Sony Patents A Creative Gaming Solution To Make Boss Battles On PS5 Less Frustrating
There is nothing like the intense gratification that one gets when defeating an uber hard boss battle in a video game. Some players may only need a couple of repeated attempts, while others may stumble through dozens of frustrating trials before finally claiming victory. This skill gap means that not every experience will be as equally enjoyable for those partaking in the same challenge, and that's something Sony is hoping to change.
As such, we have some potentially good news for gamers who are frustrated by arduously difficult boss fights. A new Sony patent, brought to our attention by user X/Twitter user CultureCrave, aims to adapt the difficulty level of boss battles based on a player's skill level, rather than a catch-all game setting.
As such, we have some potentially good news for gamers who are frustrated by arduously difficult boss fights. A new Sony patent, brought to our attention by user X/Twitter user CultureCrave, aims to adapt the difficulty level of boss battles based on a player's skill level, rather than a catch-all game setting.
The patent simply indicates that when skill-based activities are presented to the player, a calibration of the difficulty level will be adapted to fit that use case. By analyzing and collecting data on what the player's performance level is like, difficulty will be automatically adjusted without needing further prompting from the player. While it is unknown what system resources this would use, the rumored Playstation 5 Pro would likely handle it competently if it turned out to be resource-heavy.
On the flip side, this game behavior would make competitive games lose some appeal, since the baseline difficulty would be unknown, altering the perceived skills of participants. However, it would however be an excellent boon to single-player focused titles that would open up the accessibility factor for more novice players and/or gamers who have limited to spend playing games. Well-seasoned players would still have a higher difficulty level automatically adjusted, so enjoyment can ensue for all levels. We'd like to see a toggle feature to turn off this option as well, but time will tell how it is implemented.
On the flip side, this game behavior would make competitive games lose some appeal, since the baseline difficulty would be unknown, altering the perceived skills of participants. However, it would however be an excellent boon to single-player focused titles that would open up the accessibility factor for more novice players and/or gamers who have limited to spend playing games. Well-seasoned players would still have a higher difficulty level automatically adjusted, so enjoyment can ensue for all levels. We'd like to see a toggle feature to turn off this option as well, but time will tell how it is implemented.
Games such as the popular Elden Ring can have some pretty gnarly battles, which have made gamers such as myself quit in frustration more than once. While some sort of challenge is always necessary, an adaptive difficulty curve would certainly help to increase playability across many titles.
This would be a great technology to see on PC games as well, where the might of today's GPUs such could make easy work of any algorithmic AI workload. Time will tell if the patent is limited in scope to only PlayStation titles, or if it is opened up across multiple platforms. That's assuming, of course, that the patent comes to fruition in the first place.
