The difficulty slider takes a part of the Essence of the game. THOMAS(Dev) in the Wicked together Video it was mentioned that games like Elden Ring felt like “you never got that feeling of actually being on a journey together” and I understand Wicked is going for “ what players really want, a multiplayer experience where you form and actual fellowship with your friends and family” (Mahler). With that being said, devs should understand that if we as players are on a journey. Part of that “Journey” is the struggle. The struggle of fighting difficult opponents. We should not have a crutch where we can just change difficulty of the game. It destroys the integrity of the player and the game. Now you may say “then don’t use it” which shouldn’t be a great argument only because the game should be designed for me not to have the option in the first place. Take Elden Ring for example. Sure, I don’t have to use summons to fight bosses, or use dual Giant crushers (collosal weapon) but it makes fights easier. We the players want to be given items that make the game easier or unlocking different skills that when configured a certain way melts ads and bosses. If you give us a crutch (the difficulty slider) it will always be on the back of our mind. Knowing we have an “Excalibur” in our back pocket. In this sense, take Elden Ring in admiration. As a small part of the player base wanted a difficulty slider, but the Elden Ring devs held firm. Which the majority of the player base Praised. That lead to a all time peak of 950k players. AND people loved the game so much they came back 2 Years later with over 80% player retention for Shadow of the Erdtree totalling 780k. AND THE DLC was HARDER!!! showing that players want to be challenged by Devs. We don’t want an option slider. We want our developers to create masterful art. To me personally it feels cheap compared to what Moon studios talent can and has offered!
I loved both of the Ori games 
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