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Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is a remaster of the classic action game and it includes features from both Ninja Gaiden 2 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. It brings back the fan-favorite character from the series, Ryu Hayabusa, alongside his companions Sonia, Momiji, Ayane, and Rachel as they fight against a major crisis to save the world.
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This is one of the titles that is known for its combat, style, and difficulty. If you’re new to the series, you’ll have some trouble navigating through the game in the early stages. However, there are difficulty settings, and if you’re confused about which one to pick, here’s a guide that will help you proceed in the right direction.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Difficulty Settings
The game has four difficulty settings that you can select from in the first run. Once you complete it in any of the first four difficulties, a fifth option opens up, though that one isn’t meant for the average player.
The various difficult settings that you’ll find are as follows:
- Hero Play Style: Hero
- Path of the Acolyte: Normal
- Path of the Warrior: Hard
- Path of the Mentor: Very Hard
- Path of the Master Ninja: Punishing
Hero Play Style: Hero
This is the easiest difficulty option that is meant for players who have never played action games and will be experiencing the Ninja Gaiden franchise for the first time. Apart from enemies and bosses being extremely easy, this setting comes with the Hero Mode feature.
Once your health drops to red, Hero Mode is activated: you start blocking attacks without even pressing the input. The Hero Mode will have a duration gauge that can be found right under the Health gauge, and it deactivates either when the bar becomes empty or your HP is restored. The Hero Mode bar will show up only when your Health drops to red.
This will help you play the Hack n’ Slash style without worrying about defending yourself from enemy attacks.
The Hero Mode gauge does not exist in other difficulties. If you’re looking to challenge yourself further after you’re done with your first playthrough, it’s recommended you practice blocking right from the beginning.
Path Of The Acolyte: Normal
This is the standard difficulty of the game, and it is meant for players who have some experience in action games from either Ninja Gaiden in the past or other titles. In this difficulty, enemies are fairly difficult, but they will still die quickly and won’t pose much of a challenge.
Enemies and bosses don’t hit very hard, but you will have to block on your own to stop enemy attacks. Additionally, you can die multiple times in this mode if you are too careless. However, as long as you carry healing items, you won’t have much difficulty clearing the game.
Path Of The Warrior: Hard
If you are an experienced player with knowledge of action games, you may want to go with this difficulty as it makes the game quite challenging. Ninja Gaiden has a reputation of being hard, and this difficulty gives you some idea of why that is the case.
Enemies are much stronger here, and you will take more damage from hits. It’s important to learn how to block attacks here since being overly aggressive will definitely get you killed. Bosses hit fairly hard in this mode and if you don’t learn the attack patterns and the various combos, you won’t be able to clear through the levels and will keep dying multiple times.
The difficulty spike between Normal and Hard isn’t too much. The only difference here is that you have to learn the enemy’s patterns in Hard mode as combos will hurt. In Normal mode, you can ignore all that and focus on your own offense.
Path Of The Mentor: Very Hard
If you consider yourself a veteran of the franchise, this is the mode that you will enjoy quite a bit. While the difference between Normal and Hard isn’t too big, Very Hard is on a completely different level when it comes to how enemies play out.
In Path of the Mentor, enemies will have automatic rifles in addition to swords and other melee weapons. They will shoot at you from a distance while also slashing you down with swords. If you don’t know how to block, you won’t survive even for a second and die several times in the first level itself.
Path Of The Master Ninja: Punishing
This is the final difficulty setting that is unlocked after you defeat the game in any one of the previous settings. If you’re planning to challenge yourself in this difficulty, then get ready to die several times.
If you plan to play on this difficulty, it is recommended you practice your combos and dodges a few times on Very Hard, so that you’re accustomed to the mechanics of the game. Additionally, learning the location of items and smart usage of your heals is extremely important in this mode.
The difficulty level of this setting is tuned to the maximum where everything you do needs to be flawless. Every swing, block, and dodge needs to be executed with precision as a single mistake will mean sure death.
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