Arguably the best soulslike made outside of FromSoftware's offices, Lies of P, is also one of the rare games in the fledgling subgenre to include difficulty settings, but the developers only gave fans easier options after half of them got their puppet backsides whooped.
The fairytale-infused soulslike enjoyed difficulty options a few years after its initial launch thanks to the equally excellent Lies of P: Overture expansion. Difficulty options are very contentious with soulsalikelike fans, so you can imagine how hectic the discourse got when developer Nough Studio added not one, but two difficulty settings, both of which were easier than the standard.
In a new behind-the-scenes doc peeking into Lies of P's development, we got a little bit of insight into why Nough decided to seemingly change its mind on what's seen as a cardinal sin to many a soulslike fan.
"Originally, we had everyone do a full playthrough on a fixed difficulty," combat director Lee Jeonghyeon says, while talking about what the studio calls Game Days, a period of time when all developers at the studio put themselves into the mindset of players, pick up a controller, and try to run through the brutal gauntlet they've just created.
"For the combat designers and our more skilled players, getting through the game wasn't much of a challenge," Jeonghyeon goes on. "But for those who weren't as mechanically skilled, most couldn't even get halfway before time ran out. So we introduced a lower difficulty so everyone could complete a full playthrough."
Jeonghyeon explains that once devs at the studio started using those difficulty options, "we received a lot more positive feedback," which subsequently convinced the team "that adding difficulty options would really benefit players."
