Difficulty Settings and How to Change Difficulty

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty features four difficulty settings that you can choose at any time as you progress. Read on to learn more about all available difficulty settings, recent changes, and how to change your current difficulty settings.

Difficulty Setting Differences

Easy Difficulty

Easy Mode, formerly known as Story Mode, is the easiest difficulty level available in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. This is the perfect choice for players who want to be more immersed in the story and not have to worry so much about combat and other game mechanics.

In this mode, enemies are easier to defeat, protect themselves less, and have lower health bars compared to other difficulties. You'll also notice an increase in the effectiveness of your healing items, allowing you to regain more health than in other difficulties.

This is also a great mode to choose if you're planning to explore all the different endings the game offers.

Normal Difficulty

Normal Mode provides a balanced difficulty setting that allows you to get through the story fast while still getting a taste of challenge from the quests and gigs along the way.

Unlike Easy Mode, enemies will be more aggressive in this mode with a slight buff to their health bar and additional damage to their attacks. Enemies will also detect you faster and will immediately take actions upon detection.

This is also a great difficulty to choose if you're planning to test builds or try all the new perks from the 2.0 update.

2.0 Perks and Skill Tree Guide

Hard Difficulty

Hard Mode offers more challenges than the previous settings, with enemies hitting harder and adopting better self-defense strategies during combat.

With their expanded health bar, enemies are quite tankier than normal and will require you to explore different ways to take them down such as using quickhacks or utilizing the new stealth mechanics to defeat them.

Additionally, this is also where you need to carefully plan which perks you should unlock as you level up because they now play a crucial role in how you approach battles throughout the game.

Best Perks to Choose in Update 2.0

Very Hard Difficulty

Very Hard Mode is where you have to take every thing into account—from character development to the use of your items—and take them seriously to make it in Night City.

In this mode, enemies will hit harder than usual and can take a chunk out of your health with one bullet. Enemies will also become more aggressive upon detection and will actively pursue V with brute force. This also makes healing quite ineffective as enemies can hit you again in quick succession if you're not careful.

It is recommended to start considering what builds you want to try before choosing this as your difficulty level. This is to help you become more effective in challenges because enemies will now be very difficult to take down due to their additional health, making them extremely tanky compared to other settings.

Best Builds for Phantom Liberty

No Achievement for Finishing the Game on Very Hard

Despite all the troubles you'll face for choosing this extremely difficult level, you will actually not get any trophies for it. If you're planning to collect all available trophies, playing on very hard mode will not be ideal most ideal.

Phantom Liberty Trophies and Achievements

Which Difficulty Setting Are You Playing On?

How to Change Difficulty

Change It in Gameplay Settings

Do not worry about choosing your difficulty setting at the start of a new game, as you can change it whenever you please. To do so, you will need to open up the Pause Menu and go to settings.

Once in the settings menu, select the Gameplay Settings tab. The first option in the accessibility options is the difficulty. You can freely choose whatever difficulty you wish to play on, allowing you to adjust whenever you feel like it.

2.0 Update Difficulty Changes

New NPC Level Scaling

NPC difficulty will now depend on your level with the new level scaling system. Essentially, the higher your current level is, the tougher the enemies will become.

Leveling Guide - What is the Max Level?

Improved Combat AI

Additionally, enemies, as of the 2.0 update, have improved Combat AI, making them much harder to deal with compared to the previous updates. These new changes create a more immersive and engaging experience, which could pose a challenge if you're not aware of them! Make sure to check them out below.

Combat AI Overhaul: All Known Changes

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Related Guides

All Game Mechanics Guides

List of Game Mechanics Guides

Update 2.1 Guides

• Metro (Train) System
• Replayable Car Racing
• Romantic Hangouts
• How to Get and Use the Radioport
• Accessibility Features

Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty Changes

• How to Upgrade Iconic Weapons
• Crafting Specs Overhaul
• Clothing and Armor Overhaul
• Revamped Police System and Wanted Levels
• Cyberware Overhaul Guide
• Cyberware Capacity & How to Increase It
• 2.0 Crafting Guide
• Ammo Changes
• Combat AI Overhaul
• Vehicle Combat
• 2.0 UI Changes and Overhaul
• Airdrop Guide and Rewards
• Stealth Overhaul: All Known Changes

How to Play

• List of Controls
• Settings Guide
• How to Save and Transfer Saves
• Difficulty Settings
• List of Stats and Stat Explanations
• List of Status Effects
• Dialogue Options and Icons
• Language Settings and Available Languages

Game Features

• How to Get Non-Lethal Takedowns
• How to Use Photo Mode
• How to Use Braindance
• How to Fast Travel
• Wardrobe Guide
• Does Cyberpunk Have Third Person View?

All Cyberpunk 2077 Guides