This Souls Clone Lets You Decide The Difficulty
The French video game studio known as Spiders (which probably doesn't has any actual spiders for employees) has a new game called "Steelrising." While the studio's 2019 action-RPG "Greedfall" was more focused on being a more traditional action-RPG with features such as an interchangeable cast of characters for your party and romanceable companions, "Steelrising" is aiming to be more of a "Souls"-like experience with a heavier emphasis on quick, flashy combat and punishing boss fights.
However, those boss fights don't necessarily need to be as unforgiving as the famous foes created throughout FromSoftware's various games. In fact, thanks to the game's "Assist Mode," "Steelrising" could be the perfect "Souls"-like for those that have long been curious about games like "Dark Souls," "Bloodborne," or "Elden Ring," but feared the monstrous difficulty these games are so well-known for. Judging from reviews of the game, "Steelrising" might actually prove having an "Easy Mode" is a viable option in "Souls"-like titles.
Assist Mode for the win?
As reported by Kotaku's review of the game, the Assist Mode in "Steelrising" doesn't exactly provide a difficulty slider for the game to bounce between Easy, Normal, or Hard. Rather, it's similar to the Assist Mode found in platformer "Celeste." There are options for reducing the amount of damage dealt by enemies, increasing the speed at which your character regenerates their stamina, or even preventing the loss of one's Anima Essence (the XP currency used for upgrades in "Steelrising") upon death.
For those who have ever lost an enormous amount of progress in a "Souls"-like due to an unfortunate character death, some of those options may sound helpful. Think of all the headaches that could have been avoided during the Malenia in "Elden Ring" if players had the choice to turn off enemy damage and learn her attack patterns before another round.
Of course, difficulty within FromSoftware's games is a bit of a hot topic online. "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice," an intensely difficult game, fanned the flames on whether difficult games should give players the tools to make it easier back when it released. One particularly infamous tweet directed at a PC Gamer article took issue with the fact that the article's author beat the game's final boss using cheats. The melodramatic tone of the tweet inspired plenty of memes from all around the internet, including one from the official Twitter account of Sonic the Hedgehog.
If the accessibility options of "Steelrising" sound like a great addition to you, then you can check the game out starting September 8 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.