Demon’s Souls’ Help Videos Are Not a Substitute for Accessibility

Okay, folks, I’m going to confess something here. As a journalist bringing gaming news and entertainment to you lovely readers, I sometimes poke around to other outlets to see what other professionals are writing about. I particularly do this when it comes to games I don’t plan to play or topics I find interesting, such as accessibility. You see, as a disabled gamer that may not have the best reflexes and sometimes struggles with fatigue, accessibility matters.

Options that maybe allow me to not spend as much time button mashing or having to hope that my reflexes are fast enough are invaluable. Other people have it far worse than me. Some people can’t use a controller, some folks have a hard time holding buttons down for long periods of time, and some folks can’t use their hands to game at all.

For example, @remedygames ' Control would have been too difficult for me to enjoy properly when it came out.

The addition of the Assist Mode this summer changed all that, and allowed me to play and finish the game.

Turns out it's one of my favorite games of all time.

— Roger – Ok MAYBE NOT AN ILUM NATIVE (@HrothgarCanuck) November 11, 2020

What does that have to do with me peeking around at other outlets? Well, I don’t normally call out other publications, but after reading Den of Geek the other night, I was compelled to respond to Matthew Byrd’s article titled “Demon’s Souls Help Videos Could Be the Great “Easy Mode” Compromise.” I don’t entirely disagree with some of the points made in this article, but the title itself misses a major point.

The “Easy Mode Compromise” as this article puts it, isn’t just because some people aren’t good at the game or don’t want to put in the work to get better. There is a contingent of gamers who physically cannot enjoy FromSoftware’s games or games like them. This is because their difficulty and emphasis on making no mistakes and executing things perfectly, makes them inaccessible. Let’s look at a piece of the article itself and I’ll elaborate further.

“You’ve probably heard some variation of this debate before, but the basic argument sees one group of gamers suggest that Soulslike games should feature difficulty options designed to make the infamously difficult titles more accessible. Opposing them is a group of gamers who feel that the difficulty of those titles is an essential part of their design and that lowering the challenge would compromise the experience. Granted, those arguments typically devolve into the phrase “Git Gud” at some point, but that’s the general idea.

The crux of the debate comes down to game design philosophy and the cultures it inspires. After all, developers can’t flip a switch and implement difficulty levels. The path of least resistance in that respect would likely involve altering certain parameters in lower difficulty modes so that enemies have less health or players deal more damage. A more complicated solution would involve fundamentally altering the design of easier modes to offer an experience that was built from the ground up with lower difficulty in mind.”

Now, to Matthew’s credit, he is correct on one thing. Difficulty options are viewed by “Souls-Elitists,” as I call them, as unnecessary and detrimental to the experience. However, when it comes down to being able to experience a game at all or experiencing it in a way that might be enjoyable for someone, does that really matter? Why exclude an entire contingent of gamers from being able to play your games? Also, newsflash! We’re not getting any younger people! When we get older we’re not going to be able to pull off some of these things that modern gaming demands of us.

Already QTE’s and precision dodging are somewhat inaccessible and unforgiving for disabled players. This will only become more of an issue as the current generation of gamers gets older. Also, those people who tell you to “Git Gud” because you can’t beat a Dark Souls boss like it is some badge of honor, are forgetting something.

Dark Souls/Bloodborne/Demon’s Souls isn’t a job, it’s a game. Different people find different levels of difficulty fun and different people want different things out of their games. I really enjoy the world-building of FromSoftware games, but I am forced to only consume them via YouTube videos and Twitch streams because I can’t play them myself.

He seems to acknowledge this in some small way, stating: “The fact is that From Software (and other developers who make Soulslike games) has previously indicated that they’re not interested in offering traditional difficulty levels in their games. Even if they were, there’s still an argument to be had regarding how you offer difficulty options in those games in a way that will please the people who love the challenges they offer and the people who feel that they’re not able to even play these games while they’re so overtly (sometimes punishingly) difficult.”

Yet I have to wonder why it is a problem in the first place? Why does having a difficulty option impact the average player at all? Make “normal mode” the standard experience you want players to have and provide accessibility options for people who can’t enjoy the game in that standard mode. Control’s assist mode pulled this off brilliantly. Why can’t FromSoftware get with the program?

Now, to circle back to the original article’s topic, Gavin Moore, the Creative Director of the Demon’s Souls Remake, spoke in an interview with the Washington Post about the help videos in Demon’s Souls’ Remake. There are 180 help videos that can be accessed via the PlayStation 5’s User Interface, however, I have two problems with the viability of this. Before we get into that, Matthew had this to say about the 180 help videos:

“That’s a number that stands a testament to the potential of the PS5’s Game Help system, even as we wait to see whether or not more developers will ultimately choose to utilize that system over the long term. It’s also a number that could very well offer a somewhat unlikely solution to the debate over implementing an “Easy Mode” into Soulslike games.”

Now, I don’t necessarily disagree with this idea. For the average player with no disability or no issues with reflexes and stamina, I think these videos could be helpful. However, this isn’t a substitute for real accessibility. This is a helpful option, with…possibly good intentions. However, is it really that helpful? The article goes on to talk about the videos, stating:

“We haven’t seen a detailed breakdown of Demon’s Souls‘ help videos, but if we use existing fan FAQ videos as a basis, most of them will probably focus on where to go, what order to do things in, character build suggestions, and, perhaps, optimal boss fight strategies.

However, Demon’s Souls isn’t the kind of game where a walkthrough or help video is going to immediately solve the problem for you. They could offer a little guidance for when you reach that point of frustration where you just don’t know how to proceed, but unlike puzzle heavy games that can be “solved” via a walkthrough, there’s still a divide in Demon’s Souls between knowing what to do and mechanically executing the solution.”

It seems to me like people will most likely spend the time watching their favorite YouTuber or Twitch Streamer to figure out how to get through where they’re stuck. What is the need for these videos? On a broader scale, if Demon’s Souls was a game that was more niche, that not many people played on YouTube and Twitch, then I would say otherwise. There are plenty of games I’ve looked up walkthroughs for, only to find that there aren’t any. The help video concept is a good one, but it might be something a lot of people overlook.

Plus, like Matthew states here. These videos won’t help you if you can’t execute the solution. There are people who love beating their heads against a Dark Souls boss, like Phenixx Gaming’s own Keiran McEwen. However, this article’s headline and some of the statements in it, are clearly misleading.

Matthew goes on to state that it is elective. People can use the videos if they want or they can struggle if they feel like it. He also agrees that this won’t solve the debate about difficulty modes. What I find so frustrating about it though, is the clickbait nature of the article’s title. I often struggle with the titles for my articles, but this one just feels like it gives these videos way too much credit.

Without addressing the accessibility issue at all, the article ignores a substantial part of the debate. This could be because Matthew himself is unaware of it because he doesn’t know anyone that is disabled. However, it could be that he (like many others) have seen videos of disabled people playing Souls games with no issues.

I've seen many bad takes on accessibility over the years, particularly around From's games. But this takes the cake. pic.twitter.com/zkUHOkP01l

— Ian Hamilton (@ianhamilton_) October 31, 2020

This is where I circle back to a point I made earlier. Accessibility isn’t a one size fits all issue. Someone that is paralyzed from the waist down, but still has proper use of their hands and arms, won’t have any issues with these games. Someone who is deaf may not either because there are enough visual cues and subtitles to allow them to do what they need to.

Saying that because some disabled people can succeed in these games, accessibility options aren’t necessary, is patently false. Also, I’ll just say this. I don’t give a single crap what FromSoftware says, they could put in the work to make their games more accessible; they just either don’t want to or don’t care at all.

Such a beloved developer should do better. There are plenty of indie devs and plenty of AAA devs that are putting in the work to make their games playable for everyone. Guess what? That just makes them more money! To ignore an entire section of the population because “difficulty options may tarnish the experience” when other people don’t have to utilize them, just means you don’t care about those players.

This won’t make me any friends among the Souls community I’m sure, but it is high time someone said something. Better yet, fans of the Souls games should be speaking up. Like I said earlier, none of us are getting younger and if developers don’t get with the program, it won’t be long before you average folks can’t play your favorite games either. These help videos aren’t a compromise at all. They’re a novel addition to the game at best.