Assassin’s Creed’s shift to an RPG-esque formula has impacted its difficulty scaling by making it more loot/gear-based. However, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is where Ubisoft has attempted to give the player more control over how they want to fine-tune the challenge. There is a surprising number of difficulty options hidden away in the menus, and we will teach you how to customize them to your liking.
Difficulty Options in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, your gear and level pretty much determine the difficulty. So, if you’re planning to stick to the main story without leveling up enough, you might hit a bit of a rough patch. Once you drop below the recommended level, the game sort of picks the difficulty for you—and even then, you’ll probably need to tackle some side content to keep moving forward. The good part is AC Shadows lets you tweak both combat and stealth difficulty to better suit your playstyle.
To find these settings, you need to open the pause menu and navigate to the Gameplay tab. Here, the Difficulty Tuning option is visible right at the top. Select it and there will be three settings to mess around with (which we shall go over in the section below).
You can come here and change difficulty settings at any point in the game. Don’t worry, there are no difficulty-based achievements/trophies in Assassin’s Creed Shadows so you won’t miss out on any if you change things up a bit.
Difficulty Tuning Choices
There are three options under Difficulty Tuning; Combat Difficulty, Stealth Difficulty, and Guaranteed Assassination. Combat Difficulty has four options to choose from and Stealth difficulty has three. Let’s see how each one of these will influence your difficulty:
Combat Difficulty:
- Story: Naoe and Yasuke are absolute powerhouses. Enemies react sluggishly, giving you plenty of time to parry and deflect, and they rarely attack in unison. On top of that, their damage is toned down, making combat more about enjoying the story than struggling through tough fights. While keeping your gear level up is a good idea, it’s totally up to you. Naoe can effortlessly take on multiple foes at once with deadly precision. Meanwhile, Yasuke is resistant and versatile, strong enough to plow through hordes of enemies without breaking a sweat.
- Forgiving: Naoe thrives with a stealthier approach but can still handle small groups when needed. Yasuke, on the other hand, remains a one-man army, unleashing his raw power with ease, and still more than capable of taking on large-scale encounters head-on. Enemies are less likely to overwhelm you in combat, and their attacks, while formidable, can still be shrugged off. However, optimizing your gear, upgrading equipment, and honing skills are essential for survival.
- Normal: Naoe is at her best when she sticks to the shadows, relying on stealth to complete missions rather than engaging in open combat. Yasuke remains a formidable warrior, but only against foes of a similar or lower level. To gain the upper hand in battle, you’ll need to equip the right gear, weapons, and upgrades, ensuring you’re always prepared for the fight ahead.
- Expert: Enemies in this mode are tougher, more aggressive, and relentless in battle. To stand a chance, you’ll need to keep your weapons upgraded and maximize your gear’s full potential. Every piece of equipment, weapon choice, and skill selection plays a crucial role in survival. Studying enemy attack patterns is key—fail to react accordingly, and just a few hits could bring your assassination career to an abrupt end. Even Yasuke isn’t invincible against the fury of these relentless foes.
Stealth Difficulty:
- Forgiving: Stealth comes easy in this mode, as enemies are slow to react to sound, sight, and player movement. Even when on high alert, they struggle to spot you if you’re tucked behind solid cover, and their search patterns remain uncoordinated, making it easier to slip away unnoticed.
- Normal: Stealth revolves around breaking the line of sight, staying out of view, and moving carefully to avoid making noise. Enemies are far more responsive to your actions, demanding a more strategic and immersive stealth experience.
- Expert: Enemies enter a cautious state more quickly, and detection happens in a flash. Their line of sight now extends vertically, meaning rooftops are no longer the safe haven they once were—you’ll need to be extra careful when stalking your targets from above. Infiltration demands patience and precision, making a slow, methodical approach essential. Using Eagle Vision to tag enemies in advance can give you the edge you need to stay one step ahead.
Note: Each main story mission in Assassin’s Creed Shadows comes with a recommended level, and straying too far below it will make it nearly impossible to finish. Even on the Story difficulty setting, being under-leveled means regular enemies will become damage sponges and might one-shot you constantly. Even a sleeping target won’t fall to assassination attempts. If you’re not planning to dive into much side content, sticking to Story difficulty is the way to go, even if it means a smoother, less challenging combat experience than you might prefer.
Last but not least is the Guaranteed Assassination option in the Difficulty Tuning. If you miss the old AC days where when you surprise assassinate a target they used to stay down, unlike in modern AC where your and your gear’s level has to be above theirs to successfully assassinate them, then this is the option to change first.
Activating this ensures that regardless of your level if you get a jump on an enemy, it will result in a guaranteed kill.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a surprisingly robust difficulty system. The difficulty options address a lot of player concerns about feeling no challenge in previous AC games. And the guaranteed assassination option is by far my favorite setting to apply. Play around with each setting and see what combination best suits your style of play.