Need help choosing difficulty

[Bullett00th]

Here's the situation:

• Played the original back in the day on Normal - both combat and puzzles. Found it easy, but not unengaging - didn't feel the need for a higher difficulty. Tried puzzles on hard, found some a bit too cryptic.
  
• Lately I enjoy combat/horror games on Hard (RE7, RE2R, RE3R Nightmare, RE4R, Dead Space). BUT I prefer playing them on Normal first and going for Hard on a second playthrough. That said, not sure if I'll be going for a second playthrough of SH2R.
  
• My friends playing SH2R say the puzzles on Hard aren't that challenging. Not sure if they were changed from the original.
  
• My friends also say they keep switching back and forth between Normal and Hard combat in SH2R. On Normal they drown in resources, on Hard they get drained almost too quickly.
  
• While I enjoy the combat and resource management challenge of action-oriented horror like RE and DS, I remember liking Sileng Hill more for the story and atmosphere.
  
• I recently played SH1 for the first time and had an interesting challenge curve: early game was challenging but fair, mid-game I had almost too many resources, lategame monsters swarmed the streets and consistently drained my ammo and heals. Although I still had plenty to finish the game, I enjoyed the pressure of knowing I'm replenishing much less than I'm spending.

All this considered, what would difficulty you recommend me, considering I'm only planning one playthrough?

Appreciated!

[Nezuko Pizza Delivery]

Hard mode is for Giga Chad gamers

[Nocturno]

Hard mode is insane but the way to be played.

[Nezuko Pizza Delivery]

Originally posted by Nocturno:

Hard mode is insane but the way to be played.

Not wrong you Giga Chad

[Seth Wulfstone]

I finished this game with 160+ handgun ammo, 30ish shotgun shells, 20 rifle rounds, 24 healing drinks, 21 syringes. They give you a lot of resources for Normal that it felt kinda meh, and if you die you get a checkpoint basically right outside where you died so saving is more or less if you're worried about crashing or if you're quitting for the day.

I'd say probably play on Hard, the melee combat isn't too bad, you get a dodge that just gives you i-frames and you can learn enemy attacks to make it easier. You never have to do puzzles under stress so it won't hurt if you raise the puzzle difficulty to max either.

[Nezuko Pizza Delivery]

Imagine playing on normal

[Fyk0]

I usually play games on hard difficulties and started this on hard, found hard mode more frustrating if anything, so I set it to standard. Standard is too easy and I drown in health items, so I set it on hard again. Then, I run into the ceiling box guy boss, it ate like all my bullets and I wasn't sure was I even doing damage to that thing, so I set it back on standard.

I wish there was something between standard and hard. I'm not sure am I imagining things, but enemies feels more aggressive on hard on top of the damage they deal compared to standard.

I have killed almost every enemy I encounter outside of scenarios they spawn in mass around you. Maybe my hard experience would have been better if I had picked my battles instead of fighting everything, but this is my first playthrough and I don't know the routes so I run in each zone like headless chicken and it is more convenient if the monsters on the way are dead.

[Nezuko Pizza Delivery]

Originally posted by Fyk0:

I usually play games on hard difficulties and started this on hard, found hard mode more frustrating if anything, so I set it to standard. Standard is too easy and I drown in health items, so I set it on hard again. Then, I run into the ceiling box guy boss, it ate like all my bullets and I wasn't sure was I even doing damage to that thing, so I set it back on standard.

I wish there was something between standard and hard. I'm not sure am I imagining things, but enemies feels more aggressive on hard on top of the damage they deal compared to standard.

I have killed most enemies I encounter outside of scenarios they spawn in mass around you. Maybe my hard experience would have been better if I had picked by battles instead of fighting everything, but this is my first playthrough and I don't know the routes so I run in each zone like headless chicken and it is more convenient if the monsters on the way are dead.

Future Giga Chad in the making!

[TommySnare]

Based on your last point the bit about story, I would chose Standard for both settings.
If you do a new game + after, you can always change it to hard after for that 'challenge run'

There are no difficulty achievements etc. and some of the encounters early on can be unfair if you have not got used to the melee (it took me a while, felt jank at first). Some enemies hit REALLY hard too on standard so.

[Seth Wulfstone]

Originally posted by Fyk0:

I have killed almost every enemy I encounter outside of scenarios they spawn in mass around you. Maybe my hard experience would have been better if I had picked by battles instead of fighting everything, but this is my first playthrough and I don't know the routes so I run in each zone like headless chicken and it is more convenient if the monsters on the way are dead.

I'd say try and cut down on how much you kill where you can, the enemy variety isn't super significant so if you're shooting them try and count your shots they take before they drop and see if you can't squeeze in a hit or two, or initiate a fight with a melee hit. You can dodge as you wind up swings if you see an enemy lean in for an attack. Enemies that crawl are pretty subject to getting stagger locked with melee strikes too.

Early game actually gives you a lot of street space so you can avoid many enemies without fighting them for the most part as well. Sometimes you also might wanna gauge how "problematic" an enemy is and spend ammo accordingly. There's a good few I get into melee with but others that I will decide are too much of an issue and will throw more ammo at them.

The cage fight is actually a little tough compared to some of the others so I wouldn't blame you for using a lot of ammo there but get over that hurdle and you'll save ammo in other areas.

[Virgo]

For me hard isn't really that hard, normal from what I've seen around is really too easy and for a survival horror it's not the right choice

[Nezuko Pizza Delivery]

Originally posted by Virgo:

For me hard isn't really that hard, normal from what I've seen around is really too easy and for a survival horror it's not the right choice

Absolute Giga Chad here

[Fyk0]

Originally posted by Seth Wulfstone:

I'd say try and cut down on how much you kill where you can, the enemy variety isn't super significant so if you're shooting them try and count your shots they take before they drop and see if you can't squeeze in a hit or two, or initiate a fight with a melee hit. You can dodge as you wind up swings if you see an enemy lean in for an attack. Enemies that crawl are pretty subject to getting stagger locked with melee strikes too.

Early game actually gives you a lot of street space so you can avoid many enemies without fighting them for the most part as well. Sometimes you also might wanna gauge how "problematic" an enemy is and spend ammo accordingly. There's a good few I get into melee with but others that I will decide are too much of an issue and will throw more ammo at them.

The cage fight is actually a little tough compared to some of the others so I wouldn't blame you for using a lot of ammo there but get over that hurdle and you'll save ammo in other areas.

Yeah, I have surely spent more bullets than I should on hard difficulty. It felt frustrating on hard in the beginning once you find the flashlight and encounter those 4 legged things and there were some tight corridors when there are multiple of them in a row, sometimes 2 in the same room, and in tight places the camera sometimes in melee points to totally wrong direction which makes it very chaotic and they hit hard on hard. Maybe I should have just ran past them instead.

I don't know can you even melee the cage boss thing. When he swings around in phase 1 it can hurt you rather easily and in phase 2 it is hyper aggressive if you are in close range.

[Seth Wulfstone]

Originally posted by Fyk0:

Yeah, I have surely spent more bullets than I should on hard difficulty. It felt frustrating on hard in the beginning once you find the flashlight and encounter those 4 legged things and there were some tight corridors when there are multiple of them in a row, sometimes 2 in the same room, and in tight places the camera sometimes in melee points to totally wrong direction which makes it very chaotic and they hit hard on hard. Maybe I should have just ran past them instead.

I don't know can you even melee the cage boss thing. When he swings around in phase 1 it can hurt you rather easily and in phase 2 it is hyper aggressive if you are in close range.

You can melee it, yeah, window is tight and you might only get a swing or two in but it can be done. As for the four legs, they hide and ambush a lot and they always attack right after they jump out, it's hard to make a mental note when they jump you like that but wait about a second for them to actually do the attack before you dodge it, they constantly got me since I'd dodge right after they appeared.

They also respond to the flashlight, usually you'll see it flicker before they jump out, you can turn the flashlight off and it'll let you get a little more time to look at them and do what needs to be done, good if you want to take your time on situation management.

Enemies actually do have a view cone so it can be good to wait for them to turn around before approaching. I've had one of the later game enemies turn their back and I knocked them to the ground with one swing, which surprised me, and made it easier for me to bludgeon them at that moment, so try and attack from behind as much as you can too.

[Virgo]

Originally posted by Nezuko Pizza Delivery:

Originally posted by Virgo:

For me hard isn't really that hard, normal from what I've seen around is really too easy and for a survival horror it's not the right choice

Absolute Giga Chad here :ChiasaSmile:

Haha nah, I just like the game to give me a satisfying challenge ^^

[Nezuko Pizza Delivery]

Originally posted by Virgo:

Originally posted by Nezuko Pizza Delivery:

Absolute Giga Chad here

Haha nah, I just like the game to give me a satisfying challenge ^^

True gamer I respect that