Doom Eternal - How hard should you start?

These are each of Doom Eternal's four difficulty levels along with the differences between them.

I'm too young to die

At this difficulty level there will be some dramatic combat and you will go through low health states and occasional deaths on your way to master the experience.

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

Hurt Me Plenty

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

• Enemies often attack and do significant damage.
• Death and low health conditions will be common as soon as you learn to master the skills needed to dominate the combat experience.

Ultra-violence

If you are an experienced FPS player with great reflexes and like to explore levels for progression items, then this difficulty setting is for you.

• Enemies more often launch power attacks and deal high damage.
• Death can be common at first as you learn to master the skills needed to dominate the combat experience.

Nightmare

If you are an expert FPS player with lightning fast reflexes and are a game finisher, this difficulty setting is perfect for you.

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

What's the best difficulty to get started in Doom Eternal?

To get the most out of Doom Eternal, you need to give Ultra-violence a shot. It will be difficult at first, but if you stick with it long enough, each combat encounter will be more exhilarating than the last. If you find Ultra-Violence too easy, skip to Nightmare and maybe even activate Ultra nightmare, which enforces a strict rule of a lifetime. If you find Doom Eternal hard enough on Ultra Violence, reduce the difficulty to Hurt Me Plenty or even I'm too young to die. While these are the simplest settings the game can offer, the game is not a push on either difficulty.

To spice things up, you can also activate Extra life mode, which is a modifier applicable to any difficulty level that gives you a predetermined number of lives before you complete a game and have to start the entire campaign over from the beginning. Additional lives can be found hidden throughout the levels, but you will still have to be extra careful if you activate this mode.