A Game Journalist’s Checklist Before Crying About Difficulty Online
Your Easy Guide for Not Embarrassing Yourself Online
So, you’ve died a few dozen times in Hollow Knight: Silksong or just lost another ranked match in Marvel Rivals. Instead of blaming your own thumbs, you’ve decided the entire game is just broken, the difficulty is outdated, and the devs should need to make games easier.
But before you rush to file another 1,200-word “Why Boss Fights Hurt My Fee Fees” article, let’s pause for a quick moment of self-reflection.
Welcome to the Game Journalist’s Checklist!
Feeling particularly altruistic, I’ve went the extra mile to help the modern games journalist with 10 handy questions you should ask yourself before embarrassing your chosen profession on Twitter.
(Yes, today we’re talking to the “Alyssa Walkers” of gaming. Grab a notebook, because class is in session!)
1. Have you tried not button mashing and actually learning the mechanics?
Newsflash: mashing buttons like a crack-addled raccoon is not “strategy.” Precision matters. Bosses in games like Silksong telegraph their attacks (sometimes subtely).
For example, the Bell Beast literally tells you which move is coming by how high the dust and bells kick up before it springs its attack. Taking a breath, watching for patterns, and inputting at the right time will win more fights than panic-flailing.
And then there’s the infamous Cuphead tutorial meltdown. Remember that? A “professional” games journalist spent 26 minutes failing to get through the literal tutorial jump.
That clip lives rent-free in the heads of gamers everywhere because it proved the problem wasn’t Cuphead’s difficulty…it was the journalist. If the baseline mechanics are breaking you, maybe the exposé should be about your lack of hand-eye coordination, not the game.
2. Did you Even Try to use the game resources the devs gave you?
Developers include tutorials for a reason. Menus exist for a reason. Yet half the time, journalists act like opening the options screen requires a PhD. Instead of instantly demanding nerfs, maybe try adjusting sensitivity, rebinding keys, or toggling assist features.
Celeste, Elden Ring, League of Legends – they all include optional tools and explanations that magically fix any perceived “bad design”…if you bother to look for them.
But I get it: reading is hard, and outrage headlines just seem to magically write themselves, right?
3. Is sprinting straight into A Big murder knight A bad Idea?
Here’s the thing about games: some fights are a soft wall. They’re not meant for you to beat them…yet.
Like that massive, armored Tree Sentinel patrolling the first area of Elden Ring? He wasn’t the devs saying “go get ’em, you got this.” He was the devs saying, “look at this shiny wall of pain, now go explore elsewhere until you’re ready to come back with some whoop ass.”
But instead of accepting that maybe, just maybe, you’re not strong enough yet – journalists cry “unfair design” and demand patches.
That’s not bad game design. That’s you running face first into traffic.
4. Are you fighting with the wrong stick? (Progression 101)
Yes, sometimes a fight sucks. Yes, a Rathalos will BBQ you Memphis-style if you show up without proper gear. Monster Hunter veterans know you don’t fight a fire-breathing wyvern of doom in your underwear – you prep. You grab fire-resistant armor, check for weaknesses, and bring along some antidotes.
Complaining about that is like whining that your butter knife won’t chop down a tree. Progression tools exist for a reason. The game isn’t “unfair” – you’re just underdressed for the occasion.
Time to suit up!
5. Did you forget the joy of finally beating something difficult?
Here’s the thing: challenge is the point. It’s the rising tension before the release, the hours of failure that make the victory taste oh so sweet.
Strip that out and you’re left with a glorified walking sim.
When you finally beat Ornstein and Smough in Dark Souls or nail the perfect pogo sequence, finally making it to the surface town in Silksong, you feel unstoppable – because you earned it.
If you think that kind of payoff is “bad design,” maybe games just aren’t your bag. Or…maybe you’re John Walker, writing almost hilariously bad Kotaku thinkpieces about a “Skippable Boss Fight Utopia” because the big bad bosses made you drown your controller with all those sad, sad tears.
6. Have you tried practicing Game mechanics…on purpose?
Yes, we all saw the whining about pogo mechanics in Silksong. And yes, they require (insert dramatic thunder and lightning) – timing.
That’s called skill expression.
If your entire review boils down to “the game was mean to me, because I didn’t time my jumps,” congratulations: you’ve just admitted that you’ve spent more time picking out the perfect nose ring to match your latest dye job than you have playing the game.
Instead of crying for a nerf, maybe try practicing like the rest of us.
Because that’s the point, practicing these mechanics so that you can build upon these foundational skills and use them when the difficulty spikes later on in the game.
7. Did you Check the boss mechanics before declaring them “unfair”?
If you can’t figure something out on your own, it takes a whopping thirty seconds to search, “How do I beat X boss?”. Entire communities exist just to break down strategies, builds, and patterns in basically real time.
Instead of accusing developers of sadism because of your thinly-veiled narcissism, maybe (wild thought here) consult the magical world of the internet and accept that other people, who are better at video games than you are, have probably figured out how to do what you’re trying to do already.
Even classic Final Fantasy players know this lesson well!
Nearly every Final Fantasy game sneaks in one undead boss that looks like a nightmare…until you remember that Phoenix Downs insta-kill undead enemies.
One glorious little feather later and *boom* that undead tribal boss you were struggling with is now the easiest fight in the entire game.
If you didn’t know that trick, the problem isn’t that Final Fantasy is broken. It’s just that game knowledge and experience trumps all.
8. Is your problem that you just want story without gameplay?
Look, if what you actually want is to experience the narrative without all those pesky obstacles (like gameplay), there’s an easy solution for struggling gaming journalists!
It’s called Netflix.
Sorry, but games are interactive by definition. You play them to overcome obstacles, improve on your core mechanics, and unlock the next chapter.
Strip out the gameplay, and you’re just asking for a cutscene simulator. Which, fine…I guess?
But don’t call it a video game review when what you really want is for devs to warm you up some yummy milk and tuck you in for storytime.
9. Are you writing about games you don’t actually enjoy playing?
Here’s a crazy thought: if you hate platforming, maybe don’t review Silksong. If you’re just straight up bad at hero shooters, maybe skip on Marvel Rivals. And if you think boss fights are a crime against humanity, perhaps acknowledge that journalism isn’t forcing you to cover Soulslikes at gunpoint.
Every time a writer drags a game they suck at (or were never interested in playing in the first place), it reeks of assignment desk roulette.
Alyssa Mercante literally wrote an article about quitting competitive gaming after getting bodied in Marvel Rivals (to the surprise of absolutely no one). That’s not an indictment of the game – that’s an indictment of letting someone review something that they’re obviously horrifically bad at in the first place.
And what comes out of an article like that?
Bias-bashing a top 20 game on Steam with a 1,200 word trash salad in any way she can possibly conceive, instead of taking a moment to consider unironically – “could the problem just be me?”.
Spoiler alert: yes, it’s just you.
10. Would It Just Be Easier to Admit That You're Bad At Gaming?
At the end of the day, sometimes the answer really is that simple: you’re not good at this game.
And that’s fine!
The problem isn’t that games are broken, toxic, or exclusionary to women. The problem is that you want to be good at something without putting in the time.
Instead of demanding the world bend to your skill level, just own it.
Say: “I wasn’t good enough.”
You’ll at least earn more respect than if you whine for a boss-skip button or pen another teary-eyed farewell to competitive play that no one asked for.
Honest humility is rare in games media. Maybe start there.
The Real Final Boss is Your Ego
Well, there you have it – 10 simple steps for the modern game journalist who just can’t play games without a therapy session.
You’re very welcome!
Hopefully you refer to this checklist the next time you’re staring down a daunting “press jump to jump” prompt that feels just a little too demanding, but no need to send a gift basket – I’m happy to help.
But jokes aside…(mostly), this isn’t just about laughing at journalists who confuse healthy challenge for bad design, it’s about what that means for the rest of us.
Because here’s the truth: real gamers don’t want everything handed to them. We don’t want to skip bosses like they’re a YouTube ad or the trademark Alyssa Mercante pity party following a lost ranked game.
We want the rush of finally landing that last hit after hours of failure.
That’s the soul of gaming.
So to our beloved game journalists: we sincerely hope this guide helps you better prepare for your next assignment. And to everyone else: keep playing, keep learning, and for the love of all that is funderful – don’t ever let someone else’s skill issue become your opinion.
This was a commentary article based on publicly available information and personal opinion. Readers are encouraged to form their own conclusions based on the sources cited.
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omg
October 8, 2025
hahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Ayefkay
October 9, 2025
Hey Omg, thanks for stopping by and – of course – for laughing your ass off!
Renee Cash
October 8, 2025
lol why do you have this much time on your hands
Ayefkay
October 9, 2025
Hey hey hey hey!
I might have too much time on my hands but….I got nothing, you got me lol. Thanks for dropping by Renee!