Gaming

I know this is satire but I would definitely play a mode like this. I may only be 20 but a 10 hour shift plus nearly 2 hour train rides kill me

My friends’ 13 year daughter thought it was so weird I never encountered the Ender Dragon or any real enemies in Minecraft. I never play on anything harder than peaceful. Because after working all day, I just want to explore a randomly generated world and create stuff sometimes.

I would absolutely choose this mode without any shame. I already spend plenty of time in "Story Mode" difficulty; I don't care to spend hours of frustration trying to hit just the right dodge pattern for a boss because I no longer have the finger dexterity that I did when I was 20.

Real talk: I'd rather kill my hour bashing my head against something challenging then progress actively through something not challenging. "Beating the game" just isn't a drive for me. I play while it's fun, which often (but not always) involves the game being challenging, and often, unless the story has particularly gripped me, I don't care to "finish" it.

But that is me. A lot of people derive their enjoyment from progressing in games. Good, adaptable difficulty settings are so important for games, and the sooner we recognize that instead of shaming people for wanting things the be accessible, the better.

I don't think it's the difficulty of games that makes them take so long for me. Just that everything is so bloated now. There's so much to do, but so little of it actually adds to the experience.

I appreciate that a lot of games have realised this and let you differentiate between "go this way to see the end of the game" and "here is some bullshit if you're not getting another game until Christmas".

Like sure, I could deliver every parcel in Death Stranding, and really get into the class fantasy of being a post apocalyptic Deliveroo driver, but I'm just mainlining the story quests at this point. Which is taking long enough on its own.

Main reason games like Deathloop, Outer Wilds, Gunfire Reborn, Slay the Spire, Vampire Survivors, etc. got their hooks in me so deep - something I can sit down, fire up to play solo (it's tough as hell to get friends together to squad in games when all your friends are also 35 and busy), knock out a 30min - 2hr play session, and put down without feeling like I'm in the middle of something.

Love how many games there are these days who play like this. Seems like rogue-lites do it best, but it's nice to see other genres making it work, too.

I play an awful lot of games on easy mode now anyway, unless I'm going in specifically to learn the game (Fromsoft games for example). If I'm playing a random open world game or a FPS I'm gonna knock that difficulty down to make life a little easier.

Time. I'd rather not do this, but I get like maybe five hours a week to play. The days where I can sit down on weekends and just...game are long gone, and likely won't return until the kids are much older.

I'm 55 and I hate this. Yeah, I know, it's satire. So is mine. Kinda.

Yes please. I have a kid. I can't die 20 times to a boss just so I can learn its moves and defeat it.

Do you know how defeated I feel having to select easy mode every time now?

Sorry I can't devote 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday to bruise my way through. I have yard work to do, dogs to entertain and a lady to woo

really like the implementation. I remember playing the Witcher 3 on easy mode just to be able to go through the story and enjoy the fantastic scenery. One of the best gaming experiences of my life. especially on an ultra wide monitor

"We’re here for you and we know that being 35 is really really really old, whether you’re willing to admit it or not."

I feel seen.

Make this but for real, though

Pretty sure a lot of people will embrace this mode if it exists. When you are an adult with responsibilities, beating a "challenging" game simply isn't a priority.

That's funny.

Reminds me of Dungeon of the Endless, where the difficulty modes were "Easy" and "Too Easy". Cheeky stuff.