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Shadow of the Tomb Raider difficulty separated into combat, puzzle, exploration

Shadow of the Tomb Raider has separate difficulties split into combat, puzzle and exploration, it’s been recently confirmed.

The game’s three core elements can be independently set or controlled via an overall difficulty setting, letting players choose how they’d like to play the final chapter in Lara Croft’s rebooted story.

We’ve gathered information about the three cores and their difficulty settings below, as per a recent Steam page update by Eidos Montreal.

Combat difficulty

  • Easy: Aim assist enabled. Ammunition boxes are plentiful. Enemies have lower health, do less damage, and have illuminated silhouettes.
  • Normal: Ammunition boxes are rare. Enemies have normal health and damage. Enemies have illuminated silhouettes.
  • Hard: No health regeneration in combat. Ammunition boxes are rare. No hit marker on reticle. Enemies have increased health, do more damage, and locate Lara more quickly. Enemies are not highlighted in Survival Instincts.
  • Very Hard: No health regeneration in combat. Ammunition boxes are rare. No hit marker on reticle. Enemies have increased health, do more damage, and locate Lara more quickly. Enemies are not highlighted in Survival Instincts.

Exploration difficulty

  • Easy: Obvious white paint on critical path. Longer saving grab timer. Base Camps are lit.
  • Normal: Discreet white paint on critical path. Normal saving grab timer. Base Camps are unlit.
  • Hard: No white paint on critical path. Reduced saving grab timer. No Survival Instincts during exploration. Base Camps are unlit.
  • Very Hard: No white paint on critical path. Reduced saving grab timer. No Survival Instincts during exploration. Base Camps are unlit and require resources to light. Game saves only at Base Camps.

Puzzle difficulty

  • Easy: Lara gives hints on the next action to perform. Interactable objects are highlighted in Survival instincts. Objects necessary to progress highlighted in blue during Survival Instincts. Longer window of opportunity for timed mechanics.
  • Normal: Lara gives hints on the next action to perform. Interactable objects are highlighted in Survival instincts. Normal windows of opportunity for timed mechanics.
  • Hard: No hints given by Lara. No Survival Instincts. Shorter window of opportunity for timed mechanics.
  • Very Hard: No hints given by Lara. No Survival Instincts. Shorter window of opportunity for timed mechanics.

Overall difficulty

  • Smart and Resourceful: Combat, Exploration and Puzzle all set at Easy.
  • Rite of Passage: Combat, Exploration and Puzzle all set at Normal.
  • One with the Jungle: Combat, Exploration and Puzzle all set at Hard.
  • Deadly Obsession: Combat, Exploration and Puzzle all set at Very Hard.

An example of a critical path across difficulties is shown below:

What do you make of these settings?

Shadow of the Tomb Raider heads to Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 on 14 September 2018.


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Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.