When you first dive into a horde shooter, you want that overwhelming feeling of power. You play on one of the lowest difficulty settings to crush every foe in your path. But as you learn the maps and mechanics, you find brushing off enemies easy, and you want more of a challenge. That’s when you ramp up the difficulty. To help you decide where to start, here’s a look at the campaign difficulty modes in Space Marine 2!
All Difficulty Modes in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 includes four campaign difficulty modes: Easy, Normal, Veteran, and Angel of Death. Saber Interactive is planning a fifth, more challenging difficulty level for some time during year one, as per its roadmap.
If you’re looking for a simple, straightforward experience, I recommend starting on Easy. It’s a fantastic time, and you genuinely feel powerful. But if you want a slight challenge while still feeling like an Ultramarine, Normal is an excellent starting point. That said, the game does recommend Veteran. I don’t. Especially for new players, it’s a bit much to handle at first.
Easy Mode
- Balanced for a better story experience
- Enemies are less aggressive
- Health and Armour are greatly increased
In Easy Mode, you will start with more armor and health, allowing you to tank additional hits. Furthermore, it’s not game over when you go down from taking too much damage. You can still get back up and continue the fight.
Normal Mode
- Presents a fair gameplay challenge
- Enemies are moderately aggressive
- Resources need to be managed wisely
On Normal, you have the standard number of armor nodes and an adequate health pool. You’ll find Tyranids prove somewhat challenging, especially when they swarm, but the challenging isn’t overwhelming.
Veteran Mode
- Set up as the intended experience
- Enemies are dangerous
- Tactical and skillful play is rewarded
Veteran is where the game starts to ramp up, as you cannot rush in headlong to every encounter. If you do, you put yourself and your squad at risk. You must play tactically, using cover, ranged weaponry to soften enemies, and it doesn’t hurt to have an adequate supply of grenades.
Angel of Death Mode
- Introduces serious challenge
- Enemies are tougher and more aggressive
- Recovery after mistakes is much harder
All of the game’s difficulty modes alter the amount of armor you start with, making recovering from combat encounters either a breeze or an absolute hair-pulling experience. In time, as you learn the game’s dodge and parry mechanics, however, you will find that increasing the difficulty to Veteran or Angel of Death becomes a must!
Related: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Campaign Length Explained
How to Change Difficulty Modes in Space Marine 2
When you start a new game in Space Marine 2, you can select the game’s difficulty before stepping into Titus’ boots. But once you’re on the Battlebarge, you can still increase or lower the campaign difficulty.
Walk up to the terminal near the dropship, right to the left-hand side on top of the staircase leading to the launch platform. Here, you can interact with the terminal to select any one of the difficulty levels. You can also swap between Campaign, Operations, and Eternal War (PvP) at this very same terminal!
What difficulty do you think you’ll start on first in Space Marine 2? Let us know in the comments below! In the meantime, here’s what we know about whether you can play Space Marine 2 on Xbox Game Pass!
