DOOM: Eternal Best Difficulty - Which To Choose

Updated:

23 May 2020

DOOM: Eternal DOOM: Eternal’s difficulty choices range from relaxing to pure throwing your controller anger. Players that are trying to determine the best difficulty to play on can use this article to help them determine what choice is the best (and worst) for them. The only difference between all the difficulties is the intensity of it, meaning that the game is the same in all modes besides world drops and how deadly enemies are. You can change difficulty anytime throughout the game, so if it is feeling too easy or too difficult you can change it to whatever you choose, except for the last two choices as they completely change certain aspects of the gameplay.

How to change the difficulty

Go into the pause menu. Go into settings and under the game tab you will see Campaign Difficulty. Click on this and choose the new difficulty you want to play on. Remember this carries no penalties outside of losing the achievement of completing the game on a harder difficulty and can also be changed back whenever.

DIFFICULTY OPTIONS

I'm Too Young to Die - Easy Mode

With a ridiculing name like that, it’s easy to say this difficulty might be too easy for some. If you have some experience with gaming then you can avoid this difficulty. However if you are new to FPS or gaming in general then there is no shame in picking this difficulty as the game is still fun to play regardless of how hard it is.

How it works

Enemies attack less frequently and also do less damage.
Health and armor pick-ups provide more to players.

People that may want to pick this difficulty are:

New video game players.
New FPS players.
Experienced players that want an easy, no-stress playthrough.
Players playing mainly for the story (if people even do that for DOOM).

People that may want to avoid this difficulty are:

Players with FPS experience.
Players looking for any sort of challenge.
If you’re looking to avoid a certain nightmare of a boss you encounter in the game, changing the difficulty won’t really change how challenging his fight is.

Hurt Me Plenty - Normal Mode

While it’s not the most challenging difficulty, it’s also not the walk in the park that the I’m Too Young To Die experience is. Hurt Me Plenty is a great choice for casual gamers looking for a casual experience.

How it works

Enemies attack more often and will do more damage.
World drops give less health and ammo.

People that may want to pick this difficulty are:

Slightly experienced FPS players.
Experienced FPS/gaming players that want a casual playthrough.

People that may want to avoid this difficulty are:

Players with no gaming/FPS experience.
Players that enjoy challenging games.

Ultra-Violence - Hard Mode

This is where DOOM: Eternal becomes a worthy challenge. This difficulty requires players to undergo trial and error, learning the best uses of each weapon and equipment and their drawbacks. . Planning out weapon and armor mods ahead of time will benefit players greatly in this difficulty and beyond. How it works

How it works:

Enemies attack more frequently and do more damage.
Great reflexes will be required especially as you get towards the latter missions.

People that may want to pick this difficulty are:

Experienced FPS players.
Players looking for a challenge.

People that may want to avoid this difficulty are:

Players that want to avoid being stuck in some combat encounters for up to a half-hour.
Inexperienced FPS players.
Players looking for a more relaxing experience.

Nightmare - Very Hard Mode

As the name suggests, this difficulty is a nightmare for a lot of players to attempt. Completing the game on this difficulty requires a mastery of the DOOM: Eternal combat system. This mode also features the deadliest enemies.

How it works:

Enemies are relentless and do maximum damage.
Hardest base difficulty.
Hardship must be endured to complete the full game on this difficulty.

People that may want to pick this difficulty are:

Very experienced FPS players.
Experienced DOOM fans.
Masochists.

People that may want to avoid this difficulty are:

First-time players of DOOM: Eternal.
Players that cannot endure serious hardship

Ultra-Nightmare - Permadeath mode

Thought that Nightmare difficulty sounds too easy? Ultra-Nightmare may be the right choice for you then. In this mode once you die without any 1UPs left (collectibles that grant bring you back to full health in the event of death) that playthrough is over entirely and the thing that will live on from this playthrough is the death marker that indicates where your permadeath run ended. Every encounter in this may be your last battle as death is always a looming threat. This is DOOM: Eternal at it’s hardest and it is not for the faint of heart.

How it works:

Perma-death.
Enemies are just as aggressive and deadly as they are in nightmare mode.

People that may want to pick this difficulty are:

Masochists.
Players looking for the ultimate challenge.

People that may want to avoid this difficulty are:

Players that enjoy fun.
Players that don’t enjoy permanently losing progress.
Anyone that does not have plenty of experience playing FPS games.

Extra-Life - Modifier

This is the old-school experience in DOOM: Eternal. This is not like every other difficulty in this game as this is basically a modifier that you can play on any difficulty except for Ultra-Nightmare. To make it really feel old school, toggle the first-person camera to have the gun in the center of your screen to create the classic DOOM experience. This option is the bridge between Nightmare and Ultra-Nightmare and I would recommend attempting mode before Ultra-Nightmare.

How it works

Doomguy has a certain amount of lives and running out of all ends the game with permadeath.
Extra lives can be collected throughout the campaign.
Every difficulty (besides Ultra-Nightmare) can be chosen for this mode.

People that may want to pick this difficulty are: