Outer Worlds: How to Change Difficulty

As you planet hop your way across the galaxy in Outer Worlds trying to get to the bottom of the conspiracy to try and end the Halcyon colony once and for all, you’re going to face plenty of enemies and obstacles you’ll need to overcome. While some of this you’ll just have to figure out regardless of your settings, there is a way you can make things a bit easier if you find yourself constantly dying. Here’s how to change difficulty in Outer Worlds.

Changing Difficulty in Outer Worlds

Difficulty can be changed when you first start a new game in The Outer Worlds. You can also change it at any point in the game, except for Supernova difficulty which must be chosen when starting a new game and cannot be changed after that.

To change difficulty while you’re playing, simply press Options on PS4, Menu button on Xbox One, or Esc on PC. From here, select ‘Settings’ and then choose ‘Gameplay.’

The first option here will be to change the game’s difficulty. Use the analog stick or the d-pad to cycle between these, but keep in mind that you can’t change to or from Supernova.

All Difficulty Options in The Outer Worlds & What They Change

There are four difficulty options in The Outer Worlds. We’ve listed all of these below, alongside what they change:

• Story – Enemies have less health and do less damage.
• Normal – Enemies have regular health and deal out a standard level of damage.
• Hard – Enemies have more health and do more damage.
• Supernova – Enemies have even more health and do even more damage. Players must eat, drink and sleep to survive. Companions can die permanently. Crippled body and limb conditions can only be healed with bed rest. Weapons and armor work very poorly at zero durability. You can only fast travel to your ship. You can only sleep inside your ship. You can only manually save while inside your ship and auto saves are limited.

To summarize, outside of Supernova, the other difficulty options simply change how much damage enemies can take and how much they can deal out. Supernova acts as Outer Worlds’ equivalent of Fallout’s ‘Survival’ setting.

Are There Outer Worlds Difficulty Achievements & Trophies?

Yes, there are actually a few different achievements and trophies for completing the game at various difficulties. These are as follows:

That’s everything you need to know about Outer Worlds’ difficulty settings, how to change difficulty, and any achievements and trophies related to this setting in the game.

For more tips, tricks, and guides, be sure to check out our ever-expanding guide wiki, search for Twinfinite, or have a read of some more of our guides for the game below.

• Is There Third-Person View? Answered
• How to Change Difficulty
• How to Get Vicar Max as a Companion