Are you filled with anxiety for playing on easy? Kotaku is. (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Monday, December 04, 2017, 10:35 (2625 days ago) @ Korny

Horizon Zero Dawn added a difficulty below Easy, called Story. I can't recall if it was ME3 that did the same, but I think that's neat (and I wish The Last of Us did the same, since even non-gamers should be able to hop into it to experience the story).

That said, I feel like you get a better appreciation for a game's mechanics and challenges (hence more fun) if you bump the difficulty up on your first play through, but not too high, since that limits your options.

The problem with playing on a difficulty that is too easy is that essentially everything 'works'. You can beat the game with basically any strategy, and so are not required to learn the systems in place and understand the drawbacks and benefits to certain strategies. Perhaps worse than one dominant strategy is every strategy being dominant.

I think accessibility options are a much better way to make the game easier while still preserving challenge. See Naughty Dog.