Cyberpunk 2077: Difficulty levels Cyberpunk 2077 guide, walkthrough

Last update: 10 December 2020

This page of the Cyberpunk 2077 guide focuses on the available difficulty levels. We also inform you what the difficult levels affect, is it possible to change the difficulty during the game, and what additional difficulty level settings are available.

• List of difficulty levels in Cyberpunk 2077
• Difficulty levels - main differences
• How to change the difficulty level, additional difficulty settings
• Difficulty levels and exploration
• Difficulty levels and playstyles
• No enemy level scaling

List of difficulty levels in Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 has four main difficulty levels - easy, normal, high, and very high. You choose the difficulty level when starting a new game, before determining the character's life path and appearance.

Difficulty levels - main differences

The difficulty levels affect the following factors:

1. Attack strength and resistance of the main character.
2. Attack strength and durability/health of opponents.
3. Aggressiveness of opponents - On lower difficulty levels they can act more conservatively and e.g. use grenades or try to hack V less often.
4. Challenge level for fights with stronger enemies – At higher difficulty levels, any fight with a stronger enemy is deadly.
5. Developing the character properly - On higher difficulty levels, you must pay more attention to, for example, developing the character's attributes, which perks you should pick first and develop, or which implants to buy and install first. You simply have to choose your preferred playstyle (e.g. hacker) and try to stick with it.
6. Upgrading or replacing equipment – This is mainly about the weapons and armor elements used by V. On higher difficulty levels, these elements of equipment will sooner become insufficient.
7. Carrying supplies – You will have to use various types of medicaments more often.
8. Using advanced tactics – On easy and normal levels, you can approach most of the fights without preparation and fear of being detected. When playing on higher levels, you will have to use various techniques to avoid, surprise, and eliminate enemies without giving them a chance to fight back. For example, sneaking, hacking, or using strong offensive implants may become more important.

We recommend the normal difficulty for your first playthrough. However, if you develop your character wisely and look around for better equipment, the normal difficulty may become too easy. When that happens, you may want to increase the difficulty level.

How to change the difficulty level, additional difficulty settings

You can freely change the difficulty level also during the game. Open the options menu, go to the Gameplay tab and then the Accessibility section. You may be unable to change the difficulty level if you are currently fighting someone or performing an important activity that cannot be interrupted.

This section also has other settings. The most important of these is Aim Assist. You can set its intensity, and enable the crosshair to stick to opponents as well as the option to use the aiming assist during melee fights. The aim assist can be helpful if you're playing Cyberpunk 2077 on a gamepad – in some situations, you will need to take precise shots at distant enemies or security systems.

Difficulty levels and exploration

The level of difficulty does not limit you in any way. You can explore the entire world right from the beginning. There are no artificial barriers in Cyberpunk 2077, i.e. a location that cannot be reached before reaching a certain level of experience.

Quests and events are described by the predicted risk level. It is best to postpone a quest or activity with a high or very high risk level. When you level up your hero, the risk level will decrease – you will have higher chances of succeeding.

Difficulty levels and playstyles

The authors of Cyberpunk 2077 wanted the game to offer a similar level of challenge regardless of the preferred playstyle. It is, therefore, possible to create a strong character specializing in e.g. direct combat, stealth, or hacking. No play style is favoured. This choice allows the player to choose their favorite style of play, rather than forcing them to be interested in those that make the gameplay easier.

Instead of specializing in one field, you can play as a versatile character, i.e. one that relies on each of the main fields to some extent. For example, V can defeat enemies in regular fights as well as by using stealth attacks. However, this way of playing will not make you a champion in any of the fields. You also won't unlock all the best techniques related to a particular playstyle.

No enemy level scaling

Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't have enemies scaling to the main character's level, so you have to be careful where you travel. If you encounter high-level opponents at the beginning of the game, start running away.

Strong enemies are marked with a skull icon – they can be extremely difficult to defeat even on normal. Return to locations with tough enemies after your V gains a few levels.