Difficulty
Four presets, adjustable rather than locked at the start. Under them sit two independent sliders, which is what lets you make the fight demanding without making the numbers punishing.
The four presets
Difficulty is adjustable, so a preset chosen at the start is not a commitment for the whole month.
- Story
- An immersive story experience with less challenging combat. Enemies are weaker and slower. Coen has more stamina.
- Fair
- A balanced experience with fair gameplay challenges. All of Coen's and enemy statistics are at their default levels.
- Challenging
- Realistic and deadly. Enemies are more aggressive and they hit harder. Coen has less stamina.
- Duelist
- No directional indicators. Enemies have less health, but they are far more aggressive and hit much harder. Coen has much less stamina.
Two sliders under the preset
A preset is a shortcut. Underneath it the game keeps two separate settings, and you can move them independently.
RPG Difficulty governs enemy health, enemy damage and Coen's stamina. Action Difficulty governs enemy attack speed, aggression and how wide the perfect block window is. At the higher settings some enemies also use more complex attack patterns.
That split is the useful part. If you want the fencing to stay demanding without enemies turning into damage sponges, raise Action and leave RPG alone. If you want the opposite, do the reverse.
How the game explains it
The valley teaches its own systems through a glossary it writes itself. These are the entries it keeps on this one, quoted in full.