Rebel Wolves is planning to introduce an additional difficulty level for its upcoming action game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, designed for players who wish to focus on the story without the burden of challenging combat. The current story mode will be renamed "Demanding," with a new, more accessible option available.
"We will call it [the new difficulty] Story mode which we have right now will be a different difficulty—we will call it Demanding or something like this—and we will add a new Story mode which will be even easier for people who don't want to experience the combat, they just want to learn the story and go through the game without this gameplay challenge," a representative told Eurogamer.
This proposed addition raises questions about the potential for a combat-skip feature in action-oriented games. While not common, some titles have implemented similar mechanics. For instance, South of Midnight features a combat skip prompt that can be activated when encounters begin. Dragon Age: The Veilguard offers an invincibility mode as an accessibility option, allowing players to bypass combat. More recently, assist options in games like Derelict Star have allowed players to tailor the experience, such as enabling custom checkpoint placement in challenging platformers.
The inclusion of such an option in The Blood of Dawnwalker could signal a growing trend towards accommodating players who prioritize narrative over gameplay difficulty in action titles. The Last of Us Part 2 is one example where such a feature might appeal to a large audience.
In addition to the new difficulty setting, a New Game Plus mode is also confirmed to be coming to The Blood of Dawnwalker, though a release timeline for this feature has not yet been provided. The patch introducing the new difficulty is slated for an early October release.