A guide on choosing your difficulty setting

This guide will unravel the distinct challenges woven into each difficulty level of Horizon Zero Dawn, allowing you to discern the perfect level that aligns with your desire of exploration and combat experience.

Introduction

Many at times we find ourselves at the home page difficulty setting, wondering what each level has to offer and we often don't have a lot of time just to experiment with each level and come to a final conclusion, hence this guide will show you what each level has to offer and by the end of this guide, you will be able to make your final decision on which game mode suits you the best.

Let's first get to know how many difficulty levels are there and their respective names:

• Story
  
• Easy
  
• Normal
  
• Hard
  
• Very Hard
  
• Ultra Hard

Difficulty Tiers

Story Mode:

1. Ideal for players seeking a narrative-focused experience:
- In Story Mode, the emphasis is on storytelling, making it perfect for players who prioritize the game's narrative over challenging gameplay elements.
- The mode allows you to delve deep into the captivating storyline without the pressure of difficult combat scenarios.

2. Combat is forgiving, allowing you to immerse yourself in the captivating storyline without intense challenges:
- Story Mode provides a forgiving combat experience, enabling players to progress through battles with relative ease.
- This ensures that players can focus on the unfolding narrative without being hindered by overly challenging combat encounters.

Easy Mode:

1. Recommended for those new to action RPGs or looking for a more relaxed adventure:
- Easy mode is designed for players who may be new to the action RPG genre or those who prefer a more relaxed and accessible gaming experience.
- It provides a gentle introduction to the game's mechanics, allowing players to acclimate gradually.

2. Provides a balanced experience with slightly forgiving combat encounters:
- Easy mode strikes a balance by offering a moderate level of challenge while still being forgiving in combat.
- This ensures that players can enjoy a well-paced adventure without feeling overwhelmed by excessively difficult enemies.

Normal Mode:

1. The standard difficulty level for a well-rounded and immersive gameplay experience:
- Normal difficulty is the standard setting, providing a balanced and immersive gameplay experience.
- It offers a mix of challenges and accessibility, catering to a broad audience of players.

2. Strikes a balance between challenge and accessibility:
- Normal mode strikes a delicate balance, offering a fair degree of challenge to keep the gameplay engaging without being overly difficult.
- It is suitable for players who want a well-rounded experience without extremes in difficulty.

Hard Mode:

1. Suited for players seeking a heightened level of challenge:
- Hard mode is tailored for players who desire a more challenging experience, requiring strategic thinking and skillful gameplay.
- Enemies become more formidable, encouraging players to approach combat encounters with precision and planning.

2. Enemies are more formidable, requiring strategic thinking and precision in combat:
- In Hard mode, enemies pose a greater threat, necessitating players to adopt advanced combat strategies.
- Success in combat relies on strategic thinking, precise execution, and a deeper understanding of the game's mechanics.

Upto this Level, Aim Assist will be turned on (can be turned off as well) but levels beyond this have Aim Assist turned off and can't be turned on

Very Hard Mode:

1. Tailored for experienced players craving an intense and demanding gameplay experience:
- Very Hard mode caters to experienced players seeking a significant increase in difficulty.
- It is designed for those who relish intense and demanding gameplay challenges.

2. Enemies are significantly more challenging, requiring advanced combat skills:
- Enemies in Very Hard mode are notably more challenging, demanding players to employ advanced combat skills.
- Success hinges on mastering the game's mechanics, exploiting enemy weaknesses, and showcasing expertise in combat.

Ultra Hard Mode:

1. For the hardcore players seeking the ultimate test of skill:
- Ultra Hard mode is the pinnacle of difficulty, designed for hardcore players seeking the ultimate test of skill and expertise.
- It offers an extreme challenge that pushes players to their limits.

2. Enemies are relentless and extremely formidable, demanding expert combat tactics:
- In Ultra Hard mode, enemies are relentless and extremely formidable, requiring players to employ expert combat tactics.
- Success in battles demands a deep understanding of the game, precise execution, and expert-level combat strategies.

3. Extra Handicaps involved in this Mode:
- Unlike the previous modes, Ultra Hard Mode contains certain handicaps (Punishments) that make the gameplay even more harder to complete, here are all of the handicaps present in this mode:

• Enemy health bars are disabled.
  
• Multiple enemies can attack simultaneously.
  
• Enemy perception range (both visual and auditory) is greatly increased.
  
• Machines and humans are harder to knock down using the heavy spear attack.
  
• Vendor prices are up to five times higher.
  
• Vendors no longer offer free sample boxes.
  
• The Machine resources merchant no longer sells hearts. In addition, they only sell 4 types of lenses.
  
• The Thunderjaw's Disc Launchers are no longer especially vulnerable to Tearblast Arrows.
  
• Using Lure Call while enemies are actively searching for Aloy will immediately reveal her location to them, even if she is hiding in tall grass.
  
• Machines that were more inclined to flee will now prefer to fight. This applies to Striders, Broadheads, Chargers, Grazers, and Lancehorns.
  
• Humans will attack more frequently.

Summary and My Personal Preferences

To summarize, here are what each mode used for and what I personally recommend for players alike:

Story Mode:

Focuses more on story and gives little to no respect for the combat, highly not recommended as it takes away the joy and interest for continuing the game cause of just repetition of dialogues over and over again.

Easy Mode

: Gives a taste of how combat feels on Zero Dawn without making you rage quit for loosing in a combat situation, though better than the last one, i still wouldn't recommend it as time progresses, it gets boring on how easy it is to take down machines.

Normal Mode:

A perfect balance between combat and exploration, Recommended for those stepping newly into RPG or someone who plays the game casually.

Hard Mode:

A perfect RPG experience for Zero Dawn, Recommended for anyone who has played RPG games before and want a small challenge from this game, it will be hard for the first few playthroughs but as time progresses, it becomes more well balanced.

Very Hard Mode:

Self Explanatory, Machines become more tougher and you deal less damage to them but take more damage at the same time, (My current playthrough is on this mode) I wouldn't recommend this mode unless if you really want to test your skills and patience in Zero Dawn

Ultra Hard Mode:

Basically its Very Hard Mode with some extra handicaps (punishments) stated in the previous section, I will not recommend this mode unless if its NG+ and you are aiming for that 100% completion achievement.

Conclusion and References

Hope this guide helped you find you perfect difficulty level, this wouldn't have been possible without the following references that I have taken from:

• Horizon Wiki[horizon.fandom.com]
  
• Difficulty Comparison using Sawtooth

Thanks for reading, and have a great day ahead :).