Each a part of a online game is designed to evoke particular responses from gamers. The person interface, the extent design, and—most significantly—the soundtrack all influence your emotional state whereas enjoying. Whereas that may be nice for immersion, high-intensity music elevates the participant’s sense of pressure, making troublesome sections of a sport even tougher.
Conversely, turning off the music could make video games simpler—or, on the very least, much less overwhelming.
The primary time I ever tried this technique was whereas enjoying Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. As a FromSoftware-developed sport, Sekiro options troublesome fight encounters, particularly its quite a few boss battles. One explicit boss, the two-part sword combat in opposition to Genichiro Ashina, proved to be a significant roadblock for me.
After dozens of failed makes an attempt, I searched on-line for tutorials on the simplest assault combos and different methods to take him down, and I observed a number of feedback recommending struggling gamers flip off the in-game music. I’d by no means tried this earlier than, nevertheless it made sense. As with different FromSoft video games, Sekiro’s boss music will be bombastic, even oppressive. I figured the shortage of an orchestral barrage would make the combat simpler, too, akin to how audiences can chortle at horror films with out background music to sign one thing is purported to be scary.
So I took their recommendation and popped into Sekiro’s settings menu and disabled the music.
Did turning down the music make Genichiro any simpler? Really, sure.
Certain, it took a couple of extra tries—and naturally, drilling the combat again and again helped me study Genichiro’s patterns—nevertheless it was simpler to focus on the assault and parry timings with out my adrenaline surging to Yuka Kitamura’s epic soundtrack. I’ve used this trick for different troublesome sections in video games since then, like going through Malenia in Elden Ring, the Nemesis boss in Returnal, or most on-line Tetris 99 matches (look—the Tetris theme goes too arduous, man).
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Muting the music can be a sound technique for making scary video games much less tense. For instance, attempt turning down the music within the current Useless House remake in the event you’re struggling to remain cool whereas going through down mobs of necromorphs.
It’s necessary to notice that is completely different than simply muting the sport solely. As an alternative, you’re turning down the music whereas leaving the remainder of the sport’s audio unchanged. That manner, you’ll be able to nonetheless preserve monitor of any necessary in-game audio cues. In truth, they may even be simpler to listen to with out the background music blaring. It’s fairly simple to do, too; nearly each sport on the market has separate sliders for music, sound results, and voices within the choices menu, so you’ll be able to flip down the music with out muting all of the audio.
It may not be a sure-fire technique each time, and it’s definitely not a cheat code, however turning down the music may make troublesome or scary components of a online game much less intimidating. If nothing else, it’d make it simpler to take heed to one thing else within the background when you play.
