Starfield Difficulty Levels & Settings, Explained

This article is part of a directory: Starfield: Complete Guide & Walkthrough

Starfield fans are curious about the difficulty settings and how they compare to those in previous Bethesda titles, considering the company’s reputation for challenging gameplay mechanics. The good news is that Starfield offers a diverse range of difficulty levels, catering to both hardcore and beginner fans alike.

However, the game might not provide clear explanations of how these difficulty settings vary from one another. To help players understand the meaning of each difficulty level in Starfield, this guide outlines the differences and provides instructions on modifying the settings.

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List Of All Difficulty Levels In Starfield

image showing different difficulty levels in starfield.

Starfield has five difficulty levels: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard. Although these settings do not impact the story, they do alter the amount of damage inflicted and received, as well as the frequency of Legendary enemy encounters. In essence, selecting the "easy" option results in reduced damage received and fewer encounters with Legendary enemies, while choosing "hard" has the opposite effect.

Difficulty Level	Inflicted DMG	Received DMG	Legendaries
Very Easy	Maximum	Minimum	Rare
Easy	Above-average	Below-average	Minimum
Normal	Moderate	Moderate	Common
Hard	Below-average	Above-average	Extra
Very Hard	Minimum	Maximum	Maximum

How To Change Difficulty Settings

image showing how to change the difficulty level in starfield.

To adjust the difficulty in Starfield, players should navigate to Settings > Gameplay > Difficulty Levels. In this menu, they can select from options such as Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, or Very Hard. It's important to note that these settings will be saved upon exiting the menu.

Consequently, the newly chosen difficulty will take effect from the player's very first session. Therefore, when they enter the game again, both combat damage and the frequency of legendary encounters will be modified accordingly.

Can Difficulty Settings Be Changed Mid-Game?

In Starfield, players have the freedom to adjust the difficulty levels during gameplay without facing any consequences. At any given point in the game, players can lower or raise the difficulty settings by accessing the System Menu. To do this, they simply need to pause the game and press the pause button once more to access the options. From there, they can navigate to the Settings > Gameplay tab to modify the difficulty levels.

Is There A New Difficulty Level In New Game Plus?

There seems to be no higher difficulty setting in Starfield’s NG+. Nevertheless, as the game adjusts enemy levels based on the player's maximum level, the gameplay will naturally become more challenging over time in the New Game Plus mode.