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All Difficulty Settings in Assassin’s Creed Shadows Explained

Author:Kristen Update:Mar 22,2025

All Difficulty Settings in Assassin’s Creed Shadows Explained

Assassin's Creed Shadows of Mordor presents a challenging yet adaptable gameplay experience. Fortunately, you can fine-tune the difficulty to perfectly match your skill level and preferred playstyle. This guide details the difficulty options and how to adjust them.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Difficulty Levels Explained

Assassin's Creed Shadows of Mordor offers four distinct difficulty settings:

  • Story: Designed for a relaxed experience, this mode minimizes combat challenges. Enemies react slowly, attacks are less coordinated, making it ideal for players prioritizing narrative over intense combat.

  • Forgiving: A step up from Story mode, Forgiving retains the less aggressive enemy AI, but introduces a slightly increased challenge. Naoe's combat capabilities are enhanced, offering a more balanced experience.

  • Normal: This is the default setting, providing a well-rounded challenge. Stealth and strategic combat are crucial for success. Players will need to utilize Naoe's and Yasuke's unique abilities effectively.

  • Expert: This mode is for seasoned players seeking a significant challenge. Enemies are significantly more aggressive and deal substantially more damage. Mastering stealth, strategic combat, and consistent gear upgrades are vital for survival.

Difficulty Tuning

While the four pre-set difficulties offer a good range, you can further customize your experience. Navigate to the Gameplay tab within the in-game settings menu, then select "Difficulty Tuning." Here, you can independently adjust the difficulty for both combat and stealth, allowing for a personalized challenge. For example, you can maintain challenging combat while reducing the stealth difficulty if preferred.

Additionally, you can activate "Guaranteed Assassination," enabling Naoe to instantly assassinate any enemy with a single hit. This bypasses the need for specific Assassin Mastery tree upgrades, providing an alternative gameplay approach.

How to Change Difficulty

Adjusting the difficulty is simple and can be done at any point during gameplay. Access the in-game menu, navigate to Settings, then select the Gameplay tab. Make your desired adjustments and return to the game to experience the changes immediately.

This covers the difficulty settings in Assassin's Creed Shadows of Mordor. For more in-depth guides, including discussions on relationships and preorder bonus redemption, be sure to check out The Escapist.