God of War Ragnarok Difficulty Settings – Which is Best?

God of War Ragnarok offers a variety of difficulty settings so anyone can enjoy Kratos and Atreus’ adventure despite their skill!

Santa Monica continued its trend of making games accessible with God of War Ragnarok.

No matter if you are looking for a challenge or just to enjoy the fantastic narrative, there is undoubtedly a difficulty setting in Ragnarok that perfectly suits your skill and playstyle!

All Difficulty Settings in God of War Ragnarok Explained

God of War Ragnarok features five difficulty settings:

• Give Me Story
  • Ideal for those looking to enjoy the story in the game, making combat easy and accessible.
  • It lets players engage in all combat systems, but it is the most forgiving mode, allowing a relaxing time to enjoy the story.
• Give Me Grace
  • Great for anyone who feels the default “Give Me Balance” experience is too challenging but still wants to retain some difficulty instead of taking the full narrative approach from the “Give me Story” level.
  • More forgiving than Give Me Balance, with fewer enemies spawning and decreased attack frequency.
  • Implements some adjustments to help the player manage the camera.
• Give Me Balance
  • This is the default difficulty. It aims to provide a balanced experience by mixing narrative with a decent challenge to enjoy all combat mechanics.
• Give Me No Mercy
  • Ideal for those looking for a high level of challenge, requiring a high level of combat skill to progress the narrative.
  • Increased aggressiveness and damage from enemies.
  • New and more lethal attack patterns from enemies.
• Give Me God of War
  • Highest level of difficulty. A harrowing challenge that will require full mastery of all combat mechanics.
  • Deadliest enemies with peak damage and aggressiveness.

Aside from choosing the difficulty setting that suits you, remember to choose the best God of War Ragnarok graphics and performance mode for your PS5 and PS4!

Can I Change the Difficulty Setting in God of War Ragnarok?

Yes, you can change the difficulty level in God of War Ragnarok at any time with one exception: if you drop difficulty from the Give Me God of War difficulty, you can not go up to that difficulty again. You can only choose Give Me God of War at the start.

So, if you want to finish a playthrough in the Give Me God of War difficulty, you need to stick with it from beginning to end.

For all the other settings, you can increase or decrease the difficulty level at any time without a problem.

How to Change Difficulty Settings

To change the difficulty level in God of War Ragnarok, follow these steps:

• While in-game, press the Options button to open up the menu
• Select “Settings” with the X button
• Choose the “Gameplay” option

• Switch to the difficulty option you want using the left stick
• Press “O” and confirm the change with “X”
• Keep in mind that choosing a new difficulty will restart the game from the most recent checkpoint

What Is the Best Way to Decide Your Ideal Difficulty Level?

The best way to decide what God of War Ragnarok difficulty setting works best for you is to start on the default “Give me Balance” mode and decide if you want more or less challenge.

Here is some additional advice to tweak the difficulty and find what works best for you:

• Start with Balance mode. This mode is ideal as it gives the player a balanced challenge, serving as a perfect point of reference to determine if the experience is too easy or too hard.
• If you feel the experience is too tough, look for any of the two levels below Balance, Grace and Story.
• On the other hand, if Balance is too easy, go for No Mercy or God of War.
• We advise that you decrease or increase one level at a time to gauge if that setting is ideal for you.

It’s worth noting that none of the God of War Ragnarok trophies on PS4 or PS5 require a difficulty level. This means that you can still earn all trophies by playing on the easiest difficult.

What Difficulty Should I Play God of War Ragnarok?

Depending on the challenge level you want, you should choose this God of War Ragnarok difficulty setting:

• Minor challenge (Very Easy) – Give me Story
• Mild challenge (Easy) – Give me Grace
• Balanced challenge (Normal Difficulty) – Give me Balance
• Considerable challenge (Hard Difficulty) – Give me No Mercy
• Extreme challenge (Ultra Hard Difficulty) – Give me God of War

Ragnarok vs. God of War 2018 Difficulty Settings

Ragnarok features five difficulty settings instead of the four that were introduced in God of War 2018, providing more variety for gamers:

• Give Me Story – Comparable to Give Me Story from God of War 2018
• Give Me Grace – A midpoint of God of War’s Story and Balance settings
• Give Me Balance – Comparable to Give Me a Balanced Experience from God of War 2018
• Give Me No Mercy – Comparable to Give Me a Challenge from God of War 2018
• Give Me God of War – Comparable to Give Me God of War from God of War 2018
  • This mode has been revamped, making the progression of difficulty smoother than in God of War 2018. It might start easier, but in the end, this mode will be as hard or even harder in some instances that Give Me God of War 2018.
  • Enemies will be less tanky than they were in the previous entry, but their lethality will be at the forefront. This change makes enemies somewhat easier to conquer but increases your risk of defeat if mistakes are made in combat.