Difficulty Settings & Easy Mode — The Honest Answer
Does The Relic: First Guardian have difficulty settings or an easy mode? The honest answer: no difficulty options are confirmed. How the game is hard, and the confirmed tools that lower the challenge.
Why the Game Feels Hard (Confirmed Design)
- No traditional levels — you cannot out-grind enemies with raw stats. Power comes from relics, skills, and gear — which rewards exploration and adaptation, not repetition.
- Stamina-only defense — attacks are free, but every dodge/block/parry spends stamina. Misusing your defense bar is punished hard.
- 70-80 Brutal bosses — a huge roster of unique boss fights, many optional, each with its own gimmick (parry-gate vs dodge-gate).
- Aggressive enemies — reviews note enemies are aggressive and rarely stagger, with no visible stagger bar.
- No co-op — the game is single-player only; there is no partner to cover mistakes (see the Co-Op guide).
None of this is insurmountable — but the game will not lower the bar for you. It provides tools to raise yourself instead.
The Confirmed "Difficulty Reducers"
1. Over-Explore Before Bosses
The most powerful lever in the game. Exploration yields relics, relic slots (Shards of Awakening), potion capacity (Shards of Esser), and unique gear. The difficulty curve assumes you looted — a thorough player is effectively on a lower difficulty.
2. Buy HP and Stamina Nodes Early
Skill trees (12 total, two per weapon family) are bought with Relic Energy, and some nodes directly raise Health Points and Stamina. Spending your early energy on survivability is the cheapest difficulty reduction available.
3. Expand Relic Slots
Shards of Awakening → Elisa at camps → new relic slots. More slots mean you can equip more passive fragments — including survivability fragments — and adapt per fight.4. Play Sword & Shield
The only family with a native block, plus the game's confirmed generous parry window. It is the most forgiving framework in the game. See the Weapons Guide.
5. Swap Relics per Boss
Official material is explicit: relics are freely swappable so you can adapt your build to each boss. A loadout tuned to the fight is the game's intended difficulty system.
6. Hunt Shards of Esser
Starting with 3 potions is tight. Temple altars (e.g., in the Faded Mist Forest) hold Shards of Esser that raise potion capacity — directly more healing per fight.
7. Learn the Parry
The parry window is generous (confirmed by multiple reviews), and parries stagger enemies. For parry-gate bosses, committing to the parry chain is the fight's solution. See the Combat Guide.
What Does NOT Work (Fabricated Advice to Ignore)
| Claim | Reality |
|---|---|
| "Use co-op as easy mode" | No co-op exists — single-player only |
| "Difficulty options in settings" | Unconfirmed — no verified difficulty settings |
| "Bosses scale +40% HP in co-op" | Fabricated (no co-op) |
| "Ember of Persistence rune revives you" | Unconfirmed — named runes are not verified |
| "Elemental weaknesses +40% damage" | Unconfirmed |
| "NG+ remixed bosses" | NG+ itself is unconfirmed |
Making It Harder (Optional)
The game is already demanding, but challenge runs are possible within confirmed systems:
- No-rest runs — avoid resting/camp usage entirely (checkpoint strategy).
- Low-relic runs — never expand relic slots; play with the starting slots only.
- No-forge runs — never upgrade weapons at the blacksmith.
- Fixed-build runs — commit to one weapon family and never swap relics.
These are self-imposed — no in-game settings change the difficulty.
Common Questions
Q: Does The Relic: First Guardian have difficulty settings?A: Unconfirmed. No verified difficulty slider or options exist in launch coverage. Assume the challenge is fixed until documented otherwise.
Q: Is there an easy mode?A: No confirmed easy mode. The real difficulty reducers are defensive builds, exploration, relic adaptation, and potion shards.
Q: Is the game hard?A: Yes — by design. Reviews describe a demanding solo soulslike with aggressive enemies; opinions split on whether the challenge is fair (see the Review Roundup).
Q: What is the biggest difficulty wall?A: Per reviews, boss fights generally — including technical rough edges (camera, frame drops) that add frustration. No specific boss is verified as the hardest.
Q: Can I make it easier mid-game?A: Yes — without a difficulty menu: explore more, buy HP/stamina nodes, swap relics, collect potion shards, and forge your gear.
Related Guides
- Beginner Guide — The first-hours path to survivability
- Co-Op Guide — Why "play with friends" is not an option
- Builds Guide — Defensive build frameworks
- Combat Guide — Parry and stamina mastery