Waterpark Simulator Difficulty: Sandbox, Easy, Normal, Hard

The new game screen with Name your Park, a Select Difficulty choice of Sandbox, Easy, Normal and Hard, and a Skip tutorial box — Image: Official image, CayPlay (0.4 announcement)

You choose Sandbox, Easy, Normal or Hard when you create a park, and the developers say there are no mid-game difficulty changes. Only Normal and Hard earn achievements. Easy means cheaper staff and builds and more patient guests. Hard raises costs, lets unhappy visitors ask for refunds and fines you for firing staff. Sandbox unlocks everything with infinite money.

The four modes

Sandbox
"Build your dream park with no pressure and pure chill."
No achievements
Money
Infinite
Research
All done
Every item and feature unlocked from the start. Good for planning a layout before you commit to a real park.
Easy
"A little bit more relaxed experience"
No achievements
Staff
Cheaper, more at start
Guests
More patient
Normal progression with the pressure turned down. Staff never quit on Easy, a rule added in 1.0.48.
Normal
"The intended experience for a balanced and fun playthrough."
Achievements
Balance
The baseline
Old saves
Converted to Normal
What the game was before modes existed. Every Early Access park became a Normal park when 0.4 arrived.
Hard
"A brutal challenge where every mistake can cost you your park."
Achievements
Costs
Higher
Refunds
Guests can demand them
Everything costs more and guests are less forgiving. One achievement, Unstoppable Resort, needs 5 Star Park Prestige on Hard itself.

The quoted lines are the descriptions on the new game screen.

Easy vs Hard, line by line

Setting	Easy	Hard
Salaries	Less costly	More costly
Staff at the start	More	—
Tax for going over the staff limit	Lower	—
Firing staff	—	You pay a fine
Research points	More awarded	—
Visitor patience	More patient	Less patient
Refunds	—	Visitors can request refunds if displeased
Trash and poop	Less	More
Nasty visitors	Lower %	Higher %
Puddles	Lower %	Higher %
Drownings	Lower %	Higher %
Injuries	Guests hurt less easily	Guests hurt more easily
Profit per ticket and attraction	Higher	Lower
Build prices	Less costly	More costly
Maintenance costs	Lower	Higher
Attraction durability	Higher	Lower

From the detailed breakdown in the 0.4 notes, 8 May 2026. Both columns are relative to Normal; a dash means that list does not mention it.

Starting cash is not on the list. A player who compared new parks in August 2026 found Normal starting with $500 while Easy and Hard both started with $1,000, and asked if it was a bug; the developer replied "Not a bg". Players in the same thread disagreed on whether Hard prices are one and a half times or double Normal.

Fewer nasty visitors on Easy has a side effect: quests that need them take longer. One Easy player waited until day 8 for the cheaters a "push 10 cheaters" objective needs, then had 8 of the 10 by the middle of day 9. More injuries, puddles and drownings on Hard mean more running, not just more cost.

Achievements only count on Normal and Hard

Steam lists 71 achievements, and almost every description ends with "(Normal or Hard Difficulty)". Sandbox and Easy parks earn none, and the PS5 version awards no trophies on those modes either. The full list and the hidden ones are on the achievements page.

“The reason is related to the achievement hunters. We are not the only game that does this.”

Hai Cayplay[developer, explaining why Easy has no achievements]· 12 May 2026

Can you change difficulty mid-game?

“And no mid game difficulty changes”

Hai Cayplay[developer, replying to a player who started on Easy by mistake]· 5 August 2026

The mode belongs to the save. When modes arrived, the 0.4 notes said old saves would be "automatically converted to Normal Difficulty" and that trying the others meant starting a new game. Requests for a switch keep coming, including a Steam thread on 1 August 2026 from a player who wanted to move an Easy park to Normal, with no reply.

The player the developer answered said they then changed theirs with a save editor. That is unofficial; if you try it, copy the whole slots folder first, as described on the save file page. The cleaner route is a second park: every park is its own save, so a Sandbox park for experiments can sit next to your real one.

What has changed in each mode since 0.4

20 May 2026 (0.4.21): Hard mode ticket prices reviewed, because rounding was breaking the slide pass.
28 May 2026 (0.4.22): on Easy, the drowning mission raises drownings while it is active, and pools need chlorine more often while the Yogi chlorine mission is active, so neither stalls for days. On Hard, selling buildings refunds the same as every other mode.
4 August 2026 (1.0.30): Sandbox unlocks properly for new and old saves; the damage multiplier is the same on all difficulties.
8 August 2026 (1.0.48): staff won't quit on Easy or Sandbox.
11 September 2026 (1.0.91): Sandbox no longer starts with trash in some spots.

For a first park, Normal is the safe pick, and the beginner guide covers the first days: achievements count and it is the mode the game calls "the intended experience". Only one achievement is out of its reach, Unstoppable Resort, which needs Hard. Choose Hard for that or for a harder economy, Easy if achievements do not matter to you, and Sandbox to try out layouts with no money limit.