Post #4374265

2026-07-27 12:36 UTC

The Souls games actually do have difficulty settings; they’re just a bit esoteric. I think of it like the Mario games: almost anyone can “beat” a Mario, but there are secrets and collectibles all over those games that are only pursued by players who want more of a challenge. It’s the same game, but the player is opting to increase difficulty. Souls games start at a higher skill floor than the average Mario, but you can unlock tools to make the game easier if you choose. There’s co-op summons, overpowered weapons and equipment, places to easily farm huge numbers of levels. Plus plenty of cheesy strategies for most of the toughest bosses. It’s all optional in-game choices you can make to tweak the difficulty to your taste without the devs putting in a menu slider that just gives every enemy double-HP or something. And they’ve gotten better at implementing these tools every time they’ve iterated. The few people who dunked on Elden Ring often criticized how easy it was relative to earlier FromSoft games. It’s not inherently easier, there are just many more ways to scale down the challenge if you want.

Replies (1)

@deft@lemmy.wtf 2026-07-27 12:51

Not the original commenter but I do feel the same. I dislike souls games. Although I did enjoy sekiro and made it to the stupid lightning samurai guy. The problem with souls-like games for me is the combat doesn’t feel good for the challenge and I believe you can see this in high tier players lazily dodging attacks. The game isn’t about skill and strategy. It’s timing and flat experience to kill some bosses you just gotta fight them 600 times and learn the attacks patterns which to me feels mentally exhausting and frustrating. It’s like a glorified DDR game with swords. I have to do the right combos to win, some strategies exist sure but at the end of the day it’s DDR. The big argument everyone has is “mechanics vs numbers” thinking mechanics is the true skill side but mechanics isn’t just what you do with a controller, it’s also what the game allows you to do. Too many games equate difficulty with time sink. I want a game that I can be smart and play the numbers OR be skilled and play the mechanics or both. Souls games don’t offer that, they’re peg legged

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