewatch (Campo Santo)

The Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)

Star Fox Zero (Nintendo/PlatinumGames)

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (CD Projekt Red)

Magic: the Gathering (Wizards of the Coast)

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