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First voyage

Difficulty Settings: Easy & Hard

How to Fish lets you change difficulty from both the main menu and during a session. Easy gives all creatures 25% less health and 50% less damage, while Hard gives them 25% more health and 25% more damage; the default setting matches the earlier released build.

Guide status

published

Reviewed 2026-09-13. Evidence scope: Official Patch 1.0.9 · released 2026-08-24. This guide is updated when key route details can be checked.

01Change difficulty before or during a run

Official Patch 1.0.9 adds a difficulty option in both the main menu and the in-game settings. You do not need to start a new route merely to reach the setting, because the announcement explicitly lists both entry points. Open the setting where you are, confirm the selected mode, and then judge the next encounter using the active mode rather than an old video or guide title.

The patch does not describe a separate difficulty-only quest, shop item or Radar requirement. That means difficulty selection should stay separate from the Lighthouse, boat-key and island-progression routes. If the current task is blocked by a missing hand-in, changing difficulty does not replace completing that objective.

02What Easy mode changes

Easy mode gives all creatures 25% less health and makes them deal 50% less damage, according to the official Patch 1.0.9 notes. Those are the published mode-wide changes, so they are more reliable than an unlabelled health bar from a recording. The announcement does not publish separate Easy values for individual fish, bosses, weapons or rewards.

Use Easy when you want the same route structure with less creature durability and incoming damage. It does not turn a boss trigger into a free-roaming spawn, reveal an unverified coordinate, or replace a quest return. Keep the active objective visible and use the route guides for the bait, item and hand-in sequence.

03What Hard mode changes

Hard mode gives all creatures 25% more health and makes them deal 25% more damage in the official notes. The figures apply to creatures generally, rather than providing a separate published table for each boss. Do not convert them into an exact current boss-health target when later balance patches have not published that creature’s base value.

A Hard attempt benefits from a clear route and a loadout you already understand, but no official note calls one weapon mandatory. Check whether the obstacle is a damage exchange, recovery, movement space or an unfinished trigger before spending money. That keeps a deliberate challenge setting from becoming an excuse to skip the actual progression check.

04Understand the unchanged default setting

Patch 1.0.9 says the default difficulty is the same as the released build before the new Easy and Hard options were added. The announcement does not attach a separate mode name or a full numeric stat sheet to that default. This guide therefore calls it the default setting instead of inventing a label, multiplier or reward rule that the developer did not publish.

The official announcement only identifies creature health and damage as difficulty changes. It does not say that difficulty changes drop rates, fish locations, quest requirements, achievements or shop prices. Treat those systems as unchanged by this guide unless a later first-party update specifically confirms a difference.

05Keep patch balance and difficulty claims separate

Patch 1.0.12 later says that Piranha was rebalanced, but it does not publish numeric health or damage values. That later balance note should not be used to overwrite the explicit Easy and Hard modifiers from Patch 1.0.9. Use the live game for a current encounter result, while this page remains the source for the published difficulty-setting scope.

When comparing runs, record the game version, selected difficulty and the specific route step being tested. That makes it possible to distinguish a setting change from a later creature rebalance or an unfinished quest interaction. It also avoids turning one player’s result into a universal claim about every mode and boss.

Next verified routes

Continue with the exact next question

Start with the released game loopKeep the setting choice separate from the catch, gear, quest and boss route.Prepare for Giant PiranhaUse the current difficulty alongside the verified bait, fight and Skeleton return route.Choose a weapon for the active blockerCompare documented weapon roles without treating a difficulty mode as a required loadout.

Evidence boundary

What this guide can confirm

  • Official Patch 1.0.9 confirms that difficulty can be changed in the main menu and in-game.
  • Official Patch 1.0.9 publishes the mode-wide Easy and Hard creature health and damage modifiers.
  • Official Patch 1.0.12 names a Piranha rebalance without numeric values, so it cannot replace the published difficulty modifiers.

Sources

Sources for this guide