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Star Wars Jedi Survivor difficulty modes and their differences

With five Jedi Survivor difficulty modes to choose from, you might want to know what the differences are and which is best for you, so we’ll help you decide.

Jedi Survivor difficulty modes: Bode Akuna helps Cal Kestis onto a ledge.

Want to know which of the Star Wars Jedi Survivor difficulty modes you should choose? There are five different difficulties in the Star Wars game, and with variables like damage and parry timing to consider, your decision will make a huge difference to overall experience.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor is an expansive RPG game, featuring a deep story campaign, melee combat, and a series of tough bosses. With so much to take in, you might find our Star Wars Jedi Survivor beginner’s guide handy, as well as our Star Wars Jedi Survivor review. When it comes to your own gameplay, picking the difficulty level is crucial. Fortunately, if you find your chosen difficulty too challenging – or too easy – it can be changed in the menus at any time. To help you decide where to start, you can find all the Star Wars Jedi Survivor difficulty modes and their main differences below.

Every Star Wars Jedi Survivor difficulty mode

The five Jedi Survivor difficulty modes are:

  • Story mode
  • Jedi Padawan
  • Jedi Knight
  • Jedi Master
  • Jedi Grand Master

The areas in which the Survivor difficulty modes vary are parry timing, incoming damage, and enemy aggression. The easier the difficulty, the less likely enemies are to attack. They also deal less damage and are easier to counter. On the contrary, enemies are harder to avoid in more difficult modes, deal more damage, and cannot be parried as easily.

An in-game screen showing Story Mode, the easiest of the Jedi Survivor difficulty modes, with a full bar for parry timing, and a low bar for enemy aggression and incoming damage, on a backdrop of a beautiful landscape.

Story mode

For “players who want to focus more on the story and desire a minimal combat challenge”, story mode is the easiest difficulty. It focuses purely on your ability to explore every area, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the story.

Thanks to its incredibly low incoming damage and enemy aggression, story mode means you don’t have to worry too much about injury or enemies. While you do still have to defeat the Star Wars Jedi Survivor bosses as part of the campaign, they’re far easier to take down. The parry timing window is at its most lenient in story mode, great for those who are new to melee combat.

An in-game screen showing Jedi Padawan mode, the second easiest of the Jedi Survivor difficulty modes, with a nearly full bar for parry timing, and a low bar for enemy aggression and incoming damage, on a backdrop of a beautiful landscape.

Jedi Padawan

For “players who are new to melee action games and desire a forgiving combat challenge”, Jedi Padawan allows for a better balance of story and combat, without being too challenging. The parry timing window is slightly tighter, while still being lenient enough for a beginner. If you’re new to this style of game or just want to enjoy the story while maintaining some semblance of combat difficulty, Jedi Padawan could be the right mode to pick.

An in-game screen showing jedi knight mode, the middle-most of the Jedi Survivor difficulty modes, with bars for parry timing, enemy aggression, and incoming damage all in the middle, on a backdrop of a beautiful landscape.

Jedi Knight

The Jedi Knight difficulty is for “players who want an adventure with some combat challenge”. As the middle-most Survivor difficulty, this is probably the best option to pick for the average player. If you’re unsure, and you can go up and down from here depending on how you find it without having to start again.

An in-game screen showing jedi master mode, the second most difficult of the Jedi Survivor difficulty modes, with a fairly low bar for parry timing, and an above middle bar for enemy aggression and incoming damage, on a backdrop of a beautiful landscape.

Jedi Master

For “players who want an adventure with reasonably challenging combat”, the Jedi Master difficulty features considerably more incoming damage and enemy aggression, with unforgiving parry mechanics. As such, we’d recommend not choosing this mode unless you are familiar with the genre or have played a significant amount of Jedi: Fallen Order.

An in-game screen showing Jedi Grand Master mode, the hardest of the Jedi Survivor difficulty modes, with a full bar for enemy aggression and incoming damage, and a low bar for parry timing, on a backdrop of a beautiful landscape.

Jedi Grand Master

Finally, the Jedi Grand Master mode is, as you’d expect, for “players who want an intense and demanding combat experience”. Your parry timing must be precise in this mode, and enemy aggression and incoming damage are maxed out, so only tackle this if you’re a hardened melee combat gamer or a Jedi: Fallen Order expert. That said, if you’re a sadist and want to give this mode a shot, you can always reduce it if you realise you’ve made a grave mistake.

The Jedi: Survivor difficulty you choose depends on your experience with similar combat-centric action-adventure games, how challenging you want your time as Cal Kestis to be, and your own gameplay preferences. If you choose a difficult setting with higher incoming damage, you’ll likely need to know about Star Wars Jedi Survivor stim upgrades and how to heal, as you’ll most certainly have some tough battles.