Phantom Blade Zero Difficulty: The Three Named Presets

The three named presets

The August 17 official deep dive describes “our range of difficulty options” and names three:

Preset	What the official source says
Wayfarer	The story-leaning preset — for players who want to experience the narrative without intense combat pressure.
Hellwalker	Enemies with “advanced, adaptive enemy intelligence” — for players who want a tougher, more reactive combat experience.
Sixty-Six Days	Described only as “isn’t for the faint of heart.” Its exact rules (permadeath? time pressure? special restrictions?) are not detailed in the source — the name references the story’s sixty-six-day premise, and nothing more is officially stated.

What is not confirmed

• The total number of modes: three named presets ≠ the full list. The source uses the phrase “our range of difficulty options,” which leaves room for additional modes or modifiers not shown in the deep dive.
• Unlock conditions: whether Sixty-Six Days is available from the start or must be unlocked is not stated.
• Trophy/achievement ties: whether completing the game on a specific difficulty is required for any trophy has not been confirmed from official sources.
• Mid-game switching: the Steam category “Adjustable Difficulty” and the PS Store listing “Adjustable Difficulty (Basic)” both confirm that preset switching exists, but whether every mode allows it (and whether switching has penalties) is not documented.
• Per-mode save restrictions: whether Sixty-Six Days restricts manual saves or pausing is not covered by the official source. The PS Store lists Game Pausing and Manual Saving as general features, but this does not confirm they apply to every special mode.

How to change difficulty in-game

The exact menu path has not been shown in official material. Both Steam and PS Store confirm that difficulty adjustment exists — the specific steps will be documented here after release verification.

Related

• Combat systems overview · Weapons · Release date