Windrose Difficulty Settings Explained
Windrose's biggest UX complaint: you pick a difficulty once and the game won't let you change it. Here's what each does — and a workaround.
Difficulty presets
| Preset | Boss HP | Damage taken | Resource scarcity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sailor | ×0.75 | ×0.75 | Standard |
| Captain | ×1.0 | ×1.0 | Standard |
| Admiral | ×1.4 | ×1.6 | −20% gather |
| Hardcore | ×1.4 | ×2.0 | Permadeath |
The workaround
Until Patch 0.8 adds mid-save difficulty change, the community workaround is:
- Exit to main menu.
- Copy your save folder:
%LOCALAPPDATA%/Windrose/Saved/SaveGames. - Start a new game on the difficulty you want.
- Quit, restore the copied save over the new save.
- Difficulty flag carries from the new save metadata.
This works on Patch 0.7.3 and is widely shared on the Windrose Discord. Use at your own risk — back up first.