According to Hulett, ”We have a difficulty level for combat that’s separate from the difficulty level for puzzles. Players who really like puzzles can turn that up or down and do puzzles the way they want.
So, we need different clues for different level of puzzles. I was able to write normal level for puzzles and then the easy level written as if a child had written the clue and the hard level written like an adult written the clue. It’s kind of fun to explore different ways when you’re writing three different versions of the same document.”
How exactly are there difficulty levels for puzzles? Well, for one, the difficulty can be changed in-game, so if the player is stumped by the game, they can dial down the puzzles. ”The puzzles will be simpler, they will all still be in the game, but you may find elements there instead of having to search for them,” explained Hulett, ”The clues will be less vague on easy. Whereas on hard you might have to work out – Here’s a poem, what’s it trying to tell me? What do I have to work with? What does it mean? It might be really obscure. On easy it might just tell you yadda-yadda-yadda.”
The difficulty level doesn’t just apply to the clues themselves. The easy mode will tell you exactly what you’re supposed to do, while the hard won’t. ”If you choose easy puzzle difficulty you have a lot of objectives that tell you – you should be doing this, go over here, get this item. If you have it set to hard there will be far fewer objectives. It’s not just a matter of puzzles getting harder, but the game as a whole will require more critical thinking on hard than easy,” Hulett stated.
Silent Hill: Downpour will be released on October 25, 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
