Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 difficulty settings explained

Tyler Constable
A promotional image from Marvel's Spider-Man 2 featuring Spider-Man in combat.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 features various difficulty settings you can choose from in the game. So, here’s a rundown of every difficulty option and how they impact your experience in the sequel.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 features an expanded New York City to explore, iconic villains to battle, and plenty of stylish suits to unlock, there’s a lot of great content for fans to enjoy.

Before you dive into the action, however, you may be curious to know what difficulty settings are available in the game. After all, some prefer a more challenging gaming experience than others so it’s always ideal to tailor the difficulty to your liking.

With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about the difficulty options in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

A promotional image from Marvel's Spider-Man featuring Spider-Man using web wings.

All Marvel’s Spider-Man difficulty options

There are a total of 5 difficulty settings in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, with each providing a slightly different experience for players. The options are as follows:

  • Friendly Neighbourhood
  • Friendly
  • Amazing
  • Spectacular
  • Ultimate

The default difficulty in the game is Amazing. This allows you to take on some tough but not overwhelmingly challenging battles while playing through the story. If you’re a fan of action games and want a balanced experience, this is the option for you.

For those who are new to action games or simply want a more relaxing time in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, either the Friendly Neighborhood or Friendly difficulties would be the ideal choice. Both of these emphasize story over combat as enemies are less powerful and you take minimal damage. The main difference between these modes is that in Friendly Neighborhood, you cannot get knocked out in combat so it’s very forgiving.

If you’re itching for a tough challenge, you’ll want to go for Spectacular. Enemies deal much greater damage on this difficulty and are more resilient so you’ll need to hit them even harder to succeed in combat. If you want an even bigger challenge then you can replay on Ultimate which is the hardest option that only becomes available once you’ve beaten the game.

Note that New Game Plus adds a new feature called Ultimate Levels, which allows you to exceed the normal level cap. However, this isn’t actually tied to any difficulty settings.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: All suits for Peter Parker & Miles Morales | Spider-Man 2 Photo Mode | Main Story missions list | Can you play as Venom? | How to unlock Webbed Suits | Spider-Man 2 All Marko’s Memories | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 editions | Spider-Man 2 trophies | All Accessibility settings | Increase health & damage | Spider-Man 2 Photo Ops locations | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 map