Whether you're more of the masochistic type or just have tougher skin and a more refined palatte than other gamers, there are some of us who enjoy a particularly difficult game, for one reason or another. But what is it about them that brings you that sense of enjoyment amongst the suffering? What would you consider so difficult about a given game? And would you recommend it to others, or would it be too evil to do so?
For my own submission, this would be
Peaks of Yore, which I've recently picked back up this weekend. It's a game about climbing mountains! And not just your typical video game mountains, but ones that will have you wondering when you'll get to the top! It's a game that requires learning an interesting way of moving to make some tricky maneuvres, a good bit of endurance for some of the taller peaks, and a lot of patience. You will fall, you will miss jumps, and you will run out of rope far sooner than you had expected. And to top it all off, you will have to start again from the bottom.
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There are few games that can scratch the very specific urge I have of mastery, and this is one of them. At the top of every climb is a true sense of achievement. You have either learned something new, proven you're a more capable and faster climber, or have conquered a mountain you thought insurmountable. There really is no better feeling than that after a few hours of grit, sweat, and a few emotions along the way: anger, despair, accomplishment, and fear to name a few. But just know that every time you fall, remember to pick yourself back up and go again. It is more than possible, you just may not know it yet.
Easily one of my favourite parts of the game is that you need to explore the cliff faces to get more tools to help you out. You will first start with very little, and this forces you to have to learn to either use what you have to the best of your abilities, or to just steel yourself and take the plunge, figuring out how every scenario can be bested. At the end though, you do get rewarded for journeying off of the main route, but that cannot compensate for any lacking fundamentals, it can merely smooth out the sections that would've just been irritating without the help.
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This is absolutely a game that I would recommend though! There is a very well thought out onboarding process that, while it may seem slow at first, puts you into positions where the only obstacle to progress and success is yourself. There is also an expansion to the game that I believe is more than worth getting, with a caveat: due to its difficulty, play through the game until you finish the third book. Atop that, I adore the art style and just general premise of it all: Swiss style mountaineering in the 19th century!
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As a little afterword, there's a game with a similar idea at its core,
White Knuckle, that came out (in early access) last year. I have not played it myself, but I am left wondering where they got the idea from!
Provided we agree to leave our bodies behind, we are able to enter these increasingly efficient planes of semiotic exchange.
We must strive for incorporeal badassery at every step, and the net is the only way!
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