With Hollow Knight: Silksong’s huge launch in full swing, community debate about its qualities and flaws has gone back and forth, with some players insisting their criticisms about things like the game's difficulty are valid and shouldn’t be instantly dismissed as "hate."
“death of the author” suggests some of the author’s intent is lost when a work is consumed by the audience.
Then it’s not the developer’s fault anymore that the game is hard.
It exists by itself.