How to change difficulty in Mortal Kombat 1

Johnny Cage preparing for a fight in Mortal Kombat 1.


Johnny Cage preparing for a fight in Mortal Kombat 1.
September 19, 2023: Find out how to adjust the difficult settings ahead of MK1's full release on the 19th! For those will early access, get into it now!

Fighting games aren't meant to be a walk in the park, with more combos and finishing moves than you'll ever get your head around. That said, there is a way to change difficulty in Mortal Kombat 1, the latest entry in the long-running series. However, the ability to change game difficulty is pretty limited, so don't get too excited.

In this guide, we'll explain to you how to change the difficulty settings in Mortal Kombat 1. As hinted at, this isn't available in all game modes or instances, so strap in to see how to make things a bit easier - or harder, of course!

For more on the game, check out how to get Koins fast in Mortal Kombat 1. We've also got a look at the Mortal Kombat 1 controls, plus details on how to do Brutalities.

How to change difficulty in Mortal Kombat 1

To change difficulty in Mortal Kombat 1, head to the Settings tab on the main menu. From there, select the Gameplay option, which pulls up a separate tab all focusing on small tweaks to the gameplay.

As you look through that list, you'll see one toggle named Story Mode Difficulty. From there, go through and scroll left or right to determine whether you want to make Story Mode easier or harder. Then confirm the decision, and you can go back into the main narrative section of Mortal Kombat 1 with your new difficulty!

As you can tell from the instructions above, you can only change the difficulty of Story Mode in Mortal Kombat 1. That means the various other single-player modes, including the new Invasion mode, have a fixed difficulty that scales up as you progress.

You can also change the difficulty of AI fighters in the quick fight modes, of course, but that's done after you've selected your opponent and stage, before getting to decide how difficult it'll be. If you're a series newcomer with Mortal Kombat 1 and need an easier time, then this is probably your best option.

However, if you're diving into the game purely for the story - or on the contrary, if you don't care about the story and want it to be as challenging as possible - then it's perfectly easy to do so in Mortal Kombat 1.

A fight in progress in Mortal Kombat 1.
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All Mortal Kombat 1 difficulty settings

As far as we can tell, there are five difficulty options in Mortal Kombat 1. These are as follows:

  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Medium (Default)
  • Hard
  • Very Hard

The game doesn't provide a description on the differences between difficulty modes in Mortal Kombat 1. That said, it's fairly likely that each level you go up will increase your opponent's speed, mastery of combo moves, and ability to read your attacks and block accordingly.

That's it for our look at how to change difficulty in Mortal Kombat 1! For more on the game, brush up on our Mortal Kombat 1 tier list, plus a look at whether the game has crossplay.

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