You can choose one of five difficulty levels. If you would like to focus more on the story - Easy or Medium difficulty would be a great choice; Hard and Extreme difficulty settings provide you with a more challenging combat experience, fit for ace pilots. Additionally, there’s a permadeath mode in which any player death will result in a Game Over.

EASY
AI is less aggressive and deals less damage.

MEDIUM
AI is more aggressive; players will need to be mindful of their loadout and Rites of Power.

HARD
AI is much more aggressive and deals more damage.

EXTREME
AI is much more aggressive. Enemy ships, armor, and shield capacity increased by 25%.

PERMADEATH
AI is set to the same difficulty as in EXTREME mode. Upon player death save data is wiped and you have to start from the beginning.