What's The Point Of Hard Games, Anyway?

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.