{"id":52808,"date":"2025-10-09T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=52808"},"modified":"2025-10-08T19:46:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:46:56","slug":"chronoscript-the-endless-end-devs-didnt-want-to-compromise-on-difficulty-games-nowadays-are-too-user-friendly-we-wanted-to-bring-back-a-certain-level-of-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/chronoscript-the-endless-end-devs-didnt-want-to-compromise-on-difficulty-games-nowadays-are-too-user-friendly-we-wanted-to-bring-back-a-certain-level-of-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronoscript: The Endless End devs didn\u2019t want to compromise on difficulty. \u201cGames nowadays are too user-friendly. We wanted to bring back a certain level of challenge.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Shueisha Games and DeskWorks recently announced <strong>Chronoscript: The Endless End,<\/strong> their new exploration-based 2D action adventure set to release in 2026. Blurring the lines between 3D and 2D hand-drawn graphics in a \u201cstory inside a story\u201d premise, and expanding upon the hits like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous, the game promises a fresh take on the metroidvania genre,<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/whats-a-metroidvania-plus-game-chronoscript-the-endless-end-developers-on-expanding-upon-existing-hits-like-hollow-knight-and-blasphemous\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> which the developers fittingly nicknamed \u201cmetroidvania plus<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview with AUTOMATON, game director Tom Fujii, designer Nam Namba (DeskWorks) and producer Masami Yamamoto (Shueisha) talked about where the upcoming game stands among other metroidvania titles in terms of difficulty \u2013 and why making it difficult was so important to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chronoscript: The Endless End - Announce Trailer | PS5 Games\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rL2rdn9qPuQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI believe it falls into the category of high-difficulty games. But I wouldn\u2019t call it super-high-difficulty,\u201d Fujii said. As he explains, the game isn\u2019t supposed to be hellishly hard to play, but the players will get the option to toggle permadeath or ramp up the difficulty if they\u2019re up for a challenge. However, it doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s going to be easy either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going into the game blind and actually clearing on the first try it is going to be quite difficult, if not impossible, Fujii explains. While it doesn\u2019t contain <em>too many<\/em> beginner traps, the game was designed so the player will have to learn from their mistakes and grow in order to clear it, as they gradually get better at controls, learn enemy behavior patterns, and enhance character skills in an RPG-like fashion. As the Chronoscript devs suggest, this was a conscious design decision made to evoke a certain \u201csense of accomplishment\u201d which has become less and less prominent in recent games, as most developers are shifting focus on playability and user-friendliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008-528080001.jpg\" alt=\"Chronoscript gameplay. \" class=\"wp-image-52812\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008-528080001.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008-528080001-380x214.jpg 380w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe sense of accomplishment you get from playing games used to be something truly special. But nowadays, as games are becoming much easier due to developers focusing on user-friendliness, that feeling is rapidly fading away. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve always wanted to bring back a certain level of challenge [\u2026] and that\u2019s why I think Chronoscript will hit home for people who are seeking the sense of accomplishment that can only be achieved through playing games.\u201d Yamamoto explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, rather than making Chronoscript beginner-friendly and easy for anyone to pick up, it was developed with seasoned action gamers in mind (and those who are open for a bit of a challenge). As Yamamoto said, the sense of accomplishment only feels special precisely because it is not something everyone can achieve. \u201cWe don\u2019t think such a sense of accomplishment can be achieved by playing a game that everybody is able to clear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"615\" height=\"346\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 615px) 100vw, 615px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008-528080002.jpg\" alt=\"Chronoscript gameplay.\" class=\"wp-image-52813\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008-528080002.jpg 615w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008-528080002-380x214.jpg 380w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to story-driven titles [like Urban Myth Dissolution Center], I think we\u2019ve managed to succeed in creating a game that is designed so that anybody can complete it. However, Chronoscript: The Endless End is an action game, and while we do want more new people to play it, our main goal is for the game to be enjoyed by those who are already fans of the genre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chronoscript: The Endless End is set to release in 2026, for PC (<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/4018380\/Chronoscript_The_Endless_End\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>) and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/store.playstation.com\/ja-jp\/concept\/10016840\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PlayStation 5<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/chronoscript-the-endless-end-is-an-artistic-metroidvania-coming-from-sony-veterans-who-worked-on-bloodborne-and-the-ps3s-rain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Chronoscript: The Endless End is an artistic Metroidvania coming from Sony veterans who worked on Bloodborne and the PS3\u2019s Rain&nbsp;<br><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Talking to AUTOMATON, Chronoscript: The Endless End developers discuss why it was so important for them to keep the game difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":52811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-52808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chronoscript: The Endless End devs didn\u2019t want to compromise on difficulty. \u201cGames nowadays are too user-friendly. We wanted to bring back a certain level of challenge.\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Talking to AUTOMATON, Chronoscript: The Endless End developers discuss why it was so important for them to keep the game difficult.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/chronoscript-the-endless-end-devs-didnt-want-to-compromise-on-difficulty-games-nowadays-are-too-user-friendly-we-wanted-to-bring-back-a-certain-level-of-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronoscript: The Endless End devs didn\u2019t want to compromise on difficulty. \u201cGames nowadays are too user-friendly. We wanted to bring back a certain level of challenge.\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Talking to AUTOMATON, Chronoscript: The Endless End developers discuss why it was so important for them to keep the game difficult.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/chronoscript-the-endless-end-devs-didnt-want-to-compromise-on-difficulty-games-nowadays-are-too-user-friendly-we-wanted-to-bring-back-a-certain-level-of-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251008-52808-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"486\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chronoscript: The Endless End devs didn\u2019t want to compromise on difficulty. \u201cGames nowadays are too user-friendly. 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