Ghost of Yotei Difficulty Guide: Every Mode Explained and Which One You Should Play

Ghost of Yotei lets you choose your pain level. Want a breezy tour of Ezo and Atsu's journey? Easy enough. Want the game to punish every sloppy dodge and late parry? It has that too. Here is the full breakdown of what each difficulty actually does, plus some practical advice on where to start.

The five core difficulties, translated into plain English

• Casual — The sightseeing mode. Combat is at its softest: enemies barely pressure you, parries and dodges are very forgiving, and incoming damage is toned down so you can focus on the story and exploring Ezo.
• Easy — Light resistance. Foes can get frisky but are still manageable. Stealth has a big safety net, and there are clear timing windows for parrying and dodging.
• Medium — The balanced baseline. Enemies hit for standard damage, the pace picks up, and you need real timing on parries and dodges. Good middle ground if you want challenge without misery.
• Hard — Now it bites. Enemies get aggressive and hit hard. Stealth is less forgiving, and sloppy defense gets punished. Precision parries and clean dodges stop being optional.
• Lethal — Blink and you are done. Think razor-thin margins where a single sword strike can end you. Stealth is tense, mistakes are costly, and mastery of parry/dodge timing becomes survival 101.

How to change difficulty

Pop into Settings, then Gameplay, and pick the difficulty you want. If you like to tinker, there is also a Custom option that lets you tweak things like enemy aggression, how much damage they deal, how strict stealth is, and more, so you can calibrate the exact kind of fight you want.

So... which one should you actually play?

If you are new to this style of action-adventure or you skipped Ghost of Tsushima, do not start on Lethal unless you enjoy rage-quitting. Begin on Easy, get a feel for stealth, learn enemy behaviors, and nail down dodge and parry timing. Once that clicks, nudge the difficulty up until you find the sweet spot where you are sweating a little but not stuck in a death loop.

If you are coming in hot from Tsushima and already speak fluent parry, feel free to jump straight to Hard or even Lethal. Those modes are designed to push you and make every win feel earned, especially against the nastier bosses.

Bottom line: the right difficulty is the one where you are challenged without getting bulldozed. If it starts to feel like work, adjust. That is what the Custom sliders are for.