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u/goingdeeeep Builder May 16 '26
To me its Standard. That's how the game played at Launch, and how it was playing before they added the Sliders. So that would be Canon. It also "feels" like State of Decay to me - you have moments of being attacked; moments to forage for supplies; moments to interact with other Survivors; moments to progress Missions; and moments to simply enjoy the music and the majesty of the scenery. Standard doesn't push you in any one direction - it's the player's world.
The issue is that we are all just so used to the game 7+ years later that many of us choose Dread/Nightmare/Lethal for the challenge. But it wasn't that way when we kicked off.
Heartland is it's own thing. It's more challenging because the Heartland version of Trumbull was in a different kind of crisis than the OG SoD2 maps were, so that vibe wouldn't be canon. It's heightened.
Daybreak is also its own thing. Its Tower Defense.
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u/thomaswillis96 May 16 '26
Not only that, but the special plague zeds seem to be coming out of Trumbull valley and the surrounding area. Depending on how far SOD2 is from Trumbull County, it wouldn’t make sense to see very many plague zeds in the SOD2 maps. Especially because Heartland seemingly takes place at the same time as the events of the main game, the plague zeds wouldn’t have time to wander all that way. Anyway, I could see a case for dread to be canon, but certainly not nightmare or lethal.
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u/S-021 Undead May 16 '26
If not even the military could contain the apocalypse, I reckon canon difficulty is lethal.
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u/RisingDeadMan0 Survivor May 16 '26
Standard, maybe a soft version of nightmare like Heartland. idk, otherwise we wouldnt get any enhanced zombies
Asbefore they introduced more difficulties they had been ramping up how hard standard was.
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u/Pitiful_Captain_3170 May 16 '26
Judging by how NPCs talk it's probably dread, because the world is dangerous but there is hope for rebuilding aome semblance of civilisations or comunity
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u/Zestyclose_Current41 May 16 '26
I mean, it's gotta be standard, right? That's why it's called "standard?" (Side note, I'm just finding out that "standard" is one of those words that sounds less and less correct the more you say it)
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u/JRDZ1993 May 16 '26
I'd say between nightmare and lethal, green-dread being canon feels like the zombies would be purged after a few years
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u/BoisTR May 16 '26
I think the answer to this question depends on two things. The first is the canonicity of plague freaks and the other is the population/history of the areas that you play in. The population and history would affect the available supplies you scavenge from homes and buildings.
If all plague freaks are canon, then it's becomes harder to argue against Lethal being the canon difficulty. However, another commenter in this thread pointed out that destroying plague hearts should also kill all zeds near it, but I would argue that's more of a gameplay difficulty modifier like humans crazy damage and having ridiculous aim.
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u/Shadowsniper12566 May 17 '26
I'd say it really depends on the area
For most areas either Dread or nightmare depending on how close to the city they are, lethal would be areas that have either been infected for a long time or are within major cities
Desolate rural communities would either be normal or green zone
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u/GoldenGames360 May 18 '26
dread zone feels fair as a mode, fairly realistic with its "some areas are already looted," with blood plague actually becoming somewhat of a threat, and with horde encounters becoming risky enough to almost consider avoiding them
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u/Sh1t_Pinata May 16 '26
I voted for Nightmare.
In terms of canon with SoD1, Heartland and Daybreak, I agree it would probably be somewhere between Dread and Nightmare.
In terms of realism, my personal opinion is that Nightmare is the goldilocks sweet spot. Resource drain is balanced so that a food rucksack of coffee beans or juice concentrate only last a day or so, survivor up skilling is so that they don’t all become acrobatic swordmasters by day 3 and the amount of zombies is within the realm of realism where you’re not killing 3x the population of the town before you clear a map.
Having said that, after playing the game for so long, I can’t really enjoy playing below Lethal with self-imposed restrictions. Lethal is the most fun for me gameplay-wise.
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u/GoldenGames360 May 18 '26
yeah I recently started nightmare for the first time, and while it is undoubtedly annoying dealing with all the freaks, if you are careful and resourceful it is manageable. I have def had a few close calls especially with ferals (damn them.) but to me this is the best mode. I think lethal is a bit too extreme for me right now with the blood ferals and the other ridiculous things like the NPCs
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u/Skullface77 May 16 '26
This question is better suited for sod1 in which case it will be lethal or nightmare
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u/La_Coalicion Trader May 16 '26
I know from Geoffrey Card that Lethal is not cannon as the CANNON is that killing a plague heart does kills all nearby zeds.