Is Ghost of Tsushima Hard? – Ghost of Tsushima Difficulty Explained

Ghost of Tsushima, a samurai open-world from Sucker Punch, turned out to be an unexpected hit in 2020 when it was originally released for PlayStation 4. Since then, we’ve got a lot of patches, updates, DLCs, and even a completely new PlayStation 5 version last summer. Although this action game had considerable flexibility in terms of difficulty right from the start, new options were added for even more difficulty settings. So with that in mind, is Ghost of Tsushima hard?

Is Ghost of Tsushima Hard?

Jin’s story of vengeance through stealth and samurai action is challenging but not Souls hard or anything like that. Playing on the default medium setting will provide an Assassin’s Creed-like regular difficulty, but if that’s not for you, there are many ways to change your Ghost of Tsushima experience by making it even easier or seriously hard. Check out all of the difficulty settings explained below.

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Ghost of Tsushima Difficulty Levels

After recent updates, the situation with difficulty levels in Ghost of Tsushima is as follows:

• Easy or Easy+ – Minimal challenge, but you will still die if you don’t learn to block, dodge, and parry.
• Medium or Medium+ – This is the normal setting most players will experience in the game. It’s a balanced challenge.
• Hard or Hard+ – Kicks your ass from the start. You will die a lot, but don’t expect a Souls-like experience still.
• Lethal or Lethal+ – Added in Patch 1.05, this is a handicap mode where enemies will detect you faster and are more aggressive, parry and dodge windows are reduced, and every hit from foes deals a lot more damage but Jin’s katana is also more deadly, so it is a who hits first kind of a challenge.

And if this is all too stressful for you as you just want to experience the story, chase Foxes, and play the flute while enjoying photo mode, there is even a special “Lower intensity mode”. This is only available on Easy and turning it on relaxes some of the most stressful mechanics such as unblockable attacks, block and parry windows, and enemy attack patterns to create a very easy-going experience for new players or people who just want to enjoy the different aspects of the game.

Whatever difficulty level you decide to play Ghost of Tsushima with, you are in for a ride! The game was refreshed last year with a PlayStation 5 version that still looks gorgeous and plays even better in super-smooth 60fps.

For more Ghost of Tsushima guides here on Prima Games, check out the following articles: How to Get the Longbow in Ghost of Tsushima, What is Legends Mode in Ghost of Tsushima? – Legends Mode Guide and How to Unlock the Ghost of Tsushima All in the Wrist Trophy.