"Games are meant to be engaging, not exhausting": Lead dev on promising Soulslike RPG pushes balanced difficulty because "if stress keeps piling up without relief, players will eventually want to quit"

We’re in what is roughly our 14th year of every game that’s difficult being called 'Dark Souls,' so it’s pretty safe to say that one of the main things associated with the soulslike genre is difficulty. FromSoftware’s Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring have pushed me to my limits in ways that a lesser game would not get away with and lead to a ton of super satisfying moments. Which is then followed by mass amounts of shame when I see someone blast through it on a DDR mat or some daft thing like that.

But at the same time, I’m aware not everyone is keen to bash their head against a wall to overcome one boss fight out of 30 or so for hours, which is something that the studio behind The First Berserker: Khazan seems to be aware of too. Speaking to GamesRadar+, the game’s creative director, Junho Lee, said, "We wanted success to feel rewarding, but just as importantly, we wanted the process of overcoming challenges to be fun. This is a game, after all. This is where fairness comes into play." Adding, "If a game is too easy, it lacks a sense of achievement. If it's too hard, it leads to frustration."

Lee was later asked at what point does difficulty become too punishing and stop being fun. The director responded, "When the risk outweighs the reward, difficulty stops being engaging and starts feeling unfair. Balance is key. If a player takes on a high-risk challenge and succeeds, but the reward is too low, the experience becomes frustrating rather than satisfying. Games are meant to be engaging, not exhausting. If stress keeps piling up without relief, players will eventually want to quit. This is what we consider punishing rather than challenging. Likewise, when the relationship between challenge and reward breaks down, the game loses its meaning and becomes repetitive."

Unlike its soulslike contemporaries, The First Berserker: Khazan does feature an easy mode – which was only available after beating the first boss. However, feedback from the game’s Steam Next Fest demo has caused the developer to rethink this for the full game: "after analyzing extensive player feedback and gameplay data, we made adjustments. Now, a player will be given the option to lower the difficulty earlier if they die multiple times before reaching the first boss." The demo for The First Berserker: Khazan kicked my ass in ways I haven’t felt since beating Bloodborne’s Orphan of Kos, so this easy mode may be a godsend when the full game drops – provided I stop being too stubborn to use it.

If you’re in the market for a slightly less hardcore RPG, one of the greatest to ever do it is on sale right now. You can grab Chrono Trigger for $4 in the Steam sale right now.