When you create a new world in Windrose, the game offers four difficulty levels: Calm Tides (easy), Open Seas (normal, as intended by the developers), Storm’s Edge (hard), and Captain’s Choice (full customization).
And here’s the catch: this choice is final. You can’t change the difficulty in an existing world. If you started on Easy and realized you want Hardcore, you’ll have to create a new world. Conversely, if you overestimated yourself on Storm’s Edge, you’ll have to recreate it.
Incidentally, “Captain’s Choice” allows you to customize every parameter: enemy health, damage, boarding difficulty, and even the map system. Some modifiers can be cranked up to 500%.
What about the servers? You can do that there.
If you’re playing on a dedicated server, things are simpler. Go to the control panel, stop the server, find the world settings section, and change the difficulty preset. Save, launch, and voila. We’ve covered more details on how to set up a server for co-op play with a friend or how to troubleshoot connection issues in a separate guide.
But this only applies to servers. In single-player or if you’re not an admin, unfortunately, it’s only a new world.
Customization for yourself: custom is our everything
The safest option is to go straight to “Captain’s Choice.” The game’s creators have included a variety of settings: you can enable “immersive exploration” (which disables map markers), adjust enemy and ship damage separately, change boss difficulty, and even adjust the balance for co-op.
I advise solo players not to rush into “Storm’s Edge” at the start. The game isn’t forgiving enough as it is—the Souls-lite combat system takes some getting used to. But if you’re playing with a group of four, feel free to use “Open Sea” or even “Storm’s Edge”—it’s more fun to take down boars together.
Main advice
Don’t be lazy and spend an hour or two in the demo or on the starting island with different settings. Figure out what feels comfortable to you. Then create the “main” world. Because the only way to change the difficulty in Windrose is to start over. And believe me, losing 20 hours of progress just to make the boars angrier is no fun.
