Doom Eternal – Which Difficulty Should You Start With?

Doom Eternal can be a pretty punishing experience, especially on higher difficulty levels, so knowing which difficulty to start out with can make the game a whole lot less frustrating in the long run. It’s an important decision, but it’s not binding in any way, as you can change the difficulty as you please at any time throughout Doom Eternal’s lengthy campaign. Also, for all you trophy/achievement hunters out there, there are not any difficulty related trophies or achievements, meaning you can play through the whole thing on the easiest difficulty without any consequence if you so choose.

These are each of the four difficulty levels in Doom Eternal as well as the differences between them.

I’m Too Young to Die

At this difficulty setting, there will be dramatic fights and you will push through low health states and occasional deaths on your way to mastering the experience.

• Enemies attack less often and do less damage.
• Some items you pick up in the world, like health and armor, are worth more than in higher difficulties.=

Hurt Me Plenty

If you have good reflexes and enjoy exploring for progression items, then this difficulty setting is for you. Invest in your weapons and abilities to keep up with the enemies as you progress.

• Enemies attack often and do meaningful damage.
• Death and low health states will be common early on as you learn to master the skills required to dominate the combat experience.

Ultra-Violence

If you’re an experienced FPS player with great reflexes and you love exploring levels for progression items, then this difficulty setting is for you.

• Enemies throw power attacks more often and deal significant damage.
• Death may be common early on as you learn to master the skills needed to dominate the combat experience.

Nightmare

If you’re an expert FPS player with lightning-quick reflexes and you are a game completionist, then this difficulty setting is perfect for you.

• Enemy attacks are more frequent and deal maximum damage.
• Few mistakes are allowed and complete mastery of the combat loop is required.

What Difficulty is the Best to Start With in Doom Eternal?

To get the most out of Doom Eternal, you should give Ultra-Violence a shot. It’ll be tough at first, but if you stick with it long enough, you’ll each combat encounter to be more exhilarating than the last. If you find Ultra-Violence too easy, then jump up to Nightmare and maybe even enable Ultra-Nightmare, which enforces a strict one life rule. If you find Doom Eternal to be fairly difficult on Ultra-Violence, then kick the difficulty down to Hurt Me Plenty or even I’m Too Young to Die. Despite them being the easiest settings the game has to offer, the game isn’t a pushover on either difficulty.

To spice things up, you can also enable the Extra Life Mode, which is a modifier applicable to any difficulty level that gives you a predetermined amount of lives before you get a game over and have to start the entire campaign over from the beginning. Extra lives can be found hidden throughout levels, but you’ll still have to be extra careful if you enable this mode.