Mastering Difficulty Levels In God Of War Ragnarök: A Comprehensive Guide

God of War Ragnarök is a long and challenging game, no matter what difficulty option you choose. There are a wide variety of different challenges to complete, optional side-missions, and goodies to collect. And let’s not count out the main story mode, which is teeming with boss fights that might make you tear your hair out.

With this in mind, you can choose from five difficulty modes at the beginning of the game to customize just how easy or hard the game will be for you. It’s the most freedom gamers have had to do so by far since the first God of War entry in the reboot saga. But with different options available, which one is the best for you? We’ve got all the answers and more here.

Identifying the Best Difficulty Level for Your Play Style

As previously stated, there are five different difficulties to choose from in God of War Ragnarök. They are as follows:

Give Me Story

This is the mode for players who want to focus on the story only. Think of it as very easy. It’s the easiest mode you can choose, as it’s meant to deliver a story-based experience with very simple combat. It’s mostly for players who have little experience with these types of games.

Give Me Grace

This is the easy mode, with a nice balance between story and combat. Enemies aren’t that difficult, but they’re more challenging than in Give Me Story, so players have more than a taste of combat.

Give Me Balance

This would be the normal setting and is the default game difficulty. There’s a fine-tuned balance between easy and normal, with plenty of story beats and a mix of combat that’s still forgiving enough to accommodate different player types.

Give Me No Mercy

This is the game’s hard mode. It’s best for players familiar with combat and who are looking for a challenge, with fewer boss battle checkpoints, and difficult encounters that will put their skills to the test.

Give Me God of War

The very hard mode is an ultra-difficult option that must be selected once from the main menu and cannot be turned off if players decide it’s too difficult for them. Everything is more challenging, including combat. It’s only recommended for those who are ready and able to best the game without succumbing to its hurdles.

There is no subjective best option, but you must instead choose which one works for you. By default, the Give Me Balance option is going to provide the best, most even experience.

Want to learn more about what to expect from the game? Make sure to check out Newsweek's God of War Ragnarök review.

God of War Ragnarök is available now on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.