*What do you think? Will you be bumping up to LETHAL mode or not? Let me know.* _Boomstick Gaming is the haven for core gamers who value gameplay mechanics and systems, because that's what continues_ _to make anything from 8-bit to 8k, equally enjoyable. Consider sticking around on the channel if you fall into that category! -Alex_

I actually love that ronin don't swarm you and rather honorably fight you one on one. Those were my favorite encounters.

I love when games adds this tipe of difficulties. Not only they deal more damage but you do too so it kinda feels more real.

Seems they adopted my favorite type of difficulty: You AND your enemies die faster. Blows are more deadly for both sides rather than one being a damage sponge while the other is more fragile.

I think this is a perfect mode to this game.

I love this type of difficulty. I don't understand why other Devs think that making enemy have a lot more health and deals a lot more damage. while you deal less damage, looking at you assassin's creed odyssey. then devs add another nerfs to your character and then gives you no rewards for trying hard or even worse, gives you less reward for it. Do they not understand the concept of more risk more reward?

All this game needs now is a gore mode, where every finisher move chops of a bodypart.

Started on hard. Found it fairly difficult to begin with, unlocked all of the deflection skill tree as soon as possible and chain stand off. Soon become fairly easy.

Lethal difficulty was the mode this game was supposed to be played in. It fits the story and theme so well. If you try to go in and kill everyone head-on you will probably die, incentivizing you to play as the Ghost. It really makes impactful moments where Jin comes to terms with being dishonorable all the more meaningful because it seems justified by the difficulty.

That kick with the bow follow-up at 1:25 was epic!

Boomstick Gaming: "yeah hard mode felt like a standart AAA normal dificulty". SuckerPunch: *oh, we got a badass over here fellas. Alright, you wanna feel like a samurai? You're gonna suffer like one.*

Stealth is more useful to me since lethal mode came out, i was only into the sword fights because stealth in the other difficult modes was boring for me to use but this mode is more challenging, i love it.

I'm loving lethal difficulty so far. I played on hard and found it just a little too easy; now the game is punishing me. I also appreciate the low intensity mode. It means that my wife might actually be able to get through the whole thing without my help.

I love how you get into it and don’t waste any time. Nice video, very underrated!!

I love pain... hit me with that difficulty now!

Oh sweet I didn't know we were getting a new difficulty, that's awesome, makes it even better. I honestly stopped sneaking around completely and just take on swarms of dudes at once, cause it was getting so easy on Hard so this will change that.

This game isn’t sekiro but sekiro vets will likely dominate this game on any difficulty. And that’s fine I don’t think it was ever supposed to be anything than what it is and audience appeal is absolutely massive for an open world game like this. My kids should be able to beat it and that’s probably for the best

Was hoping for this tbh! Awesome surprise. Especially hoped for more realism where all sword slashes are more lethal, mine and enemies - and absolutely craved for more difficulty to stealth, as it seemed waaay too easy and forgiving on Hard. Thanks for the info, excited to get to try it.

Quick and concise, the way I love videos like these. I don't have the game but I like watching videos on it, and watching people get slapped on lethal will be fun I bet.

When new game+ arrives I’ll replay it on this difficulity.

I must have lost some of that elite gaming skill. Hard mode feels pretty difficult and enemies feel like they hit often. Here's boomstick flexing going "yeah it's pretty standard"

Now this... This is how you make harder difficulties. Not just lazily turn all enemies to sponge. This really adds the risks to all out combat encounter and actually makes me consider the stealth approach. I was playing on hard and the only time I use stealth was when the game told me to. The game became easier after I unlock all skills and upgrade my gear and I don't feel stealth is that neccessary. And now they add this lethal mode, it makes stealth more meaningful. It doubles the fun even after I finished the game. Thanks Sucker Punch you're the best 💕💕

yesyesyeysyeysyeys!! I was just thinking I wanted a harder difficulty after my first playthrough in hard mode. That patch on stealth is very welcome too since I've been avoiding using stealth when it's much less satisfying than sword fighting.

thank you for that juggle combo after the kick... I never thought about that.

Yes, I noticed my attacks were stronger. Love this. Currently replaying the game in lethal mode, this is my mode boi.

patch came through right after i beat act 2 and it was perfect, the duels are definitely where the combat shines with this game

This is a nice option, but honestly I love extended sword fights. I’m on my second play through on Hard and it’s been very fun to upgrade other things instead of too much attack power. I love the intensity of long drawn out encounters with the epic music and graphics pumping up the action. It’s just more fun fo me this way.

I just started playing today and I'll keep it on Hard mode for now. So far, I am taking damage and dying often enough to be comfortable with the level of challenge. As I get new upgrades and become more consistent in combat, I'll re-evaluate. Thank you for this video. It's good to know exactly what is in store if I do bump it up.

Great and concise overview! Thanks!

I was playing on hard, about the mid part of Act 2 when Lethal dropped, I finished the game about 2 days ago. Lethal made it much more enjoyable, now they don't line up to take turns to hit you so often and I found myself rolling to evade the spearmen while I was killing a shield enemy or a brute.

So glad that Sucker Punch really quick on the updates & really take notes with its fair criticism. Now for the upcoming months, here's hoping for: + lock on feature, with options of manual/auto, & then continuous on/off. + Might be a bit harder to pulled off in fast update, but I want a see through camera render so player could see Jin when camera got blocked by trees OR maybe a new third person camera option that centered on Jin's back like some other third person game. + ironed out the bugs, especially the AI NPC paths when in escort or with companion missions. + New Game Plus feature with all of progression carry over of course. Maybe also some bonus equipment (like new armors, new dyes, etc) in completing NG+ 1 for another NG + 2 playthrough. + Arena or Dojo mode! Basically a Bloody palace mode (DMC games) & also boss rush/all duel mode for new replayability & some training section. I love the boss rush mode in Ys games & some other, it should be in more action games imo.

I'm almost done with my first Lethal Mode playthrough! I was literally getting my ass kicked! But as you keep playing it gets easier. I LOVE IT!!!✊🏿💯🔥👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

This video didn’t have an obnoxiously long intro and wasn’t more than 10 minutes. Thank you!

I come from Sekiro, so 45 minutes Boss fights are exactly what i want

The combat seems so amazing I wish they'd just put in a duel mode where you could do strictly duels that would be awesome.

I started this game on lethal. I agree with all the notes you gave. As far as difficulty it is definitely challenging at times.

Very informative. Thanks.

1:25 I haven’t even tried doing that lmao

Okay, I had already platinum trophies this game on hard. So I started over on Lethal! This is amazingly harder then what you show. You show with gear and I would say almost full upgrades. Try it fresh. When you have nothing it truly feels like it should have on release date. Love you content keep posting.

Outstanding video! Thank you

For the ronin they always do just 1v1 that's normal, but nice vid

Imagine Pewdiepie playing in this mode. He'll spend 95% of his stream doing push ups and sit ups.

well thank you very much 3 years later and you vid helped me a ton so keep it up. i gotta go die alot on pc now so tudelu

This game really needed this mode. So glad they've added it

I immediately pumped it up to lethal and i love it! Hard wasn't that "hard" tbh especially after you get used to the combat so im glad they added this and just 10 days after launch which is impressive! hopefully the next update gives us NG+ with new armor sets and sword kits if they do that then this game would be a 10/10 for me.

I tried to beat Kojiro in lethal mode, I was wearing full armor on and he wearing a robe, and I died like 100times. talking about the lethal mode is more realistic, He cut me down with one slice and I have to cut him like 20 times to get him down! how realistic the lethal mode is!!

That kick to bow shots 👏

Im so happy they brought this mode in! I was thinking of giving up playing anymore because it felt too easy then I stumbled across the settings and changed it straight away... its made such a big difference and its actually a challenge now :D

Ghost of Tsushima: "Play Lethal difficulty." Me: "I accept your challenge."

I like the realism type difficulty. My hard playthrough was a let down difficulty wise, until the "eternal blue sky" mission. I cant imagine playing that entire mission without getting hit. Should be fun.

Yea I’m trying it, hard can be easy at times so this kind of incentivizes using the equipment more as a do what it takes kind of experience

Will be playing it tomorrow. Would love to pick your brain about the game when questions arise

Loved the game and appreciate the patch with the added difficulty. That said, I do believe it misses the point a bit. My personal problem with the game's balance is not how much damage Jin takes but how many tools and how fast he obliterates everything from midway through to the end. There are like 4+ ways to wipe out an entire group. A simple example would be Sakai Armor Stand off (5 Kills) into smoke bomb+stealth attacks (+3 kills), by now you have fulfilled the requirements for Ghost mode, boom +3 kills. Next encounter, if you have Ghost Weapons +Damage charms, spam kunai 3 or 4 times, everything dies, if not, use your resolve points, by now you definitely will have the ghost mode again, + 3 kills. Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely love the game and I kinda understand it makes a lot of sense that the game starts with you as a Samurai and at that point it's pretty much "realistic" and the bigger the "Ghost Legend" grows the more the game becomes a power fantasy almost becoming Shadow of War-like by the last third of the map. PS: That's why I'll be resorting to self imposed challenge runs. Already got a few ideas.

Think I'll finish off my current playthrough in hard. But Kurosawa playthrough *_definitely_* gonna be in Lethal 💪

I was expecting something like this, ultra realism with swords

1:24 why have I not thought of doing that yet! Dope move

I hope we get an enemy spawn mode as well. I want to fight vs like 50 dudes

Take sushi, soo-shee, at a T, Tsoo-she Now just throw in a "ma" and you have...Tsoo-she-mah.

Gonna give it a try my next playthrough. I started out on hard so this should be a challenge

Ooooooh yeaaaah! *Randy savage voice* This will be my second playthrough difficulty for sure

Judging from the comments, I'm in the minority. I appreciated that this game didn't feature "Souls-like" combat to begin with. Instead it focused on a decent narrative, some fun exploration and mild platforming/puzzler elements with shrines, beautiful locales, and a variety of ways to engage in combat (i.e., stand-off chaining, aggressive bulldozer, stealth/assassinate, ranged, ghost weapons, perfect parries/dodging, etc). And the fact that you could mix up your approach on the fly was nice and refreshing. I was hoping for a God of War filler, and this hit all the right points. Of course, if you're a SoulsBorneSekiNioh player, this new mode will probably be your cup of tea. And you have Mortal Shell coming soon, as well as Demon Souls for PS5, so you'll get your rage-quit fix soon enough. Really fun game though, no matter your preferred play style.

It's sort of a mixed bag. I started on hard and it became pretty easy pretty quickly, so I tried out lethal. There's things I like, and other things that I don't. The increased lethality on both sides is nice, but that same lethality seems to take away from the combat, in that I don't feel like all of my tools (especially charged heavy attacks) have much of a use when I can just kill pretty much every enemy in like 1-3 light attacks. And then in the duels, the increased lethality on both sides doesn't seem to carry over nearly as noticeably and it's a jarring difficulty difference between the rest of the game. However, depending on your katana level, some of the duels can end pretty quickly even if the lethality difference isn't as noticeable as the rest of the game. The duels just feel better on hard. The difficulty would need to be really fine tuned and adjusted in pretty specific ways for it to feel properly hard. But honestly, I'm kind of over it. The game doesn't need to be hard to be fun. Hard is good enough for me, it's easy in a lot of places, but all of it is still satisfying. Except stealth, stealth is way better on lethal. Edit: I ended up going back to lethal because hard was way too easy. I might switch back again idk. I don't remember the last time a game made me feel bipolar like this with its difficulty lol. My problem with lethal isn't that it's too hard, just not hard in the way that I wanted. But then, when I think about it, I'm not even sure what I wanted out of it.

I think Lethal walks the tight rope pretty good. Sometimes, especially during boss fights, it can feel weird since they can one shot you easily. This is one of the better implementation of a hardcore-ish difficultly in a game like this.

The game will hopefully arrive to me tomorrow and i thought of starting the game with this mode from the start because i enjoy a challenge and i learn pretty quickly in these type of games, can't wait!

The game was way too easy on hard. I am a glutton for punishment and my years of souls gaming means I can't really play easy games, they become boring. I would say that God of War on Give me God of War difficulty was well balanced. The combat difficulty of Ghost of Tsushima so far has failed to make a mark. It's like Spider man. I definitely support this new difficulty. Let's hope it's satisfying.

Love playing lethal, hope we get some sort of multiplayer dueling in the future !

Just beat it on lethal whew 😅 Definitely a step up good job SP keep the updates coming!

Subbed awesome video

The music of this game still gives me the chills.

The real best part about this game is the super quick loading screens whenever u die honestly i wish every game could be like that

This game deserves purchases but im so glad I waited cause playing it fresh on lethal seems to be the way to play it

I just started my play through on lethal. Died about 50 times before I came to your channel for help.

Might sound weird but I went back to hard bc I kinda like to play with my food sometimes lol when I get tired of spongy I can go back to Bushido mode!

I just subscribed, not only but also for the fact that you didn’t bloat this video up to 10min+ 👍

I was skeptical about raising from Hard to Lethal but I'm gonna try it out now.

You make great videos bro

I agree with your thoughts about fighting several foes at once -- they just don't seem to take advantage of their superior numbers and swarm you that often. Enemies mostly seem to take turns attacking you when they're in groups and it's totally lame.

That looks good. I still want a Bushido Blade remake, though.

Just platinumed the game. And now they release this so I wanna replay haha. Waiting for that ng+ though

This should have been a thing in the release! I will replay it sometime with the ps5 update

Lethal mode plus a really fast load time is a match made om heaven

I've been playing lethal for about a week straight now. It feels good. Real good. My first play through on hard I got bored with this game because there just wasn't much sense of danger in any encounter after the mid game point. I started the game over on lethal and now I can't get enough of this game. It can be very challenging at times. If you want common encounters to ''be more daunting'' as dude said he wished it was, then just take less or maybe no hot spring health upgrades. You will get health upgrades you can't avoid anyway but just leveling up your character, but there are 18 hot springs so if you do them all health might get too tanky.

Really want a lethal mode duel feature. Like being able to duel people from history and such. Would be very fun.

Thanks for getting to the point and not talking crap round the main subject 👍🏿

I love the 1v1 duels and I wish there were more of them.

love the stealth challenge lethal plus adds

Picked up the game a lil after release. Was happy I waited because lethal mode made my experience with this game more enjoyable

I started my very first playthrough on lethal, it didn't end up well. I changed it back to hard because learning the combat in lethal is just insane when one mistake means death but it still is fun as hell so i'll probably go back to it.

*Bear lethality kills me by throwing me off the cold mountain cliff like a rag doll*

Im just chilling on begginer more a Taking in the scenery. Its so so cool

I think what would really be nice is if enemy aggression/strength/sponginess/etc. can be adjusted in the settings individually. Like having a tailor-made enemy, you can crank up all attributes to max or just some.

Absolutely loved working towards the platinum trophy. What an amazing game. What a great time

Nice, i was begin to think that this is just your average "good graphic no challenge" game, glad you proved me wrong 👍

I breezed through the game on hard but it was still fun to play. Wish this mode was in game on launch

Did that in my first playtrough, i lov it!!!

Bought the game last week. Jumped right into lethal, felt great

Bought this game yesterday and played on lethal...I restarted the game 4 times and now I have a better grasp reaction times in lethal mode so much fun!

kicking that guy and using concentration with the bow was so hilarious. Never thought about doing that lol

I started the game maybe 4 days ago on lethal (before playing previously) and honestly you get used to it within the first 3 hours. Early game is hell, but as soon as you don't die in one hit its brilliant.

I played the game first in medium and then second completely in the Kurosawa in medium which was pretty hard since I couldn’t tell the difference between the red and blue glints from enemies but now I’m playing in Lethal and it’s quite difficult but with the right armor and charms, you can make it so you one shot enemies and it actually takes quite a bit to take you down