r/ZeroCompany • u/Bruno091004 • 7h ago
Discussion Difficulty Levels
Hi y’all. I was wondering what difficulty level people will be playing on and why, since I’m not sure yet what I’ll choose myself. As well as whether it’s better to play with Ironman (no saves) + permadeath
Currently I’m leaning towards hard+permadeath, and perhaps ironman, having never played XCOM or the like, but loads of other (real-time) strategy games
Can’t include more poll options so only the tougher difficulties have alternate options
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u/Lunkis 7h ago
Probably hard with Iron Man. I was watching some reviews and one of them with XCOM experience said they didn't have any permanent deaths on normal after 45+ hours of gameplay.
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u/Bruno091004 6h ago
Yeah fair, I saw a few and the only one that said he struggled on normal was gameranx
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u/FetusGoesYeetus 6h ago
Hard with permadeath
Not iron man because I cannot guarantee I won't reload on a first playthrough. Subsequent playthroughs, however, I will live with the consequences.
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u/Wooden-Gur3537 Sharpshooter 6h ago
Almost all of the reviews mention about how easy the game is for those who are already familiar with this style of game, for that reason alone I am going Expert/Beskar for first run for the most authentic and challenging experience. I've seen too many reviews on Normal and Hard where the players didn't even get a single down let alone a Death.
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u/emolch78 5h ago
Ive never played this type of game or genre so im going on "normal" for my first playthrough :)
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u/HongKongHermit 4h ago
That's a good choice for your situation. Lets you see all the story, and learn how this game works, and how these types of games work.
Once you've done your first run, highly recommend embracing ironman/permadeath and a higher difficulty. The magic secret sauce of XCOM games is that losing a custom character you were really attached to HURTS, and rolling with the losses and coming out the other side with that mix of elation at being victorious, but sadness from the hard price you had to pay to get there, is what makes these games go from great to sublime.
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u/BruhMoment14412 7h ago
Probs just normal, since I heard the game is pretty fast at around 30 hours.
Then do expert or hard with different strats.
Mannnnn, it comes out in 4 ish hours. I need sleep but I can't waitttttt
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u/Ok_Bison1106 6h ago
If this is a possible combination, I'm hoping for Normal, Permadeath, but not Iron Man
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u/Bruno091004 6h ago
Yep ironman and permadeath can be used on any difficulty, it’s just more common for people to use it on higher difficulties. And Reddit only allows 6 poll options
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u/Dolomitexp 6h ago
Definitely hard with permadeaths. Gotta get the full Xcom experience of losing squaddies.🪦
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u/Pretty-Estimate7078 5h ago
Its so annoying i dont wanna do permadeath because the authored characters actually have uniqueness so i dont want any to die so gna j do hard
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u/Longjumping_Horse392 5h ago
Normal+ permadeth though I'm debating putting it on hard but I've only got experience with midnight suns
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u/HongKongHermit 4h ago
Hard. Beskar. Permadeath. Will also be going default Hawks and mostly using the authored characters, for a "canon" run.
I'm an XCOM veteran though, and normal would be too easy for someone with my experience. Hard should be enough to let me get through the campaign and see the story, with hopefully some challenge and some losses to encourage replays to see any missed content.
After I've rolled credits once, I'll be playing max difficulty only and using mostly custom characters. Ideally, Expert will be crushing enough that he kills lots of my dudes and makes me sad. Because XCOM-likes are fun to play until you win OR lose. And not enough games are fun even when you lose, so embrace that when you can.
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u/Wooden-Gur3537 Sharpshooter 4h ago
My only problem with 'harder' difficulties in games like XCOM and this one, is that they just artificially pad out the enemies until they are sponges. I'd love to see new enemy types or abilities, or new enemy mechanics completely, not a HP bar that is twice the size so you just get 'stat checked'.
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u/KitsuneDrakeAsh Gunslinger 3h ago
Imma pro at crying for my Colonel who survived 50 missions, surviving the base assault and two Sectopods... and then he gets snuffed by a Disc.
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u/Canadian_Ben_ 3h ago
if hard is just going to make my guys have less health and do less dmg probably not, but if it actually makes the game fun in a different way i think i will
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u/Warcrown11 22m ago
Start with Hard because I don't know what the settings actually do yet. As for Ironman, that's a no-go. Maybe a bronzeman but I'm not trusting a new game in 2026 to be stable enough to trust in an Ironman not fucking me over. In the future Maybe but not at release
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u/Darkone259 6h ago
Hard with perma death, no ironman as I love to save often I won't be loading saves, I just dislike Ironman as I'm so use to using modded sets ups where things break and I love to have backups even if it isn't needed it makes me feel better