I think the sliders are a fantastic way to give the game longevity. Too often you get a game, beat it on the hardest difficulty and after that you're done except for achievement hunting maybe. The sliders add a lot of interesting ways to challenge yourself, or simply have fun, once you've completed the game normally to your hearts content. Not to mention, I feel like if modding tools come out, the sliders will have a built in method for some interesting mods to be created. Super Hot Doom anyone?
I think people just like to complain. And I still don't know what is 'woke' about this. I continue to see evidence that 'woke' is just "I don't like this but literally don't have the vocabulary to voice my grievance without sounding like an idiot/jerk".