Greg Lobanov

yay wandersong ps4 reviews!

wandersong reviewers will say things like, the game is fun and engrossing for the entire length, "BUT," it's pretty easy, and dock points. I know numbers are silly to begin with, but when they write that, I have to wonder what perceived value was lost by making the game easy...

I'd love to see the conversation evolve beyond a linear rubric of "too easy," "too hard"... HOW games utilize difficulty, the dance of challenge and emotional tension and how it speaks to the themes of the game... idk... I think about this too much

games like wandersong (and celeste) are stories--the goal is to make you feel something, and difficulty is one knob we adjust to create that story. the difficulty itself is not the point. listen people you just don't understand my Art end of thread

The issue I had is that in most games there’s a difficulty and learning curve that progresses with each new area and mechanic, but when a game never makes you feel to clever by figuring out that using sing, dance, all while balanced on your head will unlock a door...

...and isolates these mechanics and only uses them for a short period, then it feels like a missed opportunity to throw some curve balls to challenge the player, and that the idea of a mechanic was simply underused in terms of either increased difficulty or it’s versatility...