Replacing Blind Difficulty Presets with Targeted Realm Accessibility Options

Wicked Feedback
1

The Problem with Preset Difficulty

Forcing players to select a difficulty setting at the main menu = immediate roadblock

A new player has zero context for how the game balances “Normal” vs “Hard”

It makes choice pure lottery

And arbitrary presets dilute the core balance and vision intended by the devs

The Proposed Solution

Granular Realm Settings for Accessibility

Allow players to modify their experience by tweaking specific Realm Settings

Ensure it is labeled: Accessibility, so that it’s properly communicated

Why This Works Better

Preserves the dev’s Vision: Everyone starts on the same playing field, the exact experience you guys spent years balancing and designing, It ensures a shared community experience without diluting the game’s identity with generic presets

Replaces guessing with agency: Instead of blindly choosing a difficulty at the main menu without knowing what changes under the hood, players can make proper, targeted adjustments to specific mechanics

True Accessibility Without Compromise: Clearly labeled realm sliders = bridge for players who need them to enjoy the game, so it ensuring accessibility exists as an intentional tool rather than a mode that removes game’s core challenge

TLDR:

Difficulty options = bad because they compromise the game’s integrity, and it doesn’t solve the problem it tries to solve: Accessibility

People who want to play the game don’t know what to pick, creates FOMO

People who struggle with physical problems don’t know what exactly changes, result is they ruin the core challenge of the game instead of solving a specific problem they had

2

Heyo :waving_hand:

I’m curious about the FOMO, perhaps I might need a bit more context here. But difficulty in the game is always adjustable at any given time. This does not increase rewards gained by any means. When I wanted to test out the difficulty settings, I just switched back and forth.
Initially I started with Medium, then a little into the game I switched to Hard mode, I got wrecked and switched back to medium.

Once the release comes out I will just start the game in Hard mode, as I’ve now collected 100s of hours into the game and I’d like to stick to the difficulty setting. However, if a new player is to come into the game, and they’ve never played a souls-like combat system before, maybe they can try Easy difficulty (Story Focused) first, and adjust as they go.

3

That’s the whole point, a difficulty option isn’t solving a specific issue you had to deal with, it changes the whole experience as a whole, it is destructive, if you pick wrong, you won’t know because you don’t know what it exactly do, and you are not incentive to change because it might ruin your experience of the game

Elden Ring chose to fix this issue with game design, if you struggle with a boss fight, you summon

As for challenge, it’s the same, should be solved by clever game design, not with difficulty option that doesn’t mean anything

I personally don’t want ANY UI, i don’t want any accessibility option with menus, i believe Elden Ring perfected it by never compromising the game experience itself

But i understand some may need help hence a dedicated Accessibility realm option

Seeing Difficulty Options in a game devalue the experience for me