Silent Hill: Townfall lets you adjust combat and puzzle difficulty separately. I’ll explain which settings are best for your first playthrough and whether difficulty affects achievements or endings.
Silent Hill has traditionally had a more complicated relationship with difficulty settings than many other horror games. That’s why, when starting Silent Hill: Townfall, you might wonder whether choosing the wrong setting could change puzzles, lock you out of achievements, or even affect one of the game’s different endings.
The good news: Townfall lets you adjust combat and puzzle difficulty separately, and you can change both settings at any time. However, there are still a few things you should keep in mind.
What Difficulty Settings Are Available for Combat and Stealth?
For enemy encounters and the core survival-horror experience, you can choose between three difficulty levels:
| Difficulty | Effects | Who Is It For? |
| Story Mode | Fewer enemies, lower enemy health, and reduced damage | Story-focused players and anyone who wants combat to be as stress-free as possible |
| Normal | Balanced mix of combat and stealth | Best for a first playthrough and most players |
| Nightmare | More enemies, higher health, and increased damage; enemies can also see your flashlight and become alerted in dark areas | Experienced survival-horror players |
Story Mode
In Story Mode, you’ll encounter fewer enemies. They also have less health and deal less damage. The game itself describes this setting as being intended for players who prefer an experience focused more heavily on the story.
I’d also recommend it to anyone who eventually gets tired of the overly long stealth sections. With fewer and weaker enemies, some of the more drawn-out sneaking sequences become much less tedious. The puzzles don’t automatically become easier, though. Townfall has a separate setting for those.
Normal
Normal is the standard experience, offering a balanced mix of combat and stealth. You’ll need to manage your resources carefully and regularly sneak past or distract enemies, but not every mistake is immediately punished. Start your first playthrough on Normal and see how you feel about the stealth sections.
Nightmare
On Nightmare, the game doesn’t simply increase enemy health and damage. There are more enemies, they can take more punishment, they deal more damage, and they can also react to your flashlight beam. Personally, I don’t see much appeal in choosing this difficulty for a first playthrough. The combat system isn’t strong enough and the stealth sections are already demanding enough. Only give Nightmare a shot if Normal genuinely feels like it’s missing something for you.
Which Puzzle Difficulty Should I Choose?
Puzzle difficulty works completely independently of combat difficulty. You have two options:
Puzzle Difficulty Effects Hinted Puzzle-related items and documents are highlighted in your inventory; important text and clues appear in red Normal No automatic highlighting; you need to identify relevant clues in documents and the environment yourself
Hinted
This setting does not change the actual puzzles or their answers. Instead, the game helps you identify relevant information. Passages in documents that are needed for the current puzzle, for example, are highlighted in red. This is useful if you still want to solve the puzzles yourself but don’t want to spend hours figuring out which of the ten notes you’ve collected is actually relevant.
Normal
On Normal, you don’t get any of these assists. You’ll need to figure out for yourself which document matters, which number might be relevant, which items belong together, and which clue connects to which puzzle. For me, this is the perfect setting for Silent Hill veterans. The actual answers to the puzzles remain unchanged, however.
My Recommended Settings for Your First Playthrough
For the classic Silent Hill experience, I recommend leaving both settings on Normal. That gives you the intended mix of survival horror, stealth, and resource management, while requiring you to interpret the many documents, CRTV signals, and environmental clues yourself. If you struggle with the stealth sections, switch to Story Mode. It doesn’t water down the experience, but it does take some of the frustration out of certain sections. I find the “With Hints” puzzle setting a little too intrusive. Many puzzles lose some of their appeal because digging through documents and piecing clues together is such a defining part of Silent Hill’s puzzle design.
Does Difficulty Affect the Endings?
Based on what we currently know: No. That’s particularly important in Silent Hill, as several entries in the series determine their endings based on player behavior. Townfall does the same: Creative Director Jon McKellan explained that your ending isn’t determined by a single choice at the end. Instead, your actions throughout the entire playthrough determine which ending you get. No specific difficulty setting is required.
Are There Achievements Tied to Specific Difficulty Settings?
No. The full achievement list does not include an achievement for completing Townfall on Normal or Nightmare. Even the “Familiar Nightmare” achievement only requires you to complete New Game Plus on any difficulty. So you won’t have to suffer through Nightmare to get 100 percent completion.
More Guides & Articles on Silent Hill: Townfall
- Silent Hill: Townfall – Full Walkthrough
- Silent Hill: Townfall – Preload, Launch Times, Download Size, and System Requirements
- Silent Hill: Townfall – Essential Tips for Your First Playthrough
- Silent Hill: Townfall Progress Guide – Chapters, Sections, and Playtime
- Silent Hill: Townfall Codes Guide – All Locks, Lockers, and Briefcases
