How important is difficulty to you in games?

[Norion]

Depends on the game. For story focused ones it doesn't have as much impact but for something like a platformer it's a big deal. Celeste for example wouldn't have been as compelling and satisfying as it was if it was easy. For something like Hollow Knight many of its most memorable boss fights are as memorable as they are in large part due to the challenge.

Also I completely agree with the preferring one set difficulty part. My ideal scenario is something like HK that doesn't start of that tricky but continually ramps up over time and eventually gets to a point where its hardest optional challenges are so hard not even 0.1% of players will be able to do them. People like me can enjoy doing most of the hardest stuff but stop when they feel like they've reached their limit while the masochists who'll spend dozens or even hundreds of hours practicing the game and attempting those challenges can become gods at it and complete absolutely everything. Most of the game giving a nice challenge but being manageable for most gamers with at least some experience while having super hard optional challenges for the best of the best to challenge themselves is the sweet spot I'd say.

Last edited by Norion - 5 hours ago