Five settings, and the UBER shortcut
Five settings from Can I Play Daddy? to UBER. The two difficulty achievements stack and only need the final mission on UBER, not a full playthrough.
The New Order has five difficulty settings, and the achievement rules around them are more generous than the names suggest. You can finish on the easiest setting and still collect the hardest difficulty achievement.
The five settings
| Setting | What it plays like |
|---|---|
| Can I Play Daddy? | Minimal challenge, built for story |
| Don't Hurt Me | Easy, a small learning curve |
| Bring 'Em On | Balanced, the intended default |
| I Am Death Incarnate | Challenging, punishment for mistakes |
| UBER | Punishing, more enemies, no slack |
The achievement trick worth knowing
There are two difficulty achievements: one for I Am Death Incarnate and one for UBER. They stack, and neither requires a full playthrough.
Finish the game on whatever difficulty you like, then replay the final mission on UBER. The achievement unlocks. That is the whole requirement.
| Approach | Time cost | Achievements earned |
|---|---|---|
| Play everything on UBER | Longest | Both, and the enemies to farm perks on |
| Play on Bring 'Em On, then replay the last mission on UBER | Shortest | Both |
| Play on Can I Play Daddy? | Fastest combat | Both, but fewer enemies to farm |
The trade-off is enemy count. Easier settings spawn fewer soldiers, which means fewer opportunities to fill perk counters. If you are chasing 100%, a middling difficulty gives you the most targets per hour.
Why UBER is not the way to farm
More enemies sounds better for perk grinding, and it is, until the enemies kill you faster than you can fill a counter. UBER also changes patrol routes, so areas that were quiet on Bring 'Em On have guards standing where you planned to sneak.
The efficient route is Bring 'Em On for the campaign, then UBER for the last mission.
What difficulty does not change
Collectibles, the enigma codes and the perk list are identical on all five. Nothing is difficulty-gated, and no collectible sits behind an UBER-only door.
| Feature | Affected by difficulty |
|---|---|
| Collectibles | No |
| Enigma fragments | No |
| Perk list | No, but enemy count affects farming speed |
| Story and endings | No |
| Chapter select | No |
If you want the story without the fight
Can I Play Daddy? is genuinely that. Enemy AI in this game is not aggressive, and on the lowest setting you can walk through most encounters. The cost is that perk counters fill slowly, because there is less to shoot.
Play it on the lowest setting first if you are here for the narrative, then use chapter select on a higher difficulty for the achievements you want. Your collectibles carry over and your perk counters carry over, so nothing is wasted.
The perk guide explains why enemy count matters for grinding, and the collectibles page covers what carries between runs.