When difficulty feels fair versus when it feels cheap

We play a lot of hard games and we love most of them. But there's a difference between a challenge that makes you smarter and one that just makes you replay.

Fair difficulty gives you the information you need. You can see the enemy path, read the wave composition, and plan. When you lose, you know why, and you know what to change.

Cheap difficulty hides information or throws sudden spikes you couldn't prepare for. Losing a twenty-minute run to a surprise you had no way to see coming isn't challenging, it's annoying.

When we review, this is one of the things we watch closely. A game can be brutally hard and still earn a high score, as long as every loss teaches you something.