Which sounds like the more intense experience to you, dear reader – “Butterfly’s Guidance” or “Awakened Puppet”? No, this isn’t me workshopping titles for my latest range of exotic fragrances. I’m referring to the new easier difficulty modes Neowiz will add to Pinnochio-powered soulslike Lies Of P alongside the game’s Overture DLC this summer.
The difficulty modes will arrive in a free Lies Of P update. The standard difficulty will be “Legendary Stalker”, which honestly I think is a bit of a letdown, after “Butterfly’s Guidance” and “Awakened Puppet”. It barely sounds like an exotic fragrance at all. Possibly you could peddle it as some kind of feline musk.
Speaking to VGC, game director Jiwon Choi explained that “we wanted to make sure a wider audience of players could play the game,” adding that the new modes are based partly on player feedback. “[By] making development adjustments and introducing these difficulty options, we can offer the experience to different types of players,” he said. “This broadens the base.”
This would be an obvious time to rekindle the debate about difficulty, accessibility, and the toxicity of “git gud” culture. Let me extend an avuncular arm and say: come now, friends, that debate is surely over. I think everybody agrees that giving players options that reflect their needs or preferences is fundamentally a good thing, and that there is no reason such options can’t be consistent with, say, an atmosphere of abiding menace or a sense of gruelling challenge – after all, most video games and certainly, all mainstream commercial video games assist and guide players in myriad, subtle ways, even when you’re playing on Mega-Bastard difficulty.
Instead, let’s argue about appropriate difficulty mode naming. I have a feeling I’ve ranted somewhere about this before? Call me Johnny Obfuscation but I like it when developers clown around a bit with their nomenclature. Metal Gear Solid’s European Extreme, for example, or Ready To Rhombus in The Adventures Of Square. European Extreme is definitely some kind of abrasive cologne: it conjures up visions of dyed chest hair and revolting suede. Ready To Rhombus, meanwhile, sounds like a whimsical hemp-based aftershave with a handwritten label, sold exclusively in Camden Town.
Difficulty settings aside, Lies Of P is also getting a couple of new bossfight modes. In Battle Memories, you can replay bosses through five difficulty tiers. In Death March, you must fell as many bosses as possible with limited health and items. Again, it’s all coming this summer.
