What Each Difficulty Does in The Witcher 3
Before starting your new game of the Witcher 3 you’ll be tasked with the classic conundrum - Without knowing anything about how good you are at the game, how hard would you like it to be?
Effects of Difficulty
The difficulty of monsters has seemingly no bearing on their AI, and has absolutely no impact on the story. It will, however, change the health and damage of enemies, while also affecting the amount of exp gained from kills and experience. There is also a clear divide between the lower two difficulties and the upper two, since in the former you can regain health by meditating, while in the latter two you won’t.
Just The Story will roughly half the damage and health of enemies, while still giving full experience. You will regain health from meditating. This is a breezy experience intended for people new to videogames, with disabilities or people who have no interest at all in the Witcher 3’s combat system.
Sword and Story is the baseline experience of The Witcher 3, giving normal enemy damage and experience. You will regain health from meditating. Intended for people who want enemies to be a threat while still being unlikely to kill you. You won’t need to dig hard into the game’s RPG systems to succeed.
Blood and Bones will more than double enemy damage, but only slightly increase their health. Experience will be slightly reduced, and meditation will no longer heal. This is the intended play experience for people who want to invest in the game’s RPG system and be rewarded for making use of the Bestiary and the game’s alchemy systems without every fight being punishing. Often the recommended experience for veteran players in general.
Death March will almost double enemy health and quadruple their damage. Experience will be slightly reduced further, and meditating still does not health. Intended for people who want to find even trivial encounters dangerous, with very high lethality. Mastery of the game’s various systems will be essential for survival. Preferred by players who want a challenge, or players who want to make the world feel as punishing as possible.
Altering the Difficulty
Don’t worry too much about this starting decision though, because your difficulty can be altered at any time in the pause menu. If you feel like the game is drifting far from your comfort zone one way or another, you can make changes without having to restart everything. This can be done by doing the following.
Before starting your new game of the Witcher 3 you’ll be tasked with the classic conundrum - Without knowing anything about how good you are at the game, how hard would you like it to be?
Effects of Difficulty
The difficulty of monsters has seemingly no bearing on their AI, and has absolutely no impact on the story. It will, however, change the health and damage of enemies, while also affecting the amount of exp gained from kills and experience. There is also a clear divide between the lower two difficulties and the upper two, since in the former you can regain health by meditating, while in the latter two you won’t.
Just The Story will roughly half the damage and health of enemies, while still giving full experience. You will regain health from meditating. This is a breezy experience intended for people new to videogames, with disabilities or people who have no interest at all in the Witcher 3’s combat system.
Sword and Story is the baseline experience of The Witcher 3, giving normal enemy damage and experience. You will regain health from meditating. Intended for people who want enemies to be a threat while still being unlikely to kill you. You won’t need to dig hard into the game’s RPG systems to succeed.
Blood and Bones will more than double enemy damage, but only slightly increase their health. Experience will be slightly reduced, and meditation will no longer heal. This is the intended play experience for people who want to invest in the game’s RPG system and be rewarded for making use of the Bestiary and the game’s alchemy systems without every fight being punishing. Often the recommended experience for veteran players in general.
Death March will almost double enemy health and quadruple their damage. Experience will be slightly reduced further, and meditating still does not health. Intended for people who want to find even trivial encounters dangerous, with very high lethality. Mastery of the game’s various systems will be essential for survival. Preferred by players who want a challenge, or players who want to make the world feel as punishing as possible.
Altering the Difficulty
Don’t worry too much about this starting decision though, because your difficulty can be altered at any time in the pause menu. If you feel like the game is drifting far from your comfort zone one way or another, you can make changes without having to restart everything. This can be done by doing the following.
- Pause the game
- Select Options
- Select Gameplay
- Scroll down to Difficulty Level, and move the bar to your preference
- Exit the menu
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