In Expeditions: Rome, you’ll likely spend between 50 to 60 hours working your way through the main campaign. With dozens of endings to unlock and character classes to master, you’ll probably come back to the game and run through it several times to ensure that you’ve seen everything it has to offer. However, it’s hard to know what difficulty mode to select when first starting. This guide explains every difficulty mode to give you a better idea of which one is for you.

Augustus to Crassus

There are four core difficulty modes in Expeditions: Rome for you to choose. We’ve outlined the specifics of how each one will impact your time in the game below. 

  • Augustus (easy): In easy mode, you won’t feel the sting of your mistakes, with very few punishements doled out for your actions. You’ll also have all the money and soldiers you need to win most battles, providing you don’t do something to bring about your downfall actively.Caesar (normal): This mode provides more of a challenge than easy mode does, but you’ll still likely make it to victory without too much effort. The battles will feel tough but fair, and you’ll have all the resources you need to conquer your foes.Pompeius (hard): This setting removes many luxuries you had in the easier modes, such as wealth and soldiers. You’ll struggle in many battles, but you should feel accomplished for making it through them. This isn’t a relentless slog against unwavering enemies, but it’s close.Crassus (insane): Recommended for a second or third playthrough. Crassus is the hardest mode to play on. Enemies won’t hold back in this mode, taking every opportunity they get to kill your dwindling forces and take what little you have. If you want a challenge that’s harder than anything else in this game, this is the mode to pick.

In addition to these difficulty modes, you can turn on Combat Death, which means that anyone that dies in battle is permanently removed from your team. If the protagonist dies, the campaign is finished. You can also turn on Iron Man mode, which prevents you from saving manually. While it won’t delete your save upon death, it does ensure that you live with your mistakes, removing the ability to revert to a previous file and try a battle for a second time.