By skyforbes Im not saying this is true at all, just a thought.
I think, if you took a notoriously difficult game, lets say Dark Souls* or Elden Ring*, and you replaced ALL the graphics and story, with bright kid-friendly content but kept the gameplay and difficulty identical, that people wouldn't think it's as difficult. I think, psychologically we see a "mature" game and we think its going to be hard, so it is.
Like imagine if you took Elden Ring but replaced everything but the gameplay with Sailor Moon or Mario, do you think people would still consider it "hard"?
EDIT: I see i've been thoroughly debunked, thanks for reminding me of such difficult cartoony games!
\I get it, you're so cool that you think they're not difficult, good for you.*