What difficulty should it be played on?

[OoohBoi!]

Some games can be alot better or more immersive when played on higher difficulty. Has anyone found this to be the case with Horizon?

[Vilhjálmr]

It's definitely fun playing on the harder difficulties for sure, but you can comfortably beat the game on Game Journalist Difficulty and then replay Very Hard or Ultra Hard on NG+ when you have the Shield Weaver armor for a very fair but challenging experience.

[OoohBoi!]

Ahhh good to know. I didn't know there was a NG+ mode. I'm also curious to see if it's just easier with keyboard and mouse considering it was designed with a controller in mind. Replaying the Master Chief collection on Legendary and it's a walk in the park compared to a controller.

Super excited to finally play this when it gets released :D

[Vilhjálmr]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DeRailed:

Ahhh good to know. I didn't know there was a NG+ mode. I'm also curious to see if it's just easier with keyboard and mouse considering it was designed with a controller in mind. Replaying the Master Chief collection on Legendary and it's a walk in the park compared to a controller.

Super excited to finally play this when it gets released :D

Yeah the game has a pretty good NG+ mode. It unlocks even more powerful weapons and armor with huge price tags and resource requirements, you can change the design of the Focus that Aloy wears, and it even unlocks different face paints and makeup you can apply at any time.

[Mosh]

Do not listen to anyone here. The difficulty pretty much only increases the health of the enemies, so unless you wanna grind you should play on Easy and there wouldn't be much difference other than the length of the battles.

[Vilhjálmr]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Mosh:

Do not listen to anyone here.

There's only two of us here

The difficulty pretty much only increases the health of the enemies

False. In Ultra Hard, you take 200% more damage, which is why you should complete the game once to get the best weapons and armor from your first lap so you can upgrade them even more to deal with enemies on a second playthrough at higher difficulty.

Oh and you also do 70% damage compared to 100% on Normal when playing on Ultra Hard. Enemy health isn't actually increased. They just get more aggressive.

[Stoibs]

Oh this is actually a good consideration, especially in regards to what it was designed for originally.

I think I might (both figuratively, and literally) dust off my PS4 to see what I was playing at there;
With the ability to actually aim properly here, I might go for 1 step up from whatever that run was :P

[OoohBoi!]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Stoibs:

I might go for 1 step up from whatever that run was :P

I'm thinking the same go up one from normal to start and go from there. I like a challenge but the thought of a second play through with it cranked right up sounds appealing ;)

[MillzPlayzGamez]

hard really isnt that bad, and NG+ turn up to the hardest so theres a challenge and you will still have your decent gear.. Happy hunting!

[vongdong]

Definitely play on the harder difficulty. I do wish the enemies were more aggressive though. The enemies in the expansion packs were a fantastic challenge.

[Vilhjálmr]

It's really fun playing Ultra Hard with the Shield Weaver armor as well, since it scales with difficulty. The HP of the shield decreases with each step up in difficulty, but the recharge rate increases. So in Normal you can get hit a few times before the shield is depleted, but it takes a while to recharge. In Ultra Hard, one attack will destroy the shield but after a few seconds it recharges almost instantly.

You basically get a free hit, since in Ultra Hard even one stomp from a Watcher, the lowest level enemy, is enough to almost kill you.

[Vilhjálmr]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von vongdong:

I do wish the enemies were more aggressive though.

They do get quite a bit more aggressive on Very Hard and Ultra Hard. They use special attacks a lot more often, and are much quicker to spot you or turn hostile.

[MISTERIGHT]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Mosh:

Do not listen to anyone here. The difficulty pretty much only increases the health of the enemies, so unless you wanna grind you should play on Easy and there wouldn't be much difference other than the length of the battles.

And also make them behave more aggresive, right? Um..

[Pythagoras]

There are a large number of enemies. Some can wipe you with a "spit" cannon.

I fully enjoyed the easiest setting the first time. There are so many moves and tricks to learn that , imho, starting hard can be missed, be a pain the azz, or be very frustrated.

[Haring Monggi]

Hard isn't bad, died couple of times. If you like challenging games, better play on higher difficulty.

[SpikyMuffin]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Guanayn:

Hard isn't bad, died couple of times. If you like challenging games, better play on higher difficulty.

Nice, I just hope it's not like in some games where hard is unfair, with enemies spotting you from too far and aiming too good, prefiring through walls.