Summary
Video game difficulty is an important part of any game experience, testing players' knowledge and skills with new challenges that keep the game feeling rewarding throughout. Many games lean far more into the hard side of things, likethe soulslike genrethat opts for challenging combat to excite the player, compared to other titles where the difficulty is customizable via slider or a setting.
However, there are many games that opt for a different approach in their difficulty, offering systems and mechanics that change the level of challenge over time to mix things up and continue to push players from start to finish. Whether through player actions or dynamic systems that track the current game state, the adaptable difficulties always bring a new level of challenge and joy that isn’t seen with typical difficulty settings.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildhas players stepping into theglorious open world of Hyrulewith the single goal of defeating Ganon as the driving force behind their adventure. Gliding, riding, and sprinting across the landscape never gets old, and the gameplay itself includes several features that keep the difficulty feeling fair throughout.
The world level acts as a background check on the player’s current level and strength, increasing as they progress through the story and with every enemy slain. Simple foes gain new weapons and higher stats with each blood moon, and the whole world raises the challenge as the player gets stronger, providing a constant challenge no matter how far into the campaign they may be.
Resident Evil 4is the pinnacle ofthe survival horror genre, bringing in everything that made theResident Evilseries so great to deliver a challenging and satisfying experience. The difficulty can be adjusted in various ways, but the most interesting aspect comes from the in-game changes that occur based on how well the player is doing in their playthrough.
If players are landing a lot of headshots, enemies will become noticeably more aggressive and tankier. However, if the player needs a helping hand and is missing their shots, the game assists them with an easier set of foes to tackle with lower health pools. The adaptability is great for both new and veteran players, as there will be a greater challenge for the more seasoned players, while still being accessible for beginners.
Left 4 Dead 2offers an intense, zombie-killing thrill ride that requires constant attention and never slows down the aggression. The difficulty of the game is tied to the player’s performance and current circumstances, with an AI director that tracks a variety of stats like accuracy, health, and stress in order to alter how enemies spawn and function in the game.
If the players are doing particularly well, get ready to face more waves of enemies and more special infected, with fewer resources to help out. On the flip side, in situations where there is a real struggle, the game eases up and provides an easier experience with fewer enemies to face, creating a constant ebb and flow that ties into every core mechanic of the player’s gameplay.
Dishonored features a reactive difficulty system that ties enemy behavior and world state to the player’s actions, particularlytheir level of stealthand lethality. The game tracks how many enemies are killed versus spared, dynamically altering everything from enemy patrol patterns to narrative expression in a way that feels intuitive and never intrusive.
High chaos leads to more guards, increased plague spread, and darker story outcomes, while low chaos encourages fewer enemies and more stable environments, rewarding stealth and non-lethal solutions. Allowing the player to choose their difficulty based on their actions makes every choice feel meaningful in more ways than just the outcome of the story.
Metal Gear Solid Vtakes the concept ofdynamic difficulty scalingand pushes everything to the limit. The game monitors repeated behavior such as frequent use of headshots, nighttime infiltration, or non-lethal tactics, and enemy forces adapt accordingly to counter those patterns in ways that both make sense but are still unexpected.
If headshots are common, then enemies begin wearing helmets, or if missions are often completed at night, soldiers start using flashlights, night vision, and tighter patrols to combat the use of darkness. This adaptive response system forces players to constantly change strategies, as the game actively resists repetition. These difficulty changes relate to how smart and flexible the player can be — if they are not willing to adapt, then they will be faced with tougher enemies with smarter AI.
Undertaleis a mesmerizing adventure of magic, monsters, and memories that gifts players with the ability to truly choose how their game plays out. Every choice matters, and those choices tie into how the enemies themselves fight and function, depending on whether the player has decided to be more aggressive orif they have opted for a pacifist approach.
In more chaotic playthroughs, bosses gain new attacks and abilities that make the fights more challenging, whereas in quieter, less bloody runs, the enemies are quite happy to step aside. This creates an interesting dynamic where the difficulty can scale up and down in ways outside of the actual fighting, where the choices become the main difference maker when it comes to how hard the game will be.
InSifu, dying is no longer an end and instead serves as a method of progression by allowing players to unlock new abilities and skills — at the cost of a lower health pool. This means that players can either choose to die and age to gain access to new moves or to reset to maintain their health pool and to try a different approach.
The difficulty settings themselves are also not just simple health modifiers, and instead serve as a way of raising the challenge with things like enemy aggression and even additional attacks. Combining this with a smaller and smaller health pool, and players are constantly being pushed to learn and master every attack, with no margin for error.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Warscales its difficulty through the iconic Nemesis System, a dynamic AI framework that tracks interactions with enemy orcs across the game world. Each orc captain remembers past encounters, growing stronger if they survive and adapting to the player’s tactics by developing new strengths and fighting styles that raise the next encounter’s challenge.
Defeated captains may return with scars and vendettas, while promoted enemies gain power and command larger forces, creating a system with personalized rivals that escalate in challenge as players progress, ensuring no two encounters feel the same. Difficulty emerges not from preset levels, but from evolving relationships with enemies shaped by the player’s actions, in a way so innovative that it is still patented to this day.
