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Hollow Knight: Silksong is the latest game to join the "difficulty in games" debate. In this Mini episode of GMTK, let's look at why, and how, designers implement a high level of challenge in their games.

=== Before you watch === 

Spoiler warning: This video shows bosses and areas throughout Act 1 of Hollow Knight: Silksong

=== Sources ===

[1] Hollow Knight: Silksong Review | Video Games Chronicle
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/hollow-knight-silksong/

[2] Hidetaka Miyazaki Sees Death as a Feature, Not a Bug | The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/hidetaka-miyazaki-sees-death-as-a-feature-not-a-bug

=== Chapters ===

00:00 Intro
01:49 Why Make a Game Hard?
05:24 Fair or BS
07:27 Adjustable Difficulty
09:17 Explore Elsewhere
11:46 Conclusion

=== Credits ===

Music provided by Epidemic Sound - https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/vtdu5y (Referral Link)

=== Subtitles ===

Contribute translated subtitles - https://gamemakerstoolkit.com/translation/

Game Maker's Toolkit

Game difficulty serves three main purposes: creating satisfaction through overcoming challenges, supporting narrative themes, and encouraging proper gameplay mechanics usage. However, difficulty must be carefully balanced to avoid frustration. Effective difficulty design includes fair challenge mechanics, opportunities for players to adjust difficulty through exploration or settings, and ways to circumvent roadblocks. Games like Hollow Knight: Silksong demonstrate both successful difficulty implementation and problematic elements that can push players toward rage-quitting.

What's The Point Of Hard Games, Anyway?

Hard games can be much more engaging if the player understands the challenge, can see how to beat the challenge, and the challenge is not just a wall they can’t cross, nor is it needlessly difficult.
Easy games can be much more relaxing. Easy isn’t the same as casual; a casual game is played in short breaks during lunch, or etc; which describes Tetris, a game that requires consistently near-perfect play, and which has versions with no cap to the escalation of difficulty.

Stop your yapping, it’s just skill issues. If it’s too hard for you, then it’s not for you. Go play zuma or something.

Hard games challenge players in ways that easy games never do. They test problem-solving skills, strategic thinking, and patience, rewarding those who stick with difficult levels with a sense of achievement. Overcoming tough obstacles can be thrilling, making every victory feel meaningful and memorable.
In Roblox games like Adopt Me, understanding <a href="https://elvebredd.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">trading values</a> is just as important as mastering gameplay. Knowing the worth of pets lets players make fair trades, prioritize rare pets, and maximize their collection efficiently. By grasping these values, players gain an advantage in trading, turning casual exchanges into smart, strategic decisions within the game.

They always seem hard but there are always “THOSE GUYS” That don’t know hard.🙄if you’ve met gamers who speak in gamer😂. like:
“After a full wipe on the boss, the tank ragequit, the healer went AFK, and the toxic DPS started flaming in chat, so we had to FF.”
“With the new patch, the meta shifted so the OP combo was nerfed, making my old speedrun strat obsolete due to bad RNG.”
“He was caught trying to boost and got permabanned, but now he’s just smurfing and griefing on a new account.”
“Our bronze noob kept feeding mid, so the fed enemy ADC snowballed hard and we got rekt.”
“My new GPU gets insane FPS, so I can finally camp in a bush and get a clutch headshot with a decent TTK.”