Pathologic 2, much like the original, is a highly atmospheric and often unforgiving experience. While all of this ties into the story and the revelations you'll discover as you move further on, being intentionally overwhelming can still be frustrating to players, which is why there have been quite a few complaints about the difficulty ever since Pathologic 2 released a little while ago.

In order to address these concerns, as well as give players the ability to customize their own experience, the developers have now announced that they are working on a difficulty slider. That said, they have also once again emphasized that Pathologic 2 is supposed to be "almost unbearable" and that removing the difficulty might also remove a good portion of the atmosphere with it.

"Our games have always been in a curious spot. Some people only finished the original Pathologic and The Void using cheat codes," reads the developer update. "So while in theory these players agreed with our stance on games as a medium for creating compelling experiences, in actuality they didn’t really—well—experience what we had in store for them. Which is, of course, understandable. Not everyone wants a life-changing experience every time they launch a game. Sometimes people only want a cursory glance."

"So, in the coming 2-3 weeks we’ll introduce a difficulty slider to Pathologic 2. You’ll be able to tweak the game mildly, within the limits of what we consider intended difficulty, and also set it the way you want, if you want. However, we do like the notion of giving you this freedom—and this responsibility. This way, the achievement of resisting the temptation and finishing the game on intended difficulty becomes even more true and vivid. And that’s the kind of effect we deeply appreciate."

Personally, as long as it's relegated to being a simple option you can turn on and off, I don't particularly mind having difficulty sliders around. After all, if someone wants to 'ruin' their own experience by essentially making the entire game a cakewalk, that is entirely up to them and their preference.

Whatever your opinion on the matter may be, you can read the full announcement, as well as learn more about Pathologic 2, over at Steam.