Phantom Blade Zero Is Making Action RPGs' Laziest Difficulty Trick Look Outdated

Video game difficulty is a topic of debate that has been debated for decades, and perhaps the most contentious space is that of ARPGs. Balancing high-octane combat with genuine challenge is no easy feat, and the biggest pain point lies in how greater difficulties are addressed from a design perspective. There is a major tendency to simply increase the enemy's health pool or damage, and as a result, those harder modes feel less like real feats of skill and more like tests of patience. However, Phantom Blade Zero is looking to break the mold and push back against the norms that have otherwise plagued the genre ever since the beginning, offering some unique difficulties that fundamentally alter how you engage with the game.