Ghost of Tsushima’s Lethal difficulty makes Jin and enemies deadlier

Patch 1.05 also includes optional ‘lower intensity’ combat

Whether you’re struggling to nail the timing for parrying or dodging in Ghost of Tsushima, or you’re feeling overpowered as hell in most encounters, the newly-released patch 1.05 is worth a look. Sucker Punch added an even tougher difficulty – dubbed Lethal – and included a Lower Intensity toggle.

Lethal difficulty is interesting. Instead of making enemies “more deadly” across the board and calling it a day, the developers also made Jin more powerful. That said, the Mongols can detect him faster when he’s sneaking around, they’re “more aggressive” in combat, and the parry/dodge timing is even “tighter.”

On the flip side, for players who are dying a lot against groups or repeatedly failing duels, Ghost of Tsushima now has a Lower Intensity combat setting in its Accessibility menu. Here’s the rundown:

• Most enemy attacks which are normally unblockable become blockable when Lower Intensity is enabled. Blocking with L1 will keep you safe from more attacks than standard combat, though some attacks must still be dodged.
• Enemies break off their attack combos after damaging you, giving you a chance to recover before the next wave of attacks. In addition, your heavy attacks will interrupt attacks from Brutes, giving you another way to stop their combos.
• Enemies will not attack you while you’re using Resolve to heal
• Enemy awareness builds more slowly, giving you more time to recover after being spotted

Patch 1.05 has a few text-related options, too. You can increase the text size of “subtitles, mission objectives, and interact prompts” by 150% (that was quick!), turn off the (sometimes repetitive) speaker names, and change the subtitle text to be yellow, blue, red, or green (beyond the default white).

I’ve found Ghost of Tsushima to be easy and hard at times. I kind of like it that way. When I’m using all of my tools – and especially when I’m semi-mindlessly backstabbing my way through an encampment – I feel invincible. When I’m low on items or resolve, or when I’m in a duel, my mind can’t afford to drift.

I’m only in the first region, and I’ve heard Ghost ramps up, but I’m considering switching to Lethal. For those of you who have already cleared the story, dang. I wonder if New Game+ is in the cards.

Ghost of Tsushima: Patch 1.05 Details [Sucker Punch]