History Main / MultiplayerDifficultySpike

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' battles against other players are much more challenging than the battles against in-game [=NPCs=]. This is not only due to the absence of ArtificialStupidity, but also because Pokemon are capped at level 50 and cannot switch out freely after fainting an opponent. Not only this, but unlike the AI who is happy to toss a pathetically weak Mon at you, instead you can expect to see [[OlympusMons Legendaries]] and some of the strongest Pokemon in the series. It has hit a point where the main-game is considered, by competetive players, preparation for the insane difficulty of PvP.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' battles against other players are much more challenging than the battles against in-game [=NPCs=]. This is not only due to the absence of ArtificialStupidity, but also because Pokemon are capped at level 50 and cannot switch out freely after fainting an opponent.

* ''The VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' series does this. Irritatingly, one boss in ''The House of the Dead III'', The Fool, has a final attack that requires a full clip in a very short timespan (we're talking no time to reload) in single-player...and ''two clips'' in two-player, meaning that both players must fire a full clip at it. Conclusion? You're better off playing alone than with an incompetent or fooling-around player (sadly common at kids' arcades full of children who may try to join in without asking first).

* ''Franchise/Pokemon'' battles against other players are much more challenging than the battles against in-game [=NPCs=]. This is not only due to the absence of ArtificialStupidity, but also because Pokemon are capped at level 50 and cannot switch out freely after fainting an opponent.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' multiplayer {{cap}}s the player level to 20 (compared to 60 in the SP), drastically reduces available skills, and consistently pits the players against DemonicSpiders rarely encountered even on higher difficulties in SP (or not encountered at all, such as the {{DLC}}-only [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 Collector]] faction).
** To put things in perspective, a generic Reaper mook during a Bronze multiplayer match (the lowest available difficulty) has about the same health as one in single player, but the difficulty set at Hardcore (equivalent to Hard). Enemies will also do much more damage with their weapons. Now consider that there's also Gold and Platinum difficulties in multiplayer...

** To put things in perspective, a generic Reaper mook during a Bronze multiplayer match (the lowest available difficulty) has about the same health as one in single player, but the difficulty set at Hardcore (equivalent to Hard). Enemies will also do much more damage with their weapons. Now consider that there's also Gold and Platinum difficulties in multiplayer...

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' state quite often in the loading screen messages that playing with other people increases the game's difficulty but also increases the loot quality that drops.

* ''The VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' series does this. Irritatingly, one boss in ''The House of the Dead III''', The Fool, has a final attack that requires a full clip in a very short timespan (we're talking no time to reload) in single-player...and ''two clips'' in two-player, meaning that both players must fire a full clip at it. Conclusion? You're better off playing alone than with an incompetent or fooling-around player (sadly common at kids' arcades full of children who may try to join in without asking first).

* Many [[BeatEmUp Beat Em Ups]] would add extra Mooks (and, rarely, bosses) when more than one person was playing.

* In a co-op game of ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} II'', whenever a new player joins the game, all the enemies increase in strength, as indicated by a message saying, "(player) has joined the battle. Diablo's minions grow stronger." Likewise, when a player leaves the game, it says, "(player) has left the battle. Diablo's minions weaken."

This trope applies specifically to games that offer distinct single-player and multiplayer modes. In {{Massively Multiplayer Online Game}}s and games whose single-player mode is essentially Co-Op without co-players (in the vein of ''DiabloII''), '''difficulty spikes proportional to the number of players fall under DynamicDifficulty'''.

This trope applies specifically to games that offer distinct single-player and multiplayer modes. In {{Massively Multiplayer Online Game}}s and games whose single-player mode is essentially Co-Op without co-players (in the vein of ''DiabloII''), difficulty spikes proportional to the number of players fall under DynamicDifficulty.

* {{Fighting Game}}s in general as players research and exploit things the computer can't. Of course the computer has [[SNKBoss some]] [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard aces]] up it's sleeve.

* ''VideoGame/DungeonDefenders'' increases the number of monsters per wave depending on the number of players present.
** ''KillingFloor'' also does this.

* Strategy and shooter games (especially post-2000) are often geared towards competitive player-vs-player modes, with the campaign serving mainly as an extended TutorialLevel sequence. The campaign AI is often handicapped while the player is gradually introduced to game mechanics; the multiplayer/bot AI, on the other hand, is completely unhindered in its task of taking you down. And, of course, the human opponents are, in theory, the biggest challenge.

** KillingFloor also does this.

->--''WebOriginal/ZeroPunctuation'' review of ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline''[[note]]Itself, being an MMORPG, not an example of this trope.[[/note]]

-->''[I] was brought to an instance with three other guys and the instruction: "Now there are four of you, so I guess you won't have any trouble meeting a one hundred dude smacking quota!"''

-->-- ''ZeroPunctuation'''s review of ''DCUniverseOnline''

* ''KingdomHeartsThreeFiveEightDaysOverTwo'' has the Mission Mode, which has a multi-player option. The enemies have buffed stats compared to story mode whether you have multiple players or not.