Horizon Forbidden West: All Difficulties Explained

Horizon Forbidden West's recent release on PC has brought much-deserved attention to this previously overlooked gem. Overshadowed by FromSoftware's magnum opus Elden Ring, this open-world post-apocalyptic adventure now sees an influx of new players like yourself. Your first task upon starting the game is selecting the appropriate difficulty.

With six distinct settings to choose from, navigating the options can be a bit overwhelming. Each difficulty significantly impacts your overall experience. The guide below is designed to help you with making an informed decision. If none of the preset options suit your preferences, you can even create your own custom difficulty setting.

All Six Difficulty Settings

horizon forbidden west six difficulty settings

Horizon Forbidden West offers six difficulty settings, ranging from Story to Ultra Hard. There's also a Custom difficulty option, which is covered in more detail further below. Each succeeding difficulty will make the game progressively more challenging by altering the amount of damage taken, enemy HP scaling, and more. Some gameplay features, like Aim Assist and Easy Loot, are also only available on certain difficulties. The table below should explain each difficulty setting in great detail.

	Story	Easy	Normal	Hard	Very Hard	Ultra Hard
Damage Taken	10%	50%	100%	125%	150%	200%
Enemy HP Scaling	33%	80%	100%	133%	182%	294
Enemy Tear and Elemental Defense	29%	67%	100%	133%	182%	250%
Aim Assist	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Off	Off
Easy Loot	On	On	Optional	Optional	Optional	No
Weapon stamina depletion after damage	None	None	15% or less of total stamina	15% or less of total stamina	15% or less of total stamina	15% or less of total stamina

Ultra Hard difficulty is not just about increasing numbers and restricting features. It aims to heighten your experience by modifying a few additional elements. Enemies will no longer display their health bars and will instantly become alert after sustaining non-lethal damage from stealth. Both human and machine enemies will have double the usual perception range, and Smoke Bombs' effectiveness against medium and large machines will be diminished. This final change is also applied to Very Hard difficulty.

Don't stress too much about choosing your difficulty setting, as you can change it whenever you wish. The only exception is if you opt for Ultra Hard difficulty when starting a new game. So, refrain from choosing it on your initial playthrough unless you're a masochist.

How Does Custom Difficulty Works

horizon forbidden west custom difficulty options

Custom Difficulty is exactly as it sounds: it allows you to tailor your gameplay experience to your preferences. Do you want Aloy to endure heavy damage but prefer enemies not to feel like bullet sponges? No problem, you can adjust that. Up to six settings can be customized when selecting Custom Difficulty. Each setting and its function are as follows:

Damage to Aloy: This setting determines the amount of damage Aloy will sustain from both mechanical and human enemies. Available options include Story, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard.
Enemy Health: This setting determines the health, tear values, and resistance of enemies. Available options include Story, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard.
Easy Loot: This setting determines whether any remaining external resource components are added to a machine's loot inventory when it is destroyed. Available options are On and Off.

Concentration Duration: This setting determines the duration of the Concentration mode, which allows for slowing down time when aiming. Available options are Default, Long, and Longer. Only available in Story, Easy, and Custom difficulty.
Auto Concentration: This setting determines if the concentration mode will automatically activate when aiming. Available options are On and Off. Only available in Story, Easy, and Custom difficulty.
Auto Heal: This setting determines if Aloy will automatically consume Medicinal Berries from her Medicine Pouch when below 50% Health. Available options are On and Off. Turning it on will also fully heal Aloy after a while, once the fight has concluded.

Players can adjust these settings by selecting the custom difficulty setting whenever they want. However, it's important to note that these settings are only accessible once you are in the game; they cannot be selected from the main menu or when starting a new game. Once you're in-game, press Esc and navigate to the settings option. From there, go to the General tab and change the Difficulty option to Custom. You should then see all six tweakable options.

Custom difficulty won't be available if you selected Ultra Hard difficulty at the start of the game.

If you're the type of player who aims to unlock all the achievements, you can breathe a sigh of relief as Horizon Forbidden West only features one difficulty-based trophy, which is to finish the game in Ultra Hard. All other achievements can be unlocked even when playing the game on Story difficulty. Therefore, choose the difficulty that matches your skill level and have a good time.

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