Everyone is rightfully sick of the FromSoftware difficulty conversation, most of all me, but I think there’s a perspective here we’re not exploring as thoroughly as we ought to as we settle into Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Most mentions of this topic devolve into two sides which are riddled with baseless claims and exaggerated fears. And they all fixate on the perceived difficulty of the latest FromSoftware game.
I understand I’m kicking the proverbial hornets’ nest by daring to suggest the concept of difficulty is misunderstood on both sides, but as an avid fan of FromSoftware games, I’m tired of having to hide my love of the Souls genre, especially as a physically disabled player. So, allow me, one of the biggest supporters of Elden Ring’s design, to explore why difficulty and Easy Mode need to be left behind.
You’re Not Playing Incorrectly
FromSoftware games are notorious for encouraging the creation of unique builds. Whether it’s heavy armor with gargantuan hammers or naked Pyromancers with a wooden club, there is no wrong way to play – unless you’re a gatekeeper.
This side, often filled with toxicity, superiority complexes, and a penchant for trying to force others to not enjoy Souls games will be the first, and loudest, voice in the room to tell you that you are playing incorrectly. No, these people were not in developer meetings, nor were they playtesters for these games, but they sure like to act like they know what Hidetaka Miyazaki’s intentions were when creating titles like Elden Ring. Even though Miyazaki has stated numerous times that the point of these games was to create an experience that players are meant to overcome, not bash your head against an impossible brick wall, this group of rabid fans have misinterpreted his words to mean quite the opposite of his intent. This quote from a recent Game Informer interview perfectly encapsulates his belief in difficulty, not what the community believes.
“When players are killed, and they can understand why they were killed in an instance, and it feels justified – ‘Okay, yeah, that makes sense’ – that’s the game design we’re trying to achieve,” Miyazaki continues. “I know a lot of players out there are probably going to disagree: ‘What are you talking about?! This game doesn’t make sense! What the heck!’ But we try to make sure that there is a learning curve and a feedback loop that the players are able to extract from that they can then bring into the next attempt. We believe in difficult games, but not games that are unjustly or unfairly so. But, of course, there’s still room for improvement on our side, as well.”
Taking things even further, Miyazaki recently admitted to Keza MacDonald that he “absolutely sucks” at video games and uses every tool at his disposal to conquer the very worlds he helps create.
Elden Ring, like most Souls games, wants individuals to find a comfortable playstyle. In previous Souls entries, I gravitated toward heavy armor with great swords and faith-based spells. For Elden Ring, I prefer the flashy and downright chaotic style of sorceries. With my disability, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II, a progressive disability which weakens muscles, I found myself losing strength and energy from navigating the vast world of the Lands Between with my previous setups. After switching to the ranged capabilities of magic, I was able to play for extensive periods, continuously progress, and more importantly, enjoy myself far more. And all of this was done with tools that gatekeepers despise.
My character’s very existence is an affront to people who want you to suffer. I can absolutely obliterate most enemies within seconds because of my spells, – though not as quickly as before with the DLC – and if I’m finding an encounter too challenging, I simply use spirits or other players to help. And people loathe me for it. If you spend any time on social media or forums discussing FromSoftware games, you are bound to stumble upon those proclaiming that any weapon or strategy that doesn’t involve a large two-handed sword and shield is cheating.
Using summons? That’s cheating. Magic of any kind that deals damage? Yep, you are cheating. Leveling up beyond the meta bracket – in Elden Ring’s case, 125-150 – you guessed it, you are a filthy cheater. But what is most perplexing about these arguments is that these systems are in most FromSoftware games. Aside from exceptions like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Bloodborne, magic, summoning, and extensively progressing your character are all crucial aspects with their own intricacies and pros and cons. It doesn’t matter if I rolled credits after defeating the final boss on every Souls game and Elden Ring, because I did so in a way that goes against their playstyles, I didn’t win. The sheer exuberance of seeing a final boss scatter into the wind and the absolute adrenaline rush of knowing I beat a challenging game mean nothing because I didn’t suffer the way gatekeepers did.
The Accessibility Issue
Difficulty is a core design of FromSoftware games. You are meant to die. You are meant to learn. You are meant to continuously try again. However, rather than the conflated difficulty that gatekeepers incorrectly assume Miyazaki wanted, for disabled individuals, inaccessible barriers make these games significantly more challenging.
The most common accessibility critique of FromSoftware games is their lack of difficulty options. Many conversations led by disabled people state the primary reason for being so inaccessible is the lack of “Easy Mode.” And while difficulty is subjective and can absolutely pose numerous barriers for a variety of disabilities, fixating on a singular setting does little to advance accessibility conversations, especially with so many barriers that need to be addressed.
For starters, there are no settings for blind/low vision players aside from increasing brightness. The game provides no prominently visible traversal markers, no auto travel on horseback, and most egregious of all, the game’s design is visually dark. While there are massive open landscapes, much of the optional content lies within tombs, caves, and cramped halls of decrepit, dark ruins or castles. Combine that with enemy patterns relying on the ability to see minute position changes, and boss fights can feel like impossible tasks. While there is a fairly accurate targeting system, blind/low vision individuals have no way to increase visual accessibility, making exploration and combat incredibly…well, difficult.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing fair marginally better, as most enemy attacks rely heavily on visual cues. Some optional bosses like the Black Knife Assassin, Astel, Naturalborn of the Void, and the Ancestor Spirit perform moves that either teleport them around the arena, or in the case of the Assassin, cloak themselves, with the sound of their footsteps on water alerting you to their position. While there are subtitles, they only work for spoken words, not environmental sounds. And unlike some games like Fortnite, there are no directional indicators of noise. If an enemy or boss is rapidly positioning around an area, deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals have no choice but to scan the arena until they find the opponent.
I’ve yet to mention mobility accessibility because I find it quite accessible. I’m fully aware that each individual experiences disability uniquely, but Souls games and Elden Ring offer more physical accessibility choices than I’ve seen in studios with dozens of options. There are customizable controls, target aggression mitigation through the form of co-op or summons to reduce physical fatigue, ranged playstyles with magic that can obliterate major bosses in under 10 seconds, and more importantly with Elden Ring, the capability to skip most bosses. Remember Malenia? She’s entirely optional. Defeating her does nothing to progress the main storyline. While I died on her over 50 times before finally acquiring her soul, I did so out of personal pride, not because I was forced to. And that is the ultimate accessibility tool, one that Miyazaki does very well – player choice.
Arguably, Souls games and Elden Ring particularly are nightmares for those with cognitive disabilities. FromSoftware games rely heavily on pattern recognition. From the movesets and timings of player weapons and spells, to the attack patterns of every enemy encounter, you are meant to memorize and recognize everything. Therein lies the overall design thesis of Miyazaki – you keep trying until you’ve memorized enough to beat the challenge. While this barrier can be mitigated through systems like magic and summoning, it’s impossible to avoid memorization. Further, there are no concise explanations on what pieces of gear such as talismans do. Many item descriptions give vague hints about their use, and it’s up to players to test their capabilities before discovering if they are useful on their build. And since cognitive accessibility is still a relatively new concept for many studios, there are no options to help.
Conversations around difficulty are so tiring and add nothing to arguments that continue to be brought up with every new FromSoftware release. Are these games difficult? Yes. Are they meant to be impossible? Absolutely not. And depending on your specific disability, arguing about the implementation of difficulty options will do little to fix glaring issues that continue to plague each entry. Difficulty settings are absolutely an important accessibility tool, but their weight and value are often egregiously conflated. For gatekeepers, I encourage you to listen to the words of the developer that you worship to understand these games are not meant to cause immense stress. And for disabled players, I ask you to openly talk about what you need to make this game accessible. Don’t assume that a single setting will erase every barrier.
