How to Unlock Hard Difficulty in NEO: The World Ends With You

NEO: The World Ends With You is a role-playing game like very few others, offering players a ton of different options to customize their experience. Among these options is the difficulty system that allows players to make the game as easy or as difficult as they choose. Making battles more difficult, however, comes with some amazing benefits.

Here’s how to unlock Hard and Ultimate difficulty settings in NEO: The World Ends With You and how to switch between them.

How to Unlock Hard Difficulty in NEO: The World Ends With You

To unlock Hard difficulty, you will have to make some progress in the game, up until you unlock the Social Network mechanics that allow you to learn more skills by spending Friendship Points. To unlock Hard difficulty, you will have to unlock the Sho Minamimoto node on the network for 3 Friendship Points.

How to Unlock Ultimate Difficulty in NEO: The World Ends With You

Ultimate difficulty in NEO: The World Ends With You represents the ultimate challenge in the game. Enemies hit quite hard, so only those who have mastered the game’s unique combat system will be able to stand a chance against the Noise and the Reapers. To unlock Ultimate difficulty, you will have to spend 8 Friendship points to unlock a new node on the Social Network that becomes available once you complete the game and delve into the post-game content.

How to Change Difficulty

To change difficulty in NEO: The World Ends With You, all you need to do is press the + button at any time while not in combat. The Difficulty Menu is also accompanied by the Level menu, which lets you decrease your party level to increase the drop rate. Please note that Noise drop different Pins depending on the difficulty level, so make sure to switch it as often as you can to gather all the available Pins.