Over the years different trends have entered the gaming industry and right now a few of the BIGGEST games of all time share similarities, in that they’re designed so that anybody playing will have the same win and loss ratio. On the outside this (skill based matchmaking, bots and excessive checkpoints) may seem like a positive change in gaming, but in reality, it just turns a real challenge into an artificial one which completely ruins the thrill that video games have always had. Leave your thoughts on this matter in the comments below and I’ll check them out as soon as I can!
#gaming #rdr2 #fortnite #discussion #callofduty #skyrim #halo
0:00 Context
1:15 Why Were Old Games Hard? (Zelda NES)
3:40 The Bullcrap Era of Difficulty (GTA Trilogy)
8:54 Diamond in The Crap (Halo)
11:26 Algorithms
11:58 The Current State of Multiplayer (Fortnite)
16:37 Skyrim Survival Mode is Peak (Skyrim)
18:35 RDR2 Is Too Easy (Red Dead Redemption 2)
21:25 COD Is Artificial (Call of Duty Black Ops 6)
23:24 End Credit Scene
44 Comments
Difficulty isn’t dying in video games — it’s dying in AAA games. Most indie developers are still brave enough to introduce new challenges, though some follow the trends set by big companies.
The problem is that, in the past, most developers were real gamers with ideas, teams, and just enough luck and money to create the games they wanted. Now, those developers have retired, and "big business men" are running companies that still carry the same old names. Their main goal is making money, so they play it safe. And for them, "safe" means the game shouldn’t be too hard. Everyone loves winning, so they'll like our game, right?
I often hear people say this is the right decision because most players are casual. They just want to relax on the couch and play a fun game without frustrating bosses or dying every few minutes. But I think this is a lazy mindset — both from developers and, therefore, from gamers nowadays.
Look at how difficulty settings work in most AAA games today:
– Journalist Mode – Just hold the stick forward.
– Easy Mode – Press any button. If you get stuck, you’ll get a hint or a helping hand. Enemy health? Reduced for you.
– Normal Mode – You’ll have to press the right buttons. No hints… until later.
– Hard Mode – The same as Normal, but everything is doubled (health, damage, XP).
– Super God Mode – One life, no saving between locations, or all stats tripled.
Why would anyone choose a higher difficulty in this setup? Hard mode should require strategy, learning mechanics and combos, analyzing characters to make the right choices, and studying the environment for shortcuts or hidden treasures. Most "casual players" have never experienced a well-structured challenge that encourages them to push their limits. They don’t know how it feels to truly "level up" in real life after mastering a game. For them, difficulty is just pressing buttons while sweating.
Difficulty should inspire, not discourage.
Man casually forgot Shadow of the Erdtree came out in 2023
just a crazy way of saying you suck
And you know what's funny The Last of us came out in 2013 you're just using the remake in quotation marks because they didn't remake shit they just improve the graphics
idle games are too difficult
we need to go "fully automated, no touch needed" games
Everyone has to be the star nowadays. You can’t just be decent anymore, and if you are, you’ll feel like you’re not.
“Cause when everyone’s super, no one will be.”
hot line miamie
As someone who's finished school, gotten a tiny bit older and now works full-time, the last thing I want to do is try and play a game after a stressful day only to be subjected to more stress.
I think we've reached a new point in life where people of all ages are playing video games now. Its finally become fully socially acceptable, rather than seen as the nerdy hobby about a decade ago.
Its a weird argument, because while there is an argument that video games are getting easier and people do not like it, there's also the argument that people hate sweats…? So there are now new measures against those but people are now complaining that games are easier.
I want to play games and turn my brain off and have fun. Who cares if Fortnite has a bunch of bots nowadays? They're a means to an end, you're at one point of the map and half the map dies within the first 5 minutes of play (who you'll never see or interact with) which eventually leaves you with the last few alive being players anyway.
Sucking at a game isn't fun, and playing games is supposed to be fun. Competetive modes are available in almost every single modern PvP game to give people a proper challenge.
In no particular order.
This is a list of my favorite games of all time: ⏰️
Single-player/Story 📖:
1)God of War 2018
2)God of War 3
3)God of War Ragnarok and Valhalla
4)Red Dead Redemption 2
5)Sifu
6)Uncharted 4: a thief's end
7)Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
8)Hollow Knight
9)Gris
10)Rayman legends
11)Horizon Zero Dawn: complete edition
12)The Last of Us:Remastered and Part 1
13)Thumper
14)Marvel's Spider-Man
15)Spider-Man: Miles Morales
16)Spider-Man 2
17)Mortal Kombat x: story
18)ABZÛ
19)Titanfall 2
20)Doom eternal
21)Life is Strange 2
22)Rez infinite
23)Ghost of Tsushima director's cut
24)The Last of Us Part 2 remastered
25)Sekiro shadows die twice
26)Elden ring: SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE
27)Dark Souls 3
28)Detroit: Become human
29)The Legend of Zelda: tears of the kingdom
30)Mario Kart 8 deluxe
31)Super Mario Bros wonder
32)Super Mario Bros Odyssey
33)Animal Crossing New Horizons
34)Inside
35)Celeste
36)Subnautica
37)RATCHET & CLANK rift apart
38)Price of Persia the Lost Crown 👑
39)Super Hot VR
40)Cup head
41)Stray
42)ORI: will of the wisps
43)Cocoon
44)Returnal
45)Hades
46)Superliminal
47)Hi_Fi rush
48)Portal
49)Portal 2
50)Worldless
51)It takes two
52)Hitman 3
53)Batman Arkham Knight
54)Shadow of the Tomb Raider
55)Astro's playroom
56)Astro bot
57)Sonic mania
58)Sonic rush
59)NEVA
60)BLACK MYTH WUKONG🐒
61)Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2
62)DOOM THE DARK AGES 💀(not out yet)
63)Phantom Blade Zero (not out yet)
64)the plucky squire
65)Alan Wake 2
66)GHOST OF YŌTEI (not out yet)
67)Demon's Souls
68)Control
69)Devil May Cry 5
70)Super Mario Galaxy 1&2
71)Horizon Forbidden West: complete edition
72)bloodborne
73)Final Fantasy 16
74)Solar Ash
75)Lies of P
76)THE STANLEY PARABLE: ULTRA DELUXE
77)Animal Well
78)Monster Hunter: Wilds
79)Split Fiction
80)Death Stranding
81)Final Fantasy 7 Remake
82)Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Online multi-player games 🎮:
1)Brawlhalla
2)Fall guys
3)O.G.Fortnite
4)Apex legends
5)Titanfall 2 online
6)Rocket League
7)Warframe
8)O.G. Overwatch
9)Street Fighter 6
10)Rogue company
11)The Finals
12)Helldivers 2
13)Space Marine 2 co-op
14)Marvel rivals
15)Path of Exile 2 (not out yet)
16)Elden ring: Nightreign (not out yet)
17)SUPER SMASH BROS: ULTIMATE
If you want to be able to notice your skill and progression as a player increase play ranked as there is a direct correlation between how good you are and what your rank is also as you rank up youll notice a generally linear increase in your apponents skill
Fortnite 2025 experience: land at a named location, nobody else landed with you. run around the map for 10 minutes and kill 15 bots, your whole team is separated because they’re trying to steal eachothers bot kills. A real team finally shows up and kills your whole team because you forgot fortnite is supposed to be a pvp game. Que up and repeat.
Tbh for a game like rdr2 for most people the experience of exploring and eating and wearing appropriate clothes is more about being immersed in the world than difficulty. Also I would hate if Arthur felt worse to play cause he wasn't upgraded at the start of the game. That is literally Arthur in his prime lol.
I was wondering why when I played Fortine forever ago I was winning left and right and why it felt easier than when I played it a years before that matchmaking update.
This i what I like about Ultrakill. It's difficult as hell when you get far into the game and that forces you to understand the mechanics and how to properly utilize each weapon o you can BECOME the god. It doesn't just give that to you off the bat. You have to earn that feeling.
yes
The last games I can recall truly challenging me the entire time are Jedi: Fallen Order and to a lesser extent Jedi: Survivor. Imo half the fun of their combat mechanics comes from the difficulty, like learning attack patterns and timing
Recently I've been playing og for 2009 modern warfare 2 multiplayer and even though everyone is godsweats the few times I get kills it feels glorious
What you said about rdr2 I have been feeling since it came out, maybe it’s cause I was playing fo4 survival when rdr2 came out but man, I love when a game gives me a good challenge and unfortunately rdr2 does not do that.
0:44 in low level lobbies it's actually more like 80 bots vs 20 players, lol
I had to rewind the last few minutes of the video because 21:35 took me so off-guard.
I LOVE FROMSOFTWARE
i have still never played skyrim in my life wdym replaying?
00:46 Correction; ''Losing is predetermined by the developer ''.
Mostly L takes apart from bots in Fortnite being lame as fuck. It's just 15 minutes of killing loot pinatas until you get jump-scared by a real player who does damage.
I wasted so much money on that game, and now I cannot find the strength to boot it up and wait for a queue because only 5% of that lobby will engage my neurons. I won't even be able to use my building or shooting skills because that 5% are all using the new weapon introduced in that season, which is probably some infinite ammo ranged piercing AOE nuke that makes them invulnerable to damage.
Yea I'd rather play a single player game with some difficult but rewarding combat like TLOU or Dark Souls than get spoon fed kills against robots in a PVP game. It just doesn't feel rewarding without that additional level of understanding that you are fighting against real players, and once the illusion is broken, it kills the experience.
in Rdr 2 there really should be a hardcore mode to make it super realistic, but there is a fine line between difficulty and pure inconvenience, the player does not need to be punished that hard, just hard enough.
Rdd2 is unique tho, is more of a movie than a game lowkey
It’s harder in older game
11:53
Well atleast algorithms have done ONE good thing
No mention of Kingdom come 2 ?
Hey man I like this video a lot, unfortunately I think that you have been plagiarized. I noticed that the last video from the Spanish YouTuber @SHNYT some of your lines copied WORD FOR WORD. I noticed it first in the intro with the rtx, mocap, and pores joke. Not only that but he also uses the same arguments as you in his video. I really liked this video of yours and it makes me sad knowing that someone in the Spanish community i love has plagiarized your video. I encourage you to check out that video with captions and claim your right as a creative person.
Nd then there is games like the isle… You need to pray every time you drink from a river
I am surprised you haven't mention the Souls series since I feel like these games are great Examples of what you are Talking about other than that Great Video Loved it <3
I'm a filthy builds player. What I love about Fortnite isn't just the mechanical and strategic complexity of building, but the way that I'm hopelessly outmatched by players who've been playing solo cups for years.
I don't want to win. I want to learn. I want to get better. My enjoyment stems from the grind, not from the W.
I understand why sbmm is important in some games but I just cant play cod no more , like scince bo6 release I have been getting worse and worse at the game thanks that there was a point where I started playing some better than my usual, so the game started putting me against top global and no life ppl and even cheaters , all that cuz I was playing a little bit better , so now every time I try to have a little bit of fun in warzone or Bo6 I just get by the ass from tik tokers and top players , so I think that now games punish you a lot for being slightly good , and getting better does not mean nothing because the game will put you in harder lobbys like if it was ranked mode
Should be titled "Guy discovers Silent Hill Soundtrack and is obsessed"
Skill based matchmaking and engagement based matchmaking are the worst things that can possibly be added to a video game. It turns what was or would be a fun video game into a pointless time waster.
its not you just playing the wrong games
Once you get past gold in ranked fortnite there's zero bots so everything you said about fortnite match making is changed, and or effective fixed if you just play rank
I think one thing that needs to be address, is the fact an overwhelming # of players SELECT easy as their difficulty – a lot of people dont want to be challenged. This was shown most recently by paradox interactive who shared that I think it was 80% of players select an easy difficulty – now yes, paradox games are "dense" but difficulty doesnt effect that, it effects how well your opponent plays. So while is true and sad games are becoming "easier" without making it an option, at the same time an overwhelming amount of players WANT easy because they dont want to be challenged – which might also explain why so many people at the same time loose interest and never finish games.
I was not expecting this to suddenly and brashly become a Skyrim promo lol…
tarkov is the most difficult game ive ever played im 200 hours in and still havent even touched half the maps
even pve is difficult and tarkov just feels so rewarding to get good at
it has been said before, and will be said again, but "a game made for everyone, is a game made for no one". they want to make it easy so anyone can play it, they make it as generic as possible to appeal a wider market, but in turn nobody gets interested. they stretch the scope of the game, AND our wallets so thin that its not even fun anymore. they need to narrow the scope, make it vertical rathen than horizontal
it helps people to not be discouraged by the myriad of try harders, there are too many no live people that make casual gamers abandon, and that has nothing to do with difficulty in games isto do with difficulty in competitive mmos
do you catch yourself relating to wanting a challenge and wanting to be afriad, play pubg.