Struggle Simulator

The core mechanic is a lack of agency. In a standard RPG, if you see a mountain, you climb it. In a Struggle Simulator like Death Stranding , if you see a mountain, you must calculate the weight of your cargo, check the weather for timefall (toxic rain), assess the stamina of your boots, and plan a route that avoids invisible ghostly BTs. If you trip, you damage your cargo. The game forces you to respect the mundane.

In a Struggle Simulator, the game’s systems are designed to impede the player. The controls might be intentionally clunky (as in QWOP or Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy ), the economy might be brutally unfair (as in the early access build of Disco Elysium or Pathologic ), or the environment might be an active antagonist (the weather in The Long Dark or the weight limit in Escape from Tarkov ). Struggle Simulator

In the landscape of modern video games, the dominant trend for decades was the power fantasy. Whether you were a space marine mowing down demons, a chosen one saving the world from a dragon, or a super-soldier single-handedly winning a war, the interactive medium was primarily a place to feel competent, strong, and victorious. The core mechanic is a lack of agency

But what defines this genre? And why, in an era of convenience and endless entertainment options, are millions of people choosing to simulate the act of struggling? To classify a game as a Struggle Simulator, mere difficulty is not enough. The Contra series or "Kaizo" Mario hacks are difficult, but they are arcade experiences—tests of reflex and memory. A Struggle Simulator is something different. It is an exercise in friction. If you trip, you damage your cargo

Consider Kingdom Come: Deliverance . In most RPGs, picking a lock is a minigame of timing or a simple button press. In Kingdom Come , it is a maddening exercise in rotating a cursor while pressing a separate button, all while your character’s skill level makes the lock jitter and jump. It is frustrating. It takes minutes. But when you finally pick it, you feel a surge of adrenaline that a "Press X to Hack" prompt could never provide.