Difficulties with Difficulty

Wondering how to play on Easy Mode? Hard Mode? Your country choice determines the difficulty through an opaque mechanism...

How Difficulty Works: A Theory

My theory is this: the breath mechanic is linked to the height of the peaks listed below.

You will by now have noticed that Threshold does not have standard difficulty settings. Instead you are prompted to choose a country, and the country determines the game's difficulty by some unseen logic. You will also have noticed that the map in Room 2 is based on the highest peak of the country you chose. I have played the game in the USA, Bangladesh, the UK, and the Philippines, and the map in Room 2 matches the information below. It would stand to reason that the height of peak determines how rarefied the atmosphere is, which determines how quickly your character needs a new oxygen can. I will time these (and double check the peak height information later, which admitedly is from ChatGPT) later but for now...

Easy mode is The United Kingdom.
Hard mode is China.

• United Kingdom (UK): Ben Nevis (1,345 m)
  
• Bangladesh: Saka Haphong (1,052 m)
  
• Thailand: Doi Inthanon (2,565 m)
  
• Australia: Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m)
  
• Nigeria: Chappal Waddi (2,419 m)
  
• Philippines: Mount Apo (2,954 m)
  
• Germany: Zugspitze (2,962 m)
  
• Vietnam: Fansipan (3,147.3 m)
  
• Japan: Mount Fuji (3,776 m)
  
• Spain: Teide (3,718 m)
  
• Ethiopia: Ras Dashen (4,550 m)
  
• Italy: Mont Blanc (4,808.7 m) — shared with France
  
• France: Mont Blanc (4,808.7 m) — shared with Italy
  
• Indonesia: Puncak Jaya (4,884 m)
  
• Iran: Mount Damavand (5,609 m)
  
• Russia: Mount Elbrus (5,642 m)
  
• Mexico: Pico de Orizaba (5,636 m)
  
• Canada: Mount Logan (5,959 m)
  
• Argentina: Aconcagua (6,960.8 m)
  
• USA: Denali (6,190 m)
  
• Pakistan: K2 (8,611 m)
  
• India: Kangchenjunga (8,586 m) — shared with Nepal
  
• China: Mount Everest (8,848.86 m) — shared with Nepal

I ran a quick test of my theory by letting the player character suffocate after their 1st tutorial whistle blow. In "China" the character dies in ~1m44s, in the "UK" the character doesn't die after even 3m20s. The difficulty curve is probably pretty drastic!

[Silvan]

2.994m for Brasil that is not mentioned

[Gilsanz]

It makes sense, although, for example, in Spain, the mountain that he choose is Mulhacén and not Teide, so it might not always be the highest mountain in each country.

[SeaThru]

The difficulty mechanic being tied to the country's highest mountain is so interesting, thank you for getting all these values