The campaign mode in Space Marine 2 is something of a one-and-done affair; linear, with no choice to burden yourself with, there’s not much in the way of replayability. There are, however, four difficulty modes you can use to customize your experience a bit. This page will explain what effects each difficulty setting in campaign mode has on the gameplay in Space Marine 2.

Page Breakdown¶

Campaign Difficulty Settings¶

There are four difficulty settings for Campaign mode, in order from lowest difficulty to highest: Easy, Normal, Veteran and Angel of Death. On Campaign mode, difficulty isn’t quite as simple a matter as enemies having more health and dealing more damage (that sort of standard difficulty difficulty mechanics are reserved for [Operations mode]); instead Space Marine 2 takes a more nuanced approach, shifting numerous variables to bend the odds.

Aside from having more or less Armour bars, difficulty tends to be a matter of how aggressive enemies are, how much Armour you receive from executions and Health you receive from Medicae Stimms, and how many times you can be incapacitated before sustaining a Mortal Wound. For more details on each difficulty, see the headers, below:

Easy¶

If you just want to get through the campaign without too much fuss, or want an easier time of things as you search for missed [Dataslates], then Easy mode might be for you. You’ll have more Armour bars and you’ll recover more Armour when performing Executions. Medicae Stimms are generous, Ammo Boxes yield a bit more ammo and enemies are prone to standing around waiting for death.

The game’s core mechanics aren’t too watered down by Easy mode, so you should be able to take what you learn here to higher difficulties. It is worth noting, however, that aside from being functionally indestructible on Easy mode, the corresponding difficulty on Operations, Minimal, is much closer to Normal difficulty. That said, there are no accolades for playing the Campaign on a higher difficulty.

• You have FOUR Armour bars.
• You will gain MORE Armour from performing executions.
• You will gain NORMAL Health from Medicae Stimms.
• You will gain NORMAL Ammo from Ammo Boxes.
• You will NEVER sustain a Mortal Wound when incapacitated.
• Enemies are MUCH LESS aggressive.

Normal¶

Despite the name, “Normal” difficulty is something of a secondary easy mode, at least compared to Veteran difficulty, which is the game’s recommended setting. You have a bit more Armour on Normal difficulty and Ammo Boxes and Medicae Stimms are a bit more generous, but there’s honestly not a vast gulf in difficulty between Veteran and Normal. The biggest difference between Normal and Easy, on the other hand, is the lack of Mortal Wounds on Easy difficulty, meaning you won’t reset to the last checkpoint unless you can’t get one of your companions to revive you in time, so it’s somewhat more possible to lose progress in Normal difficulty.

• You have THREE Armour bars.
• You will gain MORE Armour from performing executions.
• You will gain NORMAL Health from Medicae Stimms.
• You will gain NORMAL Ammo from Ammo Boxes.
• You will sustain a Mortal Wound after being incapacitated TWICE.
• Enemies are LESS aggressive.

Veteran¶

The intended way to play the game, according to the difficulty screen, anyways. Veteran difficulty pares your Armour back a bit and slightly reduces the ammo you get from Ammo Boxes and the Health you get from Medicae Stimms. In neither case is the reduction significant - you’ll go from getting two Health segments back on Easy and Normal to around 1.5 Health segments in Veteran and Angel of Death, and Ammo Boxes give around 20% less ammo. A little more punishing, to be sure, but nowhere near as stingy as the higher difficulties on Operations mode.

• You have TWO Armour bars.
• You will gain LESS Armour from performing executions.
• You will gain LESS Health from Medicae Stimms.
• You will gain LESS Ammo from Ammo Boxes.
• You will sustain a Mortal Wound after being incapacitated TWICE.
• Enemies are MORE aggressive.

Angel of Death¶

The hardest difficulty in the Campaign, it’s not a massive leap up from Veteran - you have the same amount of Armour and many of the other variables are the same. Enemies are somewhat nastier on Angel of Death, but the real challenging bit is when it comes to incapacitations - if you are incapacitated you’ll sustain a Mortal Wound, and if you’re incapacitated a second time when you have a Mortal Wound, you’ll be sent back to the last checkpoint. It can be surprisingly easy to die even on Normal difficulty, so any two mistakes can checkpoint you in Angel of Death. Guardian Relics are worth their weight in gold on this difficulty. That said, outside of a free obnoxious areas (we’re looking at you, Rippers on [Severance]), Angel of Death mode isn’t fantastically more difficult than Veteran.

• You have TWO Armour bars.
• You will gain LESS Armour from performing executions.
• You will gain LESS Health from Medicae Stimms.
• You will gain LESS Ammo from Ammo Boxes.
• You will sustain a Mortal Wound after being incapacitated ONCE.
• Enemies are MUCH MORE aggressive.