“So, gamer, what did you think about the campfire scene?” “I didn’t get it at all. When they said Earl and his kid were dead and everyone started crying I had no idea who they were.” “Huh? You don’t remember him? He was in the scene where you visit the city gate.” “I haven’t been to the city gate yet.” “…Really? I…oh shit.” With all the interactivity games have, it’s very possible for someone’s session to just not hit the same emotional beats the devs planned out. True for an improperly gated story, as well as for a difficulty curve. Shout out to all the homies that missed the Estus Flask in Dark Souls 2, and who learned nothing revelatory about exploration when they finally came back to it.

Cuphead shows you how much health you took off before dying, and lets you restart boss fights immediately and infinitely without needing to replenish any forms of ammo. I’d say Cuphead is FAR more relaxed.

Several Soulslikes I’ve played have hidden in accessibility options things like not hitting you for falling into a pit, or not taking resources when you die. I had a fantastic moment with this in Another Crab’s Treasure; I was doing some platforming when Krill glitched off the geometry and fell, killing me in the process. When I respawned, I knew I had tons of microplastics (souls) out there I wanted to save, but also felt frustrated because it wasn’t my fault I died - just bad game coding, as many games have. Plus, the odd positioning meant I might not be able to reach the death spot. Instead, I just went to Accessibility and recovered them that one time; the game was nice enough not to even invalidate any achievements from the brief use.

I think the point at which I decided I hated Symphony of the Night was when I could go a whole session without finding anything new, or learning anything. The map is just so wide, with no clues as to where you can next explore.

This is true. There are lots of reviews out there to read though before making a purchasing decision.

You're right, difference being that what you're saying is more akin (following the analogy) to putting wheelchair ramps on a mountain. Silksong is the mountain, git gud and climb it or shut the fuck up.

I mean, it's a direct sequel to a difficult souls-like. It's hard to have too much sympathy for anyone who didn't play the first Hollow Knight but wanted to jump in on the sequel, since I think anyone who played the first HK should have a good idea on what Skong's difficulty looks like.

then play other games. it's okay for difficult games that require a lot of time investment to not be for you.

No, they're not, and that is the whole point. If you could die a hundred times and never lose any progress, Pharloom wouldn't feel dangerous or unwelcoming. This feeling you get when you're running around an uncharted area is tied to the risk of being sent back, not the difficulty of the enemies in said area.

Sure, but like. Be a human for a second. I want to play Dark Souls. I enjoy the gameplay and I find the story deeply fascinating, literally the only part I have trouble with is the bosses. You get why it's frustrating to me that I'm not able to play this game that I actually do enjoy, right? I don't just want an easy mode for the sake of there being an easy mode, I want an easy mode so that this game that I like can actually be accessible to me