Remnant 2: Which Difficulty Should You Pick?

This article is part of a directory: Remnant 2: Complete Guide - Archetypes, Bosses, Builds, Puzzles, Secrets, & More

Table of contents

With Remnant 2 now a part of Xbox Game Pass, many newcomer fans and fans of the first game, Remnant: From the Ashes, are wondering about both the game's quality as well as the game's difficulty. Not only is the difficulty of Soulslike games almost always a conversation point between players whenever a new title comes out, but in general, the first Remnant was known to be pretty easy up until a certain difficulty level or point in the main campaign.

5:13

The Best Roguelike FPS Games, Ranked

The roguelike genre doesn't get as much credit or attention as it used to, but roguelike FPS games have been making an impact for a while now.

With that in mind, let's break down the four difficulty options Remnant 2 offers, what the differences are between them, and which one players should pick based on their experiences with the franchise or other games overall.

Updated December 5th, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: With Remnant 2 getting a bit of a resurgence in popularity (at the time of writing this) due to the Awakened King DLC and its addition to the Game Pass lineup, it seemed like an apt time to take a look back at this guide. New players getting started in Remnant 2 are going to want a bit of info that tells them what exactly the differences are between the difficulty options, especially since it's pretty painful to have to re-roll a Campaign after sinking hours into it. So, let's go over all the difficulty options in Remnant 2, those being Survivor, Veteran, Nightmare, and Apocalypse, and talk about which one players should probably pick and why.

Remnant 2's Four Difficulty Options

Survivor, Veteran, Nightmare, & Apocalypse

Remnant 2 - All Difficulty Options In A Row

To break things down as simply as possible, Remnant 2 has four difficulty options, with three selectable by default, and the most grueling option (Apocalypse) only being unlocked after beating the gameonce on any difficulty. Each of these difficulty options gives bonus Experience per kill, but the mobs and bosses are also harder to deal with in exchange:

Difficulty Name	Mob Bonus HP	Mob Bonus Damage	Boss Bonus HP	Boss Bonus Damage	Bonus Experience
Survivor	100 Percent	100 Percent	100 Percent	100 Percent	100 Percent
Veteran	150 Percent	165 Percent	165 Percent	165 Percent	115 Percent
Nightmare	250 Percent	350 Percent	312.5 Percent	262.5 Percent	130 Percent
Apocalypse	275 Percent	450 Percent	412.5 Percent	405 Percent	150 Percent

Again, for those familiar with Remnant: From the Ashes, these difficulty modifiers are pretty much a 1 to 1 copy of the difficulty options from that game, with the only difference being that the 'Hard' difficulty is now called 'Veteran' and 'Normal' is now 'Survivor'.

However, that doesn't mean both games are equally difficult, as anyone who made the mistake of starting The Awakened King DLC in Losomn on Apocalypse and fought those horrifying Dran Fiends can verify.

Which Difficulty Option To Pick

It All Depends On Your Preferences & Previous Experiences With Soulslikes

This decision varies from player to player based on what they want out of Remnant 2, obviously, so overall they can use this general guide below to help out when picking a difficulty option:

Survivor: For Soulslike newcomers and those that didn't play Remnant: From the Ashes.
Veteran: For Remnant: From the Ashes players and Soulslike veterans.
Nightmare: For Remnant: From the Ashes 'experts', players in their second+ playthrough of Remnant 2, and Soulslike players who didn't mind attempting difficult bosses 50+ times.
Apocalypse: For gaming veterans who love a game that tries its absolute best to bash them into the ground. Truly only meant for those who primarily feel rewarded for overcoming 'unfair' challenges or those who have played through Remnant 2 on Nightmare difficulty in full.

All that said, let's go a bit more into each option to talk about how exactly they're different from each other.

Survivor

Great For Newcomers & For Farming Items

First up is the Survivor difficulty, which is a great starting point for players who never experienced the first Remnant game, and is even better for those who aren't exceedingly familiar with Soulslike games overall. It's designed to be approachable and rewarding, while still being difficult enough to 'challenge' players at times.

Players will still find themselves dying plenty of times on this difficulty if they're not careful. Also, Survivor is usually the difficulty players end up using in Adventure Mode when they're farming maps for all the different Ring, Amulet, and Gear drops.

Veteran

The 'Default' Difficulty

Veteran difficulty seems to be designed as the default difficulty option for Soulslike fans and veteran Remnant: From the Ashes players. They'll level up faster than they would on Survivor difficulty, but in exchange the enemies take a bit longer to kill, deal a bit more damage, and the bosses are just a pinch scarier.

If players felt that Normal difficulty in Remnant: From the Ashes was 'just a bit' too easy, then Veteran is a pretty good option to choose in the sequel. Also a great default option to use instead of Survivor in multiplayer, as the scaling actually makes the difficulty closer to Survivor when there are 2-3 more player characters fighting enemies.

Nightmare

For Soulslike Veterans & For Those Who Want The Nightmare-Exclusive Rewards

Remnant: From the Ashes players who felt that Normal difficulty was 'much too easy' in that title should try out Nightmare in Remnant 2. While it may be understandable to assume that Nightmare would only be slightly more difficult than the Veteran difficulty, the jump is actually a bit bigger than one might expect.

While the percentage increases (whether it's Mob Damage or Boss HP Bonus) from Survivor to Veteran range from about a 50-65 percent increase, to jump from Veteran to Nightmare range between 100-185 percent for the same 15 percent increase in EXP. Additionally, in the description of this difficulty alone, it mentions that this is designed for those with strong builds already, heavily implying that Gunfire Games literally built Nightmare with the idea of players 'working their way' up to it with a build of guns, gear, and Traits that they craft through multiple Campaign/Adventure Mode playthroughs.

Lastly, this is the first difficulty to have exclusive rewards for completing certain areas (or the campaign as a whole) while on it, such as the Repulsor, the Onyx Pendulum, or the Hero's Sword.

Apocalypse

For The Types Of Players Who Care About Self-Satisfaction More Than Tangible Rewards

Remnant 2 - Apocolypse Difficulty Option Over Image Of Player Being Thrown Out of Worldstone After Dying

In the original Remnant game, Apocolypse wasn't even an option on launch and was only added later on as an additional 'challenge' players could take on for the sport of it, much like the Hardcore Mode. And, it seems like that concept is still the same in Remnant 2, but this time players just need to beat the Campaign once (on any difficulty) to unlock Apocalypse instead of waiting for Gunfire Games to add it into the game.

With a description that just says 'Good Luck' it should be obvious that this difficulty option is intended for players who like to really challenge themselves more than it's intended for players who are fine with a harder game in exchange for extra rewards.

Only getting 20 percent more EXP than Nightmare to deal with mobs and bosses that are literally more than 4 times as tough as they would be on Survivor just doesn't make sense, which is exactly why it's intended for players who feel rewarded by the challenge more than they feel 'punished' for it. There are also some exclusive rewards for playing on this difficulty option as well, such as the Devoured Loop, World's Edge, and Star Killer. Also, it's worth noting that the Awakened King DLC, surprisingly, doesn't have any exclusive rewards for beating it on any difficulty, so there's no need to even attempt it on Apocalypse.