One feature this week that has been on the list for a while: a proper difficulty setup screen. You can now tune how the game plays before you start a run.
When you start a new game, there's now a playstyle button on the setup screen. It opens a panel where you pick two things: a playstyle, and a pace.The playstyle controls how aggressively the city responds to you how often events fire, how long between them, and how hard they hit.
Playstyle
Feel
The Neighborhood
Long grace periods. Rivals hold back, police look away. Good for learning the map and the systems.
The Precinct
Classic push-and-breathe rhythm. Pressure builds, eases, builds again. The default.
The Task Force
Coordinated pressure. Raids come faster, rivals test you more often. For veterans.
The Wire
No grace. No mercy. Full heat from the first game day. Experts only.
The pace controls when threats unlock- how long your grace period is and how quickly the city escalates.
Pace
Grace period
Rivals arrive
FBI unlocks
Slow Burn
Game days 1–10
Day 11
Day 61+
Normal
Game days 1–5
Day 6
Day 31+
Hot City
Game days 1–2
Day 3
Day 16+
Instant Chaos
None
Day 1
Day 13+
1 game day = 24 real minutes. The clock stops when you pause; there's no fast-forward.You can also toggle individual threat categories off entirely: Rival Gangs, Local Police, or FBI Task Force. If you want a run with no federal heat at all, just disable it. The choice sticks for the whole run.All of this is set before you start. It's saved with the game, so a loaded save always runs at the difficulty you picked, not the default.