As the newest entry in a series known for its difficulty, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance arrives with a whole new storyline with tons of new enemies to overcome, so choosing the right difficulty settings might be one of the most important decisions throughout the whole game.
All Difficulties in Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance & How They Work
Vengeance offers three difficulty options, much like its original release: Casual, Normal and Hard, which work pretty much like their names suggest. Casual is the easiest difficulty, while Hard offers the biggest challenge for those willing to go this extra length. As an extra note, the Safety difficulty, originally a free DLC for the base game, is once again available in Vengeance, but you need to download it first.
The higher the difficulty, the more tankier enemies get, and they’ll also deal a lot more damage while being smarter on who to focus. If the Nahobino ever faints, you get a game over even if the rest of your party is alive, so be careful!
Safety
A free DLC that can be considered the “story mode” difficulty. Enemies are one-shotted easily and you get lots of extra Macca and EXP. You also take way less damage than usual, so you shouldn’t worry about any dangers here. Recommended if you’re only here for the story. Available once you download it on your preferred store.
Casual
The beginner difficulty, usually recommended for newcomers to the series in general. Enemies will die easily to a few hits, but still give you some small challenges during boss fights. Demons will ask you for less money during negotiations, and you’re more likely to deal Critical hits. If you’re still getting the hang of the battle system, don’t be afraid to choose this one.
Normal
The intended difficulty setting brings a perfect balance between tough encounters and some relaxing moments. Abusing Weaknesses becomes the norm here if you don’t want to wipe even to regular encounters, so manage your resources wisely. Recommended for those who already played an SMT title before or another Atlus title to the point where they’re used to the combat system (e.g. Persona series, Soul Hackers, etc).
Hard
The hardest challenge in the game. Normal encounters can and will be deadly most of the time, especially during the early game. Enemies hit harder, your hits are weaker, you need more money for negotiations and fleeing battles is less likely to succeed. You’re always against the wall as you’re forced to constantly think outside the box and resort to everything you have available to overcome battles. Recommended for those looking for a harder challenge.
Related: All Pre-Order Bonuses & Editions for Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
You can change your difficulty settings at any time by opening the menu > System > Options > General > Difficulty (scroll down all the way). However, Hard can only be chosen when starting a new game. Opting out of the difficulty at any point locks you from ever choosing it again.
Which Difficulty Should You Pick?
As a high difficulty ceiling is one of the main selling points for the series, I recommend Normal as the best difficulty for a first playthrough. This difficulty delivers what you’re (probably) looking for with tougher challenges than most other games in the genre, but isn’t as punishing to the point where you could get stuck on regular battles constantly.
If you have any experience with the Persona series and are giving your first try to SMT, you’ll find many similarities between the systems and the transition will be smoother. As long as you’re constantly exploiting weaknesses, you shouldn’t worry much about most battles, save from certain boss encounters which are always going to be troublesome. But don’t be afraid to change it to Casual if you’re stuck on something, as it still keeps some of the difficulty.
You may even want to start Hard first, as you can always change your difficulty if you find it too punishing. But keep a separate save file on Hard before doing so, just in case you regret it later. While it’s not an irreversible option like picking up the girl’s hand at the beginning of the game, difficulty is still a pretty important option to make.
Shin Megami Tensei V is available now. You can read our review here.
