I wrote a post yesterday about the need for a game to be challenging if it is going to be fun. If you can just blow through it there is little fun to be had. But sometimes a game is not a challenge but just difficult. Maybe it is cheap bad guys or something that comes out of nowhere and takes you out. There is also the games where you have no clue what to do next and without a guide it is almost impossible to figure out. A game that is challenging, to me, means it is up to the player how well they do and when you miss a jump you know it was you who missed that jump. While a game that is difficult feels like there was nothing you could have done to fix it.
One example is the trail and error gameplay. A challenging game will show you, just enough, how to play the game and then hint at what is to come. But even if you are taken by surprise, you are still prepared for the tasks ahead. But a game of trial of error leaves the player trying out different things, dying and then trying something different. One of the examples that comes to mind, and this is still a good game, is shadowgate. It is a point and click game where you have to work your way through a mansion. But random things kill you all the time. Oh that book, you should not have picked that up because now the floor opened and you died. There was no way in knowing before hand.
And then you have old school games where there is no way you can figure out what to do or go next. You end up talking to everyone over and over again trying to progress the story. This is where game guides come in. It leaves you with that feeling that there was no way you would have guessed that.
Have you played games that were just difficult?
**