Square Enix clearly wants Shadow of the Tomb Raider to appeal to the broadest range of players possible. As such, the game will let you set combat, exploration, and puzzle difficulty independently – are you an old-school adventure game fan who fumbles with action? Dial down the combat, while cranking up the traversal and puzzle difficulty. A hardcore shooter fan? Do the opposite, turning up the combat, while dialing down exploration and puzzles. Each category has four difficulty settings – easy, normal, hard, and the ultra-challenging Deadly Obsession.

　　Here’s a deeper breakdown of Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s difficulty settings:

　　Combat

　　Easy

　　Aim assist enabledEnemies have lower health and do less damageAmmunition boxes are plentifulEnemies have illuminated silhouettesNormal

　　Enemies have normal health and damageAmmunition boxes are rareEnemies have illuminated silhouettesHard

　　Enemies have increased health, do more damage and locate Lara more quickly.No health regeneration in combatAmmunition boxes are rareNo hit markers on the reticleEnemies are not highlighted in Survival InstinctsDeadly Obsession

　　Same as hardNo HUD icon when Lara is being detected by an enemyExploration

　　Easy

　　Obvious white paint on critical pathLonger saving grab timerBase camps are litNormal

　　Discreet white paint on critical pathNormal saving grab timerBase camps are unlitHard

　　No white paint on critical pathReduced saving grab timerNo Survival Instincts during explorationBase camps are unlitDeadly Obsession

　　Same as HardBase camps are unlit and require resources to lightGame only saves at Base campsPuzzles

　　Easy

　　Lara gives direct hints on next action to performInteractable objects are highlighted in Survival InstinctsObjects necessary to progress highlighted in blue during Survival InstinctsLonger window of opportunity for timed mechanicsNormal

　　Lara gives general hints on the next action to performInteractable objects are highlighted in Survival InstinctsNormal window of opportunity for timed mechanicsHard/Deadly Obsession

　　No hints are given by LaraNo Survival InstinctsShorter window of opportunity for timer mechanicsHonestly, I kind of love this approach to difficulty, and hope more games do something similar in the future. In addition to the highly-granular difficulty, Shadow of the Tomb Raider will include a wide variety of accessibility settings, including full closed captioning, and options to reduce camera shake and the amount of button tapping required.

　　Shadow of the Tomb Raider sneaks onto PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on September 14.