During their PlayStation E3 2018 Showcase, Sony treated fans to a stunning new look at Sucker Punch's samurai epic, Ghost of Tsushima. Later, Sony and Sucker Punch let media outlets, including Wccftech, watch the demo played in real time and ask a few questions. One of the most interesting topics touched upon was difficulty -- with its combination of stealth and tricky timing-based duels, it looks like Ghost of Tsushima may be a tough nut to crack. Will this be a Dark Souls-like experience?

　　Not quite. According to Sucker Punch co-founder Chris Zimmerman Ghost of Tsushima will accommodate all levels of players, from the casual "tourists" to the crustiest of hardcores.

　　"There's a range [of challenge], because different people play games for different reasons. Especially when you're talking about open-world games, which are big games, so you have players who are basically just tourists, there people who are really story-driven, there are people who are really action-driven. For us to be successful, we kind of need to appeal to all those groups, and one of those groups are the people who are really, really into the action and really want a challenge. That's part of the experience for them.

　　The story is about Jin being forced to change and being challenged by these overwhelming numbers of Mongols -- I want to feel that. And the game will absolutely give that to you, if that's what you want. We will wreck you if that's what you want. At the same point, if you're playing to be a tourist, you still need to feel like you're challenged, you don't just want a cakewalk. The game needs to scale down to provide the right challenge, but still make your choices feel meaningful. If you can just cakewalk through every fight, then the parts where Jin is sneaking around don't make sense anymore. Why would I do that? No matter who you are as a player, if your experience doesn't match Jin's, the story won't land. There does need to be challenge for everyone, but what that's going to mean is going to depend on who you are as a player."

　　Zimmerman further confirmed there will "absolutely" be multiple difficulty settings, as it would simply be too difficult to automatically adjust to the broad range of players they're aiming to hit. As for whether you'll be able to adjust difficulty on the fly, Zimmerman guesses the answer will be "yes," but the decision hasn't been finalized yet.

　　Ghost of Tsushima doesn't yet have a release date, and you probably shouldn't expect it until well into 2019, at the earliest. Keep an eye on Wccftech for more exclusive E3 2018 news and hands-on previews!