I just like when a game scales its difficulty until you reach the end of the game and all of your skills are put to the test like a "final exam". Then, just throw in some optional super bosses or secret dungeons or whatever for players who want to push themselves further. I roll my eyes at games having multiple difficulty modes, some of them having three or four "hard" modes.
I also hate when a game comes out with a super sadistic, "fuck you, die" difficulty mode where everything is heavily rigged against players and everybody acts like the developers deserve a reward. Like I think "Give Me God of War" mode in that first modern God of War game was complete bullshit. Kratos was dying in like one or two hits and the enemies could just soak up damage. The "God of War" couldn't take a punch and hit like a girl.
Me rolling my eyes at this stuff probably also has something to do with me just being at a certain age where the ego boost of beating something super hard in a game no longer means anything to me. It's not like you won an olympic gold medal because you beat some sadistic hard mode in a video game. Nobody cares. The mayor isn't giving you the key to the city. Girls aren't in your DMs wanting to come fuck you. "Hey baby, I beat Dante Must Die Mode. Give me your digits"
There are better things to invest extreme effort into in life. Things that ACTUALLY impress people and ACTUALLY have rewards. Go join the NFL and try and win a Super Bowl. Go try and win on Jeopardy. Become a politician and clean up your city. Go get a Nobel peace prize or a Pulitzer or something.
A video game is just entertainment.