According to IGN, Valor Mortis developer One More Level is taking a thoughtful approach to the game’s difficulty ahead of its 2025 launch. Game director Radosław Ratusznik confirmed the team is considering adding an easy mode alongside the current single difficulty setting, but he’s firmly against having “tens of difficulty options.” The first-person Soulslike action game set in an alternate Napoleonic era will release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series next year. Ratusznik believes players should have “similar experiences” and that shared struggle is what connects the Soulslike community. He emphasized that accessibility features don’t necessarily mean lowering difficulty, noting they’re still working out their final approach.
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The value of shared struggle
Here’s the thing about Soulslike games – they’ve always been about that collective experience of overcoming the same brutal challenges. Ratusznik hits on something really important when he says that if everyone’s playing on wildly different difficulty settings, they’re basically playing different games. When you finally beat that boss that’s been wrecking you for hours, and you know your friend went through the exact same ordeal? That creates a bond. It’s like everyone who’s beaten Malenia in Elden Ring shares this unspoken understanding of what it took to get there.
But here’s where it gets interesting – he’s not completely against the idea of an easy mode. He seems to draw the line at having dozens of granular difficulty options that would fragment the player experience. Basically, he wants to preserve that core Soulslike feeling while still being welcoming to people who might just want to experience the story or learn the mechanics at a gentler pace.
Accessibility isn’t the same as easy mode
This is where the conversation gets really nuanced, and Ratusznik seems to get it. He’s careful to distinguish between making the game easier and making it more accessible. He mentioned not being a fan of mechanics you can just toggle on and off, like parries, because players “lose something from this experience.” But he also acknowledges that there are plenty of ways to assist players without fundamentally changing the challenge.
Think about colorblind modes, customizable controls, or even the way Elden Ring let you overlevel content or use specific builds to trivialize certain bosses. Those aren’t difficulty sliders – they’re different approaches to the same challenges. The game director seems to be searching for that sweet spot where the game remains demanding but doesn’t exclude players who need some accommodations.
Where Soulslikes are heading
It’s fascinating to see how this genre is evolving. FromSoftware’s own Hidetaka Miyazaki has been pretty firm about not adding traditional difficulty options, but Elden Ring showed how you can make a game more approachable without compromising that core identity. The open world design meant if you hit a wall, you could just go somewhere else and come back stronger.
Now we’re seeing other developers like One More Level wrestling with these same questions. How do you stay true to what makes Soulslikes special while acknowledging that not every player has the same skills, time, or physical capabilities? Ratusznik’s approach suggests we might be entering an era where Soulslikes become more thoughtful about how they challenge players, rather than just being relentlessly difficult for difficulty’s sake.
We’ll have to wait and see
The reality is we won’t know exactly how Valor Mortis handles this until next year. The team is still figuring it out, and that’s probably a good thing – it means they’re taking the question seriously rather than just following established formulas. What’s clear is that the conversation around difficulty in games has matured significantly.
It’s no longer just about “git gud” versus “add easy mode.” Developers are thinking more carefully about what specific experiences they want players to have, and how to make those experiences available to as many people as possible without losing what made the games special in the first place. Whether Valor Mortis finds that balance remains to be seen, but it’s refreshing to see a developer thinking this deeply about it.
