Mods can be an option but some are harder than others to use. I do find that a lot of mainstream games have a pretty good range of difficulties these days (including story mode etc), but definitely not all games.

Honestly it was really handy to have a pen and paper around for Elden Ring for me. There was just so much I wanted to keep track of so that I could come back or to make connections. But it’s also a very acquired taste kind of game to go through!