If Anything, 'Nioh' Needs A Hard Mode

For some time now, my colleague Dave Thier and I have argued back and forth about the merits of an'easy mode' for notoriously challenging games like Dark Souls. So the debate continues with Nioh, Team Ninja's excellent new Samurai action-RPG which draws a lot of inspiration from such infamously challenging games as Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden. Dave's argument essentially boils down to this: Nioh's difficulty will turn off more casual players or players who don't have the kind of time to sink into such a challenging game. This is both foolish (as it limits sales) and snobby (as it leaves the game accessible only to the hardcore audience) and would be easily mitigated by the inclusion of an easy mode, making it more accessible to all while leaving the core experience unscathed. Every game we play sets out to do something different.