Bluepoint Games, developer of the new Demon's Souls remake, have spoken up about why there's no easy mode in the new title. Demon's Souls is a remake of From Software's original RPG, released in 2009. Its goal is to be a faithful recreation of the very first "Souls-like" game, and according to reviews, it has succeeded quite ably in this.
If there's one thing that Demon's Souls and its illustrious successors, the Dark Souls series, are renowned for, it's their difficulty. The name Dark Souls is often considered synonymous with difficulty in video games; especially when From Software packaged the "Prepare to Die Edition" of the first game in the series. Many fans admire the franchise for its brutal difficulty, considering it a badge of honor to conquer such a grueling challenge. But as more and more "souls-likes" get released, fans are beginning to question how necessary that difficulty is. The Dark Souls games are, according to many, objectively excellent games, but a lot of dedicated video game fans have been turned away by the incredibly high barrier of entry formed by the franchise's difficulty. With the advent of this remake, many fans wondered if Bluepoint would break from tradition and give the Demon's Souls remake an easy difficulty setting. Many still were disappointed when Bluepoint confirmed that it wouldn't.
The Washington Post reports on why Bluepoint didn't add an easy mode, having been contacted by creative director Gavin Moore. Moore states that the primary reason there's no easy difficulty in Demon's Souls is because of Bluepoint's role as the custodians of someone else's work. The Bluepoint devs did consider giving players the option to lower the difficulty, but ultimately decided that it wasn't their place to fundamentally change the balance of From Software's game, opting instead to honor the original developer's vision and hew as close to that vision as possible. Moore also remarks on the question of accessibility, particularly in regards to players being shut out by steep difficulty curves. Moore believes that the game's combat, while challenging, is fair. He also pointed out the fact that over 180 help videos will be available to PS5 players to help them navigate the gauntlet that is Demon's Souls.
The question of accessibility and difficulty is a hot topic in the video game industry. The recent next-gen remasters of famously difficult co-op cooking chaos simulator Overcooked added a slew of accessibility features and an assist mode to make the game easier and more approachable to fans, and while the game's push of accessibility to colorblind and dyslexic gamers is admirable, the assist mode certainly raised some eyebrows for fundamentally changing the nature of the game.
Ultimately, not everyone will have a good time tackling the brutal difficulty of Demon's Souls and its relatives, and not everyone will even want to. The question comes to whether these players should be given the option to play the game in a way that will make it more enjoyable to them, or if they should simply look elsewhere in their choice of video game. Frankly it seems that the ideal world is one in which everyone can enjoy any game they want to try, and in that spirit, an easy difficulty is an admirable inclusion, even for a game like Demon's Souls. Bluepoint's dedication to the source material is admirable, but it's regrettable that so many casual gamers are left out in the cold.
Source: The Washington Post