Sekiro and difficulty: Forget the control, everyone can play this jewel

I am currently playing a video game called Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This is an action game in which you are a shinobi who is trying to save your young lord kidnapped formidable enemies. You may have heard that it's a difficult game. I'm probably less than a quarter of the way, but I've already forgotten how many times I died – without exaggerating, the number is probably between 40 and 50.

Despite and because of this difficulty, I have a good time. It's a great game. Certainly, I'm a fan of the developer From Software. I've already written on the positive impact that Dark Souls, one of his previous games, had on my life. Overcoming the challenges of this game has brought me important life lessons.

Sekiro is perhaps the most difficult game this company has created and is renowned for its difficult games. This has led to an intense online debate about whether or not Sekiro should have an "easy mode". In many video games you can choose whether you want to play on easy, medium or hard. Sekiro does not offer this choice.

A convincing article on Kotaku argued for the need to accessibility Sekiro so that disabled players can play too. I strongly believe that Sekiro is a better game without easy mode, and I do not say it because I want to belong to an exclusive club of people who can play it.

For me, the ideas of difficulty and accessibility should not be confused. Although some disabled players have already come forward to defend the game, Sekiro and all video games should have immediately available accessibility options for anyone to play.

Have accessibility options – maybe similar to those described on Twitter by the creator of Celeste, another challenging game – is not the same as offering an easy mode. Accessibility options must include specific game adjustments in a specialized menu that you can access if you need it – such as adjusting the speed of the game – but who must stay out of sight if you do not have one. no need. An easy mode usually means that a choice is presented to all players early on in the experience, which alters many aspects of the game's balance.

Much of the value of Sekiro's experience comes from solving problems and improving the game. Playing Sekiro can be an amazing experience for anyone who has the patience and perseverance needed to carry it out. In many ways, Sekiro is a better game for players who fear a little.

Open the doors

A big misconception about Sekiro and Dark Souls is that they are reserved for "elite" players. This is not the case at all, and those who dispute an easy mode because they want to use these titles for some sort of artificial control, which keeps the games exclusively for the "real players", are lacking in all cost.

They are supposed to be teaching exercises. They are meant to provide a hard-earned sense of achievement that is not found in other games. Sekiro is designed for those who are willing to make an effort. Period. That's what makes it beautiful.

The difficulty of Sekiro makes you pay attention and you impregnate every detail of the environment. The difficulty is what makes the coming and going of the samurai so captivating. You must know when to attack and when to defend and every decision you make in a split second can lead to victory or defeat.

All games must be playable by all players, but Sekiro is not reserved for elites. It takes humility. You will certainly die and if you get angry and stop, you will not improve. If you let your death teach you to improve, you will eventually be able to defeat everything the game throws at you. It's a nice feeling when it happens, and unique in the game, and there should be room in the game world for all kinds of unique experiences.

Stumble to victory

As painful as I can admit, I am not a particularly talented player. I like video games, but I tend to get by, especially those who are supposed to be tough.

Another recent action game called God of War offers four different difficulty modes. From the easiest to the most difficult, they have been called "give me a story", http://www.cnet.com/ "give me a balanced experience", http://www.cnet.com/ "start me a challenge "and" give me God of war. "The game was praised for allowing people to pick their own experience without feeling guilty if they wanted something easier.

It was part of the artistic vision of the designers and there is nothing wrong with that. God of War is a great game. I've ended up playing the balanced experience option after trying and failing to the next level. Even the normal difficulty proved difficult enough to kill me many times, but I never felt stuck. This was not the goal of God of War. This difficulty was perfect for me and perfectly described.

Sekiro does not have that. It has a narrower purpose. God of War is about a lot of things. In the foreground is the story of a father trying to reconnect with his son during a heartbreaking journey. Sekiro also has a story, but it is all about overcoming the great challenges of patience and perseverance.

In many games, you make your character more powerful by playing. You do it in Sekiro too, but you also improve a lot in the game and as a player. The game teaches you to win as long as you are ready to learn. You will naturally improve in almost all games, but I have never seen anything similar to the curve of a game from software.

After defeating Dark Souls for the first time, I started a new game with a new character to try again to some of the old bosses. These bosses had all killed me many times in my first game, approaching 10 to 20 times each. During this second part, I killed the first three leaders without being touched. Once again, I had just started, so it was not my character who was more powerful. That was me – I was much more powerful. It's an incredible feeling.

Like Dark Souls before him, Sekiro is amazing in this respect. It is the most interactive collaborative art because it requires your dedication to go to the end. Your journey reflects more the protagonist than in any other game I have played. As your character faces difficult challenges, grows up and learns, too.

A compromise on this vision with a simple mode would diminish this quality. This would distract from his singular artistic focus.

Why are we falling?

I am still early in Sekiro. Just last night, an intermediate boss killed me five times, but I finally beat him. Most enemies in the game are stronger than your character, but it does not matter, because every time you are knocked out, you can get up and try again. To beat him, I could not worry about the fact that I would inevitably face much more difficult bosses. My job at that time was to overcome this task and hope that this challenge would teach me how to deal with the next one.

Like the other Software games I have played, Sekiro teaches some lessons of life about learning through failure and about the task ahead. Working through is a remarkable experience that any player capable of patience and desire to learn can have. An easy mode would remove some of the qualities that make this game so wonderful.

Not wanting to be frustrated with a video game is understandable, but not all video games should please everyone. I also sometimes like to play video games to relax. It's not Sekiro, and it's better for that. It's unique and demanding and it's addressed to anyone who can appreciate these qualities in a game.