![New <i>The Last Of Us Part II</i> Trophies Tease Grounded Mode, Permadeath [Update: Naughty Dog Explains]](https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fit,q_60,w_645/wtnd9slmqvbygzsglpkg.jpg)
The Last of Us Part II has a couple new trophies that indicate the impending arrival of both Grounded mode and a…

Pathologic 2, a super interesting narrative survival game in which death is not the end, just got an update containing nearly 20 different difficulty sliders. The game, according to its developers, is meant to feel “unbearable,” but after difficulty complaints, they decided to accommodate for individual players’…

Splatoon’s campaigns have always been wacky, inventive, but rarely too difficult. They seemed designed to introduce…
The more I play Far Cry 5, the less interesting and challenging it becomes. That’s a common problem for a Far Cry gam…
This is the difficulty menu for Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. In a callback to the original games which also…
Hyper Light Drifter is beautiful, mysterious, and hard as hell. To some, that difficulty is central to its design.…

There’s a brutal competition being waged in Mario Maker right now, and it’s inspiring people to make the most…

Back in 1994, I spent time — far, far too much time — trying to make the combat system in this game work for me; I…
Difficulty is always a thorny issue in video games. One gamer's crushing slog through a dungeon is another's…
The fall is usually a time for people plow through the latest and greatest games. This year, however, I've also been …
Back in January of last year, Irrational Games announced that BioShock Infinite would have a hardcore 1999 Mode,…
This morning, I got an e-mail from a Kotaku reader named Jaime.
A couple of months ago, if I started a new game—no matter what it was—I'd start off on a high difficulty. At the…
In today's completely insane edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter MSumm rages over the difficulty of The Legend…
With today's news that BioShock Infinite will include a special old school difficulty mode, commenter Blessrok is…
Today's gamers crave choice. Choice in how they progress through a game; choice on how they develop their character.…