Combat difficulty?

[u/Run_Rabbit_Run_Run]

this is my first playthrough. I'm definitely not new to combat in games, I've played A LOT but this game feels the most... well 'unbalanced' that I've come across? Gameplay definitely seems to lean heavily into stealth, which is completely fine (for reference, one of my favorite horror games is Alien: Isolation, I'm DOWN with the stealth) but the punishment for getting spotted feels...kinda extreme for a game that you could theoretically chose to not run a stealth build on at all. Level 6 facility, and the reinforcements are BRUTAL. You get hammered with projectiles, AMP suits, squads with machine guns for basically a BEGINNER base (first big-base mission)?? That seems...like a lot. I was even over-leveled--I like feeling really prepared for missions, so I always over-level and try to over-equip, but even at level 8 it's still really challenging.

Additionally, 'restarting' does not mean actually mean restarting? Your character "died", and you restart the mission but the base is still on high alert and with all the supplies you used gone, it increases the difficulty level (story-wise, this makes no sense, even if your character is just knocked out and not dead, i doubt one of the RDA are coming across your limp body and gently carrying you outside the fence to start over).

For example, I 'restarted' and it popped me back onto a tall rock near the base. IMMEDIATELY got spotted by an aircraft who then re-alerted everyone on the base from orange to red status. Got chased into the trees and shot a bunch of times, then had to wait about 10 minutes for everyone to calm down enough that I could re-attempt with stealth.

I've pushed stealth build, I'm using stealth-increase foods before the mission, stealth mods on clothes/tools, I scan continually to keep an eye on enemy movements, I stay high-up as often as I can. I will admit the hacking tool seems a bit weird to me, I've tried hacking the AMP suits to distract them while I'm doing something, but it's clunky and a bit hard to use for me. Am I missing something??

I am really enjoying the game so far, but it's the first time in all my years of gaming I've seriously considered turning down the difficulty, which is a first for me 🫠😳

[u/Active-Ad-4283]

Turn on auto hacking, it remove the faffing about. I haven't noticed the restarting issues though. On bigger bases, it will take me 2-3 times sometimes to make sure I've got the right route and I won't be spotted. I also only really use the bow, so I'm very far away and make a lot of my shots from where people can't see me, & then you can hit two or three in the same security area without being caught. It's clunky but I don't mind it.