After talking to developers over the last month regarding their thoughts on difficulty settings in games, and what they intend, I had to ask the rest of the staff about their preferences. Which difficulty setting do they prefer? Do their preferences differ when it comes to reviewing a game? Do their preferences change depending on the franchise, goal in mind, etc.? Does anyone really care how we play games?
The answer to the last question is most likely a “no,” but I had to ask anyway. We are quite the diverse bunch in how we play games and how we review them. You all can probably guess which difficulty level some people play, especially those of us who love multiplayer shooters. I will say that no one fessed to playing on the easiest difficulty available, such as the one shown above from Wolfenstein: The New Order.
Essential Reading:
- Do Developers Have a Set Difficulty Level in Mind?
- Top 5 Best PlayStation Experience 2016 Moments
- PS4 Stealth Games – Buyer’s Guide
Staff Difficulty
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Tyler Treese
When I'm reviewing a game I always start off on normal difficulty.
Sometimes I'll end up tweaking it if the game starts kicking my ass
too much (there is a deadline after all), or it becomes boring, but
generally I'm on the default difficulty.
If I'm playing a game in my own time then I'm likely playing on easy
or will give it a go on normal and then drop it down if I find myself
dying often. I want to play as many games as possible and broaden my
palette, so there's next to no appeal to dying repeatedly on the same
segment. I get to taste that often enough while reviewing, and I just
want to relax. -
Cameron Teague
I always play on easy simply because I don't have as much time to play anymore. So I just wanted to enjoy the story and game play without being frustrated. As for when I review, I like to play on easy first and then boost up to hard.
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Alex Co
I usually play on Hard if it's a franchise I know already (God of War, etc.) right off the gate since Normal is usually for franchise newbies. 🙂
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Zarmena Khan
I usually play on Easy for the story because that's what I focus on but sometimes, that setting is way too easy and I'll have to switch it up. I rarely play on hard but recently, beat Battlefield 1 on hard because it was fun and it prolonged the game for me.
When reviewing, I play on Normal as my assumption is that this is what most people will shoot for. -
Michael Briers
I tend to jump in and start on the hardest difficulty available, though I'd scale it back if I felt the added challenge just becomes a waste of time. Gold trophies are nice and all, but not when you're dumping more time into a particular level or boss battle that you really should. Catherine springs to mind as an example of when I dialed back the difficulty level.
For reviews, yeah, I'd stick with normal because that's what the vast majority of users will be playing at release. -
Heath Hindman
I always play on easy and brag about how easy shit was. Then when it's my wife's turn to play, I put it on hard because she's way better at games than I am and I need to feel superior. The problem is that she's so much better at games than I am, she generally does better on hard than I do on easy. I think she realizes what I do, but neither of us wants to bring it up because it's awkward and I would definitely deny it.
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Stephen Bitto
Time is a serious limiting factor when it comes to my gaming habits. I started playing games on easy but quickly realized that it took something away from the experience. Now, I play on normal but when I hit a roadblock I don't hesitate to look up a walkthrough or tip guide. It actually works out in my favor because about a third of the time the hangup is actually a glitch!
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Chandler Wood
Normal is my difficulty of choice for reviewing games to get the "average gamer's experience" out of it, and be able to accurately calculate difficulty curves of the progression of the game. Occasionally I'll up the difficulty of it's something I am confident playing, but in the interest of finishing in a timely manner and making sure I at least get some challenge, Normal tends to be my compromise.
When playing on my own, difficulty will depend on trophy hunting. If a harder difficulty is required, I generally try to get it out of the way first, and reserve the easier playthrough for cleanup, but I'll adjust how I play based on suggested trophy roadmaps for each game Sometimes completing easier difficulties gives tools that help with the harder difficulties.
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Paulmichael Contreras
I'll play on Normal difficulty for review purposes, to get a feel for how the game is likely to be experienced by the average gamer. Then I'll ratchet the difficulty up as high as it can go for a second playthrough of the game's campaign for the off chance that I ever have extra time to play it again (I don't).
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Mack Ashworth
I rock Normal, to play "as intended." Though, if I truly love a game, I'll likely replay it on the hardest difficulty. I completed a bunch of Call of Duty games on Veteran, the first three Gears of War titles on Insane, and The Last of Us on Grounded.
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Anthony Severino
I start all games on Normal, and adjust accordingly, but it's rare I play anything outside of Normal. For subsequent replays, it depends - usually I'll put it on increasingly more difficult settings to challenge myself, but there are rare instances where I'd put a game on Easy to run through it faster. My recent, re-playing of games for the PS4 Pro, is a great example. I put the games on Easy to I could get through as much of the game as possible, as fast as I could for the sake of the review.
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Louis Edwards
I tend to play on the hardest difficulty available from the start. Difficulty settings have weakened over the years and I find most games on Hard or Veteran are what games used to be on Normal.
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Blake Grundman
I play everything on normal for both fun and reviews. I think that it tends to be the most accurate reflection of what a developer envisioned for a game's relative difficulty. Unless that game is a shooter, where I ratchet the difficulty up as high as it can go when I am playing for fun.
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Keri Honea
When I review games, I always play on a Normal difficulty setting. Normal often has the most balanced gameplay, and it's the best way to see how scripted, how difficult, how challenging, or how awful a gaming experience is.Now when I play on my own, I want to enjoy myself and have fun, so I usually take the Easy route.
