difficulty

[Damascus Rose]

You are asking me what horror games are about? The answer is simple. Horror games are about horror. Everything else comes after. And yes, if you believe that challenge is what makes any game a masterpiece, that is a very outdated notion. A lot of developers (indie mostly) are really getting away from normal game models and getting into more experimental and interesting ideas for games and how games should be. Take a look at Dear Esther, absolutely not perfect, but a masterpiece in its own right. Completely devoid of challenge, and it's become a cult indie hit. Amnesia is as well, very little gameplay but it's become famous for it's fear, it is not challenge-focused at all. These kinds of games are really setting examples in the game market today that a lot of developers are picking up on. I'm not saying challenge is a bad thing, it's absolutely necessary and required for some games, but they are different types of games.

I have no idea most of what you're talking about with the current market but honestly, who gives a shit about those games. People can play them, obsess over them, and buy them over and over even though they may be just clones, and it just doesn't matter. They can do w/e the fuck they want and whether you think the games are bad overrated or not, you do not have to play them. This is why I love the indie game scene, good innovative games that interest me. Why worry about triple A games when you can play indie.

Also, games 'helping' the player doesn't make them bad. Frustration is common in gaming and developers are trying to find ways to counteract that. Maybe you hate it, but it's a small percentage of gamers that play games only to get frustrated.