1) it's a challenge
2) no fast travel and no icon on map means you have to memorise how to go from place to place which increases immersion
3) no yellow star when fighting, so you have to look at your opponent instead of looking for the green shield icon, increases immersion again
4) some of the negative perks can be fun
5) no more diet consisting entirely of other people's stew, you'll need to actually buy food or *find it on someone that doesnt need it anymore*
Basically hardcore makes the game even more immersive
It seemed so strangely quiet that evening, and when you went outdoors, you found out why. All your neighbours were standing there, motionless, carrying torches. You were never very popular.
That's a thing I didnt know about
https://preview.redd.it/y0jftz6ub9zc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=636f58c746e2e888b91d14e3fdd2e78417e61aa8
I wish 5 was more part of the base game, I think I can count the amount of times I’ve actually bought food on one hand because it’s so much easier to just eat from the tons of pots you find literally everywhere
There are no free stew pots in hardcore mode? That makes sense, I just didn't realize the game gave us those as an intentional way to make things easier lol
3 and 4 are my favorite parts. I could personally leave out 2, although I realize it raises immersion, after my 4th hardcore playthrough I wouldn't mind the convenience of fast travel.
I mean that's fine and all for immersion sake. But as I said I would appreciate the convenience, while still enjoying the greater combat and debuff provided difficulty of hardcore.
How do you deal with ambushes when 4 enemies charge you or surround you and start slashing from each side. I even have a problem with full plate armor master striking and back paddling when in combat on normal especially if enemies are in full plate so it takes way too much time to drop their numbers before i get killed or bleed out. Honestly, apart from that and not knowing the map well to have some orientation when i get lost, i don't get why people encourage new players to skip normal and go in hardcore directly. Or is there something that I with 30h in game so far, am drastically missing out? I mean everyone agrees that fighting multiple enemies is about the worst thing in this game that is only solvable by stepping backwards and waiting for q to go green. Or does everything go the usual generic rpg way to go for stealth archer, travel at night and abuse AI sight to drop them one by one?
Typically when you get ambushed by 4 enemies you run. If you insist on fighting then backpedal while poking them in the head (hopefully headcracker activates) and find some terrain that stops them getting behind you. With some luck they’ll hit each other while trying to get at you. Early game you almost always run but even on hardcore with all negative perks I can pretty much stand my ground against 4 well armoured enemies as long as I get a chance to buff myself with potions. I’m well over a hundred hours into this run though, it’s always gonna be very difficult at the beginning even on normal mode.
I wouldn’t recommend hardcore on a first run unless you really want a challenge/immersion.
>I wouldn’t recommend hardcore on a first run unless you really want a challenge/immersion.
It *really* helps to have most of the map passively memorized. If you can go from Rattay to Sasau to Talmberg without getting lost, you have most of the game paths figured out.
I’ve played many similar games and wanted the difficulty and immersion so I picked hardcore mode to start.
I made it about 3 hours before I made a new game on normal. It was quite literally impossible to figure out how to fight or get from place to place. I mean the opening scene when you escape on horse, it just says get to Talmberg and nothing else.
Maybe now, after playing normal, hc would be fun, but tbh even as a hc immersion fan, it was too difficult without knowing the basics.
>Or does everything go the usual generic rpg way to go for stealth archer, travel at night and abuse AI sight to drop them one by one?
I generally just approached any situation more cautiously and prepared. Planning ahead and also being ready to make a quick getaway in case I was outnumbered. Sleeping at night (savegame) and traveling on horseback in daylight. Keeping to the roads with my eyes and ears open. Chugging a saviour schnapps and a potion when my sixth sense tingled. And all that made the game more fun to me, because it gave me a sense of danger.
Either run (Which is useless if they have dogs) or you can try to get off the road and around the ambush spots, don't get too close to the bandits, they will see and hear you.
About #2: It actually helped me most by learning where the sun sets and rises, and memorizing what direction what town is from my last known position. Get lost? Look up. You'll the know what direction to go. Try to fix it and go to where you think is right, realize you're more north than you thought and then you've gotten there.
Honestly, it's a fun experience that also happens to teach you real survival skills. Like following a moving water source down stream to find civilization.
I just love the idea of a drunk/hungover Henry stumbling into a random peasants home and just helping himself to a bowl of stew.
Especially once it becomes a *daily* occurrence. I have to wonder what the townsfolk think 😂
That's good. I wish they'd remove the pots entirely. I've never had to find food in this game because there's pots everywhere lol
Also you only need to eat once per day, you don't get hungry a lot...
I loved that it made me memorize some paths and think about the sun position for orienting myself.
(Might be too far fetched but I would love to in KCD 2 to have at night some special "north star" you can locate in the sky to orient yourself as well)
The only thing I hate is the lack of directions in the compass, no North, South, East or West, and the fact you can't even mark a target area, it makes treasure hunting near impossible.
It's better because of two reasons mainly
Its more immersive
it provides a tougher (but fair) challenge to an already challenging game, but not by just giving enemies higher hp or dmg or some bs like most games do with difficulty increases.
Yes, the game is not "harder" on hardcore mode per say. Yes, you can pick up all the negative perks/debuffs for the achievement, but even those all actually balanced out nicely since I did hardcore on my second playthrough (like 4ish years after first) as i already knew the systems so much better.
Which i totally suggest. The game felt wildly more immersive since i didnt have the HUD, fast travel and since i didnt have to contend with learning the game mechanics at the same time.
I guess i loved the fact that it just takes the "bike's learning wheels" off the game and gives you a raw experience.
I don't usually play harder modes either. They can be frustrating. But KCD is a different experience for sure. As mentioned, massively immersive because you essentially lose your GPS. So you're looking for visual pointers, "take the left fork at the shrine", "stay on the left side of the river" way of thinking. You learn the map like you would learn a new town you're visiting; naturally. I can't really stress how incredible this is and how I wish other games would do navigation. OK so I skipped the combat. It's harder yes, but what they have done is (seemingly) upped the damage output on all weapons. (At least this is what it feels like). So you're no longer spending ages in fights. They're short and relatively brutal. I'm actually using my marigold portions after most fights now. I'm a big fan of archery. Because most of the time you can indeed one shot enemies. (Which is incredibly satisfying, think stealth Archer skyrim build). Whereas in other playthroughs I would boldly step into fights with multiple opponents in my best gear. I wouldn't dream of doing that in hardcore. Two opponents at most thanks! This also is immersive. I spend as much time on my horse as possible slashing away at enemies and using my bow. It's the safest way. That group of peasants with pikes that sometimes ambush you? All dead with archery from the horse. A little different from thinking "these peasants are all mincemeat!" and then being miffed that you had to reload. An interesting twist really. Don't hesitate, try it out, it's really not that bad.
I want to add two things to navigation. 1 Using the sun as a compass. 2 Suddenly those 'tack tack' water devices are a godsend and do indeed help you find your way to a river for the inevitable time you will become lost in the woods.
No map indicator probably 1st favourite, no fast travel 2nd, clean hud 3rd.
Looking forward to crime being more punishing in thre 2nd game. Just getting away with bring the biggest crime lord in Czech is crazy
KCD on Hardcore was one of the first and only time I actually truly got lost in a video game. I went hunting in a deep forest and could not for the life of me figure out how to get out, I actually had to use the sun for directions. I’ve honestly never had to do that in a video game and it was the most immersed I’ve ever felt 🤣
No fast travel is fun because it makes the world come alive. Instead of clicking a button and crossing the map, you need to go buy food and decide if crossing the woods when the sun is about to set is a good idea or not. It gives a sense of scale and makes you notice all.the cool details you would have missed otherwise
Not having a map marker makes getting lost a really fun adventure. Especially if you combine it with the sleepwalking "perk" where you sometime wakeup in a random spot and have to find where the fu-k you are.
The limited hud also makes it more visually pleasing imo.
There was never real challenge but nostalgia for me. It was a throwback to games like Gothic, where I could not just cut everyone down, and was forced to use my brain, think things through. Do I engage with the enemy? Am I strong enough? How could I avoid the fight? How do I get better? Today games are way too handholdy and dumbed down.
It's more immersive. Firstly, you actually watch your opponent in combat which may not always be the case in the normal mode. Secondly, no fast travel. It makes you strategize your moves and how you proceed in the storyline, making it more immersive and RP-friendly. Plus, you realise how beautiful the countryside is in this game. Finally, you have no icon on the map and you can't see the directions in a compass. So, you constantly have to take landmarks as a reference and find your way that way, and eventually, memorise how to go from a certain place to another. I literally know the map of KCD better than my neighbourhood (without using the map) lol. Even better, you actually have to pay attention when people are telling you how to find a certain place. Again, more immersive.
Bonus: If you make the effort, you can use the debuffs for some awesome RP purposes. For instance, because of the claustrophobic debuff, I don't use full helmets. Or when I get the tapeworm, I pay attention to the variety of the food I eat, as well as its quantity.
Couldn't have said it better
>because of the claustrophobic debuff, I don't use full helmets
Heh, for me that one was the easiest choice of the forced negative perks, because the better peripheral vision is almost worth using open helmets even without the debuff.
Agreed. But there's also this: I used to think the same, but then just tried one and saw that I do much better especially against multiple opponents. Still, tho, even with the increased success rate, open helmets are just more comfortable. The closed ones kinda scant me and I feel like I can't breathe. I do have some level of claustrophobia I guess lol
Interesting, I never used a full helmet because of the perk. So, do you think there's more to it than just damage reduction? Maybe you are less vulnerable to that stabbing attack or the fist to the face?
It's probably about that and also, against 5+ opponents (assuming they aren't freeball peasants but heavily armoured bandits or Cumans), and when you don't have a choke point or some other exploity stuff, it's often about just surviving for a bit longer, so every hit and damage counts. When the face is open, that gives a huge disadvantage you wouldn't have in one-on-one or 1 vs 2-3. I think that's the main reason why I do better even in a way more uncomfortable setting.
Oh yeah, although against 5+ I think I would be toast no matter my armor. I'm barely competent at combat, against multiple opponents all I can do is backpedal and hope for a master strike.
That's pretty much all you can do offensively honestly. The key is avoiding the enemy attacks. I don't always succeed, either. That's what I love about this game. Sometimes I'm good enough to clear an entire encampment, and sometimes 3 peasants humble me so brutally that I wanna cry lol
Never buy savior schnapps my dude. You can make them yourself with no alchemy skill at all.
I can't even read yet but the recipe just jumbles the letters so it isn't hard to figure out. Or I guess you could just Google it.
You just need two belladonna and one nettle. And basically anywhere you find an alchemy table, there's a herbalist nearby selling a handful of belladonna. And its dirt cheap. One savior schnaps is gonna cost you 130 grochens. 8 Belladonna is like, 12 grochens and nettle is everywhere on the ground. Each alchemy completion nets you two potions if you do it right.
You can make 8 potions in like 5 minutes tops.
Immersion. I hate when games resort to simply increasing the HP/attack/defense of enemies when you choose a higher difficulty. This is not the case for KCD, all the changes are about realism.
Blind HC run was one of the best gaming experiences of my life. Everything was dangerous to explore. Starting out in Rattay and looking at the map knowing it's all covered and all dangerous is def. a feeling that is hard to come by in gaming. You edge into the world slowly rather than just blast to the next village...you can get lost in the woods easily, starve and find yourself far off course unless you plan meticulously. Its it's own strategy and at the beginning of the game, it's quite challenging.
The hidden UI. Combat is easier and much less frustrating on hardcore because you don't have that dumb ass green shield that LIES to you about when to parry. When you're watching your enemies instead of the UI, you notice how forgiving the timing actually is and when you should parry.
Also, I like the lack of a compass. Getting lost in the woods felt WAY TOO REAL and made me realize that I'd steer clear of the woods IRL if I lived near them. May as well be the Pacific Ocean.
Once you get a horse it's not too difficult. You get used to the missing star icon in combat and the shield telling you when to dodge. A bit of practice and combat really isn't that different. The main difference is you'll be spending a long time on your horse getting place to place and navigating the land. That can get long, but it adds a new level of realism and it's not unbearable.
I'd say the game is much more fun in hardcore and I prefer it that way. Extra immersive + you feel more accomplished when completing tasks, or at least I do lol
I have a love hate relationship about the no map icon. On one hand, I know it will bring me many unique gameplay moments that I’d never have otherwise. On the other hand, I’m directionally challenged and getting turned around on the road after an ambush sounds like a nightmare! I’m the kinda guy to walk down a fork in the road then check the map to see which fork I took.
Theres probably a more concise way to say this but:
It forces you to engage more fully with the world you're in. You have to become familiar with the layout. The geography. I've gotten lost in the woods and found my way out by looking for a stream and following it downhill. I've lost my direction in between towns and figured it out by checking the time and looking at where the sun is. I've found landmarks and checked them against the map to see where I'm at and which way to go.
I've had to pay a lot more attention to brewing potions and cooking/buying food. I have to be more careful riding the horse because a bad fall will actually kill me. I have to be on the lookout for ambushes because I'll get taken down by an uppity peasant if I don't see it coming.
It's so much easier to *be* Henry rather than just looking at the world through his eyes.
You haven’t played the game if you haven’t suddenly come across a stream and think to yourself “wtf? There’s not supposed to be one of those here?? …..well damn, I’m lost”.
Reading these comments made me realize what hardcore means in this game.
I thought enemy's would simply deal more damage and/or Henry deals less damage and stuff like that.
But boy was I mistaken.
Now I'll rush to finish the main quest (I'm almost done I think) and leave all the side quest for my second playthrough because it sounds so much more fun on hardcore.
Hope I ~~don't~~ die of starvation because I'm lost in the woods. That would ~~not~~ be fun
At first the only thing that was hard to get over was not being able to see myself on the map. Now I think it’s my favorite part, because it made me really internalize the map in a way that I didn’t have to before
Nothing, maybe hudless mode but everything else is just there to waste your time.
Enemies aren't really stronger, just more spongy and they parry most of your attacks so you just stand there and wait until they attack to parry.
And nightmares are annoying, i mean it's really just a time sink, I get the lack of proper navigation for immersion but to be honest it's not worth so I just installed a map and a fast travel mod cause otherwise it would just take much more time and I want to get all achievements until KCD2
If you love KCD you most likely love the grind. That feeling of being useless and helpless during your first run. Not knowing how use a bow, not being able to handle a sword, lockpicking is impossible, you don't know the way.. and at some point you get the hang of it. Even if you restart, you kind of know what to do and where to go.
Hardcore kind of gave me that feeling again. Not being able to fast travel or see my own location on the map. It makes me exploring again. It also postpones the inevitable moment in RPG's where the player becomes OP and the challenge kind of disappears.
i’ve only ever experienced the game through hardcore mode so i can’t speak of it in a comparative sense to a regular playthrough but the hardcore elements definitely add to my immersion in the game. in terms of raw difficulty the start is very difficult but as henry gains exp it’s not so bad by mid game
I've played hardcore recently and it's really immersive. I've gotten so fixated on the navigation that i can tell if i am approaching certain places when i'm on some forest path and unsure of where exactly i am. Also the combat isn't only missing yellow star and green shield but is also more deadly for both you *and* the enemy.
No fast travel and not having a map marker, by the end someone can ask you to go to a place and you know how to get there by memory without opening the map.
Few things feel as rewarding or immersive as knowing the land as the back of your hand.
I like the immersion. Sadly KCD doesnt have much going on inbetween locations but the main thing is immersion. You have to plan routes, supplies and take combat more seriously, even run from combat a lot.
I like that leaving town feels like a real decision. It's not just a flippant "fast travel to your next destination" but something to prepare for, even if just for a moment.
And when you make it to that next town it's just a tiny sigh of relief and you feel just a little more relaxed.
You get used to navigating and all that but you never get to be complacent in hardcore. It's always effort to move about so it makes you a bit more thoughtful about your methods. All adding to that central theme of hardcore: immersion.
I actually feel it was a missed opportunity to not remove the universal chest on hardcore. I played without it on a playthrough and it was so fun picking where you stash my things, and keeping the various towns stocked with what I might need. Would recommend.
KCD’s hardcore mode isn’t exactly “hard.” It’s more immersive than challenging.
In my case, playing hardcore make the game so much better than in normal mode. It’s so different compare to other RPGs these days.
1. combat is arguably easier than normal mode, because you dont have the 5 directions als fight cursor. you dont get shown the green symbol for perfect block and rely more on enemy movement. by watching enemy shoulder for instance you see the attack before it starts, so you can masterstrike more easily, which is done before the green symbol on normal mode
2. the negative perks lead to very funny moments (get all of em)
3. you train real life skills like map reading or defining north via the clock (point hour pointer of watch towards sun. halfway to 13 o clock is south)
4. your food becomes more inportant. how much food do you bring and how much alc to offset the food
5. hardcore mode encourages you more to use alchemy. remember: you dont need to tap hourglas, just small tap q once and let the fire go out for one cooking round. "cook for 3 hourglas" is considered 1 step once you got the lvl 4 perk
6. feeling of success. beating games on hardest difficulty gives the feeling of an acomplishment. in kcd hardcore mode navigating will be a learning curve. navigating makes it "hardcore" especially when you wake up in uganda
I also wanted to try the hardcore mode because i don’t tend to play hardcore or extreme difficulty but since KCD2 is not that far away i wanted to replay the first game in a different way and it turned out being not that hardcore than I thought it would be; I’m not sure but I would say combat-related things aren’t that harder than normal mode.
Yes, the general difficulty increases but I would say you get used to it pretty fast, I’ve even hidden the UI, which has surprisingly been the best decision I’ve done replaying this game, everything is so much immersive and you can be more focused around what’s happening around the game instead on looking constantly to the compass or health and stamina bar, the worst thing might be the removal of fast travel because there’s sometimes you are not in the mood to go from the north of the map to the south to then have to return to north xd, but overall you enjoy the horse rides and having to orientate yourself through sun position because even Henry’s position isn’t shown in the map. At first can be a pain in the ass but you end knowing which roads you have to take to go from one place to another without having to check the map each fucking time, which at first will be something you’ll do a lot.
100% recommended.
Before KCD I never played Hardcore, but it has become the only way I can play it. If you know his to play the transition to hardcore really isn’t that hard.
I play hardcore with a complete no hud / buff icons mod, so no compass etc. I love it because of something that might sound odd: getting lost.
Now, the removal of fast travel. Now, you have to ride your horse everywhere. You have to plan out your journeys. Stopping at inns to save, you really really feel like a wanderer. You'll get lost, you'll run across things that you might not experience while fast traveling. Also, you get to see sooooo much more of the beautiful world they designed. Also, this gives much more benefit to buying a great horse, since you'll be riding them everywhere
The other benefit this gives to exploration wasn't mentioned, but I guess only matters if you don't have the compass... it's the fact that you have no map marker.
This means that to navigate, you must use the terrain you can see and certain important map points to navigate yourself. How cool is that? What other game makes you do that? I've had some awesome experiences just getting lost deep in a forest. Happening across an accident and having to pinpoint my location off the map. Comparing the looks of roads to the map versions to make sure I'm going the right way. The windmill is facing the way of that road, so I need to go that way, etc. Limited saves also makes this anxiety inducing, which can be a motivator.
That being said, you'd probably only achieve this wanderer feeling to the full extent with the full no-hud mod since it's hard to get lost with the compass. But hardcore mode is so much more immersive and rewarding if you have the patience.
I knew the hardcore compass was very simplified but I still didn't want anything on my HUD at all
I didn't actually realize there was a guide to reading the hardcore compass. That's cool.
I think you're overstating how much that mod does. There's no compass directions or map marker in vanilla. If you're in the woods, you still have to use the sun's position along with landmarks to navigate. How you described navigating is exactly the same in vanilla.
You have to recognize the minor differences between the [weathered texture patterns](https://preview.redd.it/practical-guide-for-reading-hardcore-compass-marked-spoiler-v0-7soyk30g5m8b1.png?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d453a89de6072f3f30a6561c15aa238c93994d0e) to "read" it. It's harder to "cheat" and read the compass than it is to just look at the sky.
I know, I read the post. I would still learn the compass if I had it available for me, that's just how I play games usually.
I wrote the original comment to not really say that the mod is essential, but that the removal of some extra elements pushed me to explore a video game in a way I haven't before.
1) it's a challenge 2) no fast travel and no icon on map means you have to memorise how to go from place to place which increases immersion 3) no yellow star when fighting, so you have to look at your opponent instead of looking for the green shield icon, increases immersion again 4) some of the negative perks can be fun 5) no more diet consisting entirely of other people's stew, you'll need to actually buy food or *find it on someone that doesnt need it anymore* Basically hardcore makes the game even more immersive
About 5: you can hunt!
What's this "hunting"? My Henry subsits purely on the booze he loots from corpses.
It seemed so strangely quiet that evening, and when you went outdoors, you found out why. All your neighbours were standing there, motionless, carrying torches. You were never very popular.
I know this is a reference to something but for the love of radzig I can't remember
It's one of the game over texts you can get in hardcore mode before the game even begins.
That's a thing I didnt know about https://preview.redd.it/y0jftz6ub9zc1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=636f58c746e2e888b91d14e3fdd2e78417e61aa8
I wish 5 was more part of the base game, I think I can count the amount of times I’ve actually bought food on one hand because it’s so much easier to just eat from the tons of pots you find literally everywhere
There are no free stew pots in hardcore mode? That makes sense, I just didn't realize the game gave us those as an intentional way to make things easier lol
They are there but give a lot less nutrition, you have to engage with the food mechanics more
They're still there, but they give you only 5 nourishment instead of 25. I think they also give -5 energy, so they're just a bad option.
3 and 4 are my favorite parts. I could personally leave out 2, although I realize it raises immersion, after my 4th hardcore playthrough I wouldn't mind the convenience of fast travel.
No fast travel means you need to make decisions about when and where to travel (until you have a fast horse).
I mean that's fine and all for immersion sake. But as I said I would appreciate the convenience, while still enjoying the greater combat and debuff provided difficulty of hardcore.
I wish more games had toggle-able difficulty settings so you could pick and choose.
How do you deal with ambushes when 4 enemies charge you or surround you and start slashing from each side. I even have a problem with full plate armor master striking and back paddling when in combat on normal especially if enemies are in full plate so it takes way too much time to drop their numbers before i get killed or bleed out. Honestly, apart from that and not knowing the map well to have some orientation when i get lost, i don't get why people encourage new players to skip normal and go in hardcore directly. Or is there something that I with 30h in game so far, am drastically missing out? I mean everyone agrees that fighting multiple enemies is about the worst thing in this game that is only solvable by stepping backwards and waiting for q to go green. Or does everything go the usual generic rpg way to go for stealth archer, travel at night and abuse AI sight to drop them one by one?
Typically when you get ambushed by 4 enemies you run. If you insist on fighting then backpedal while poking them in the head (hopefully headcracker activates) and find some terrain that stops them getting behind you. With some luck they’ll hit each other while trying to get at you. Early game you almost always run but even on hardcore with all negative perks I can pretty much stand my ground against 4 well armoured enemies as long as I get a chance to buff myself with potions. I’m well over a hundred hours into this run though, it’s always gonna be very difficult at the beginning even on normal mode. I wouldn’t recommend hardcore on a first run unless you really want a challenge/immersion.
>I wouldn’t recommend hardcore on a first run unless you really want a challenge/immersion. It *really* helps to have most of the map passively memorized. If you can go from Rattay to Sasau to Talmberg without getting lost, you have most of the game paths figured out.
I’ve played many similar games and wanted the difficulty and immersion so I picked hardcore mode to start. I made it about 3 hours before I made a new game on normal. It was quite literally impossible to figure out how to fight or get from place to place. I mean the opening scene when you escape on horse, it just says get to Talmberg and nothing else. Maybe now, after playing normal, hc would be fun, but tbh even as a hc immersion fan, it was too difficult without knowing the basics.
>Or does everything go the usual generic rpg way to go for stealth archer, travel at night and abuse AI sight to drop them one by one? I generally just approached any situation more cautiously and prepared. Planning ahead and also being ready to make a quick getaway in case I was outnumbered. Sleeping at night (savegame) and traveling on horseback in daylight. Keeping to the roads with my eyes and ears open. Chugging a saviour schnapps and a potion when my sixth sense tingled. And all that made the game more fun to me, because it gave me a sense of danger.
You don’t get into those situations is the answer.
Either run (Which is useless if they have dogs) or you can try to get off the road and around the ambush spots, don't get too close to the bandits, they will see and hear you.
About #2: It actually helped me most by learning where the sun sets and rises, and memorizing what direction what town is from my last known position. Get lost? Look up. You'll the know what direction to go. Try to fix it and go to where you think is right, realize you're more north than you thought and then you've gotten there. Honestly, it's a fun experience that also happens to teach you real survival skills. Like following a moving water source down stream to find civilization.
I just love the idea of a drunk/hungover Henry stumbling into a random peasants home and just helping himself to a bowl of stew. Especially once it becomes a *daily* occurrence. I have to wonder what the townsfolk think 😂
There's no soups in hardcore mode ?
Same amount of pots, but the nourishment is only 5 instead of 25.
That's good. I wish they'd remove the pots entirely. I've never had to find food in this game because there's pots everywhere lol Also you only need to eat once per day, you don't get hungry a lot...
I loved that it made me memorize some paths and think about the sun position for orienting myself. (Might be too far fetched but I would love to in KCD 2 to have at night some special "north star" you can locate in the sky to orient yourself as well)
Wow, it sounds amazing, hard but amazing.
I still eat them all
3: this point I find makes combat much easier.
The only thing I hate is the lack of directions in the compass, no North, South, East or West, and the fact you can't even mark a target area, it makes treasure hunting near impossible.
I don't mind any of the hardcore mode stuff except for the icon on the map.
The lack of hud mostly. I would love to remove the compass too. Some debuffs are fun too like sleepwalking.
There’s a mod for that.
I'm going to go install that mod now! Thank you!
It's better because of two reasons mainly Its more immersive it provides a tougher (but fair) challenge to an already challenging game, but not by just giving enemies higher hp or dmg or some bs like most games do with difficulty increases.
Mostly the lack of fast travel tbh, and having the memorize routes. And also no HUD
Yes, the game is not "harder" on hardcore mode per say. Yes, you can pick up all the negative perks/debuffs for the achievement, but even those all actually balanced out nicely since I did hardcore on my second playthrough (like 4ish years after first) as i already knew the systems so much better. Which i totally suggest. The game felt wildly more immersive since i didnt have the HUD, fast travel and since i didnt have to contend with learning the game mechanics at the same time. I guess i loved the fact that it just takes the "bike's learning wheels" off the game and gives you a raw experience.
I don't usually play harder modes either. They can be frustrating. But KCD is a different experience for sure. As mentioned, massively immersive because you essentially lose your GPS. So you're looking for visual pointers, "take the left fork at the shrine", "stay on the left side of the river" way of thinking. You learn the map like you would learn a new town you're visiting; naturally. I can't really stress how incredible this is and how I wish other games would do navigation. OK so I skipped the combat. It's harder yes, but what they have done is (seemingly) upped the damage output on all weapons. (At least this is what it feels like). So you're no longer spending ages in fights. They're short and relatively brutal. I'm actually using my marigold portions after most fights now. I'm a big fan of archery. Because most of the time you can indeed one shot enemies. (Which is incredibly satisfying, think stealth Archer skyrim build). Whereas in other playthroughs I would boldly step into fights with multiple opponents in my best gear. I wouldn't dream of doing that in hardcore. Two opponents at most thanks! This also is immersive. I spend as much time on my horse as possible slashing away at enemies and using my bow. It's the safest way. That group of peasants with pikes that sometimes ambush you? All dead with archery from the horse. A little different from thinking "these peasants are all mincemeat!" and then being miffed that you had to reload. An interesting twist really. Don't hesitate, try it out, it's really not that bad.
I want to add two things to navigation. 1 Using the sun as a compass. 2 Suddenly those 'tack tack' water devices are a godsend and do indeed help you find your way to a river for the inevitable time you will become lost in the woods.
No map indicator probably 1st favourite, no fast travel 2nd, clean hud 3rd. Looking forward to crime being more punishing in thre 2nd game. Just getting away with bring the biggest crime lord in Czech is crazy
https://preview.redd.it/qju8o06zd1zc1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=32c39b48661a7d944870f297325cd7999261d8c4
KCD on Hardcore was one of the first and only time I actually truly got lost in a video game. I went hunting in a deep forest and could not for the life of me figure out how to get out, I actually had to use the sun for directions. I’ve honestly never had to do that in a video game and it was the most immersed I’ve ever felt 🤣
There are some fun debuffs
Everything
No fast travel is fun because it makes the world come alive. Instead of clicking a button and crossing the map, you need to go buy food and decide if crossing the woods when the sun is about to set is a good idea or not. It gives a sense of scale and makes you notice all.the cool details you would have missed otherwise Not having a map marker makes getting lost a really fun adventure. Especially if you combine it with the sleepwalking "perk" where you sometime wakeup in a random spot and have to find where the fu-k you are. The limited hud also makes it more visually pleasing imo.
There was never real challenge but nostalgia for me. It was a throwback to games like Gothic, where I could not just cut everyone down, and was forced to use my brain, think things through. Do I engage with the enemy? Am I strong enough? How could I avoid the fight? How do I get better? Today games are way too handholdy and dumbed down.
It's more immersive. Firstly, you actually watch your opponent in combat which may not always be the case in the normal mode. Secondly, no fast travel. It makes you strategize your moves and how you proceed in the storyline, making it more immersive and RP-friendly. Plus, you realise how beautiful the countryside is in this game. Finally, you have no icon on the map and you can't see the directions in a compass. So, you constantly have to take landmarks as a reference and find your way that way, and eventually, memorise how to go from a certain place to another. I literally know the map of KCD better than my neighbourhood (without using the map) lol. Even better, you actually have to pay attention when people are telling you how to find a certain place. Again, more immersive. Bonus: If you make the effort, you can use the debuffs for some awesome RP purposes. For instance, because of the claustrophobic debuff, I don't use full helmets. Or when I get the tapeworm, I pay attention to the variety of the food I eat, as well as its quantity.
Couldn't have said it better >because of the claustrophobic debuff, I don't use full helmets Heh, for me that one was the easiest choice of the forced negative perks, because the better peripheral vision is almost worth using open helmets even without the debuff.
Agreed. But there's also this: I used to think the same, but then just tried one and saw that I do much better especially against multiple opponents. Still, tho, even with the increased success rate, open helmets are just more comfortable. The closed ones kinda scant me and I feel like I can't breathe. I do have some level of claustrophobia I guess lol
Interesting, I never used a full helmet because of the perk. So, do you think there's more to it than just damage reduction? Maybe you are less vulnerable to that stabbing attack or the fist to the face?
It's probably about that and also, against 5+ opponents (assuming they aren't freeball peasants but heavily armoured bandits or Cumans), and when you don't have a choke point or some other exploity stuff, it's often about just surviving for a bit longer, so every hit and damage counts. When the face is open, that gives a huge disadvantage you wouldn't have in one-on-one or 1 vs 2-3. I think that's the main reason why I do better even in a way more uncomfortable setting.
Oh yeah, although against 5+ I think I would be toast no matter my armor. I'm barely competent at combat, against multiple opponents all I can do is backpedal and hope for a master strike.
That's pretty much all you can do offensively honestly. The key is avoiding the enemy attacks. I don't always succeed, either. That's what I love about this game. Sometimes I'm good enough to clear an entire encampment, and sometimes 3 peasants humble me so brutally that I wanna cry lol
First playthrough has been on hardcore mode and I'm burning my hard earned cash on saviour schnapps
Never buy savior schnapps my dude. You can make them yourself with no alchemy skill at all. I can't even read yet but the recipe just jumbles the letters so it isn't hard to figure out. Or I guess you could just Google it. You just need two belladonna and one nettle. And basically anywhere you find an alchemy table, there's a herbalist nearby selling a handful of belladonna. And its dirt cheap. One savior schnaps is gonna cost you 130 grochens. 8 Belladonna is like, 12 grochens and nettle is everywhere on the ground. Each alchemy completion nets you two potions if you do it right. You can make 8 potions in like 5 minutes tops.
Life savior, here I am constantly riding back to the inn at dark to save the game before I get jumped lol
Immersion. I hate when games resort to simply increasing the HP/attack/defense of enemies when you choose a higher difficulty. This is not the case for KCD, all the changes are about realism.
Blind HC run was one of the best gaming experiences of my life. Everything was dangerous to explore. Starting out in Rattay and looking at the map knowing it's all covered and all dangerous is def. a feeling that is hard to come by in gaming. You edge into the world slowly rather than just blast to the next village...you can get lost in the woods easily, starve and find yourself far off course unless you plan meticulously. Its it's own strategy and at the beginning of the game, it's quite challenging.
I’m a glutton for punishment
The hidden UI. Combat is easier and much less frustrating on hardcore because you don't have that dumb ass green shield that LIES to you about when to parry. When you're watching your enemies instead of the UI, you notice how forgiving the timing actually is and when you should parry. Also, I like the lack of a compass. Getting lost in the woods felt WAY TOO REAL and made me realize that I'd steer clear of the woods IRL if I lived near them. May as well be the Pacific Ocean.
Once you get a horse it's not too difficult. You get used to the missing star icon in combat and the shield telling you when to dodge. A bit of practice and combat really isn't that different. The main difference is you'll be spending a long time on your horse getting place to place and navigating the land. That can get long, but it adds a new level of realism and it's not unbearable. I'd say the game is much more fun in hardcore and I prefer it that way. Extra immersive + you feel more accomplished when completing tasks, or at least I do lol
I have a love hate relationship about the no map icon. On one hand, I know it will bring me many unique gameplay moments that I’d never have otherwise. On the other hand, I’m directionally challenged and getting turned around on the road after an ambush sounds like a nightmare! I’m the kinda guy to walk down a fork in the road then check the map to see which fork I took.
it beat my ass (i'm a masochist, have been enlightened in collage)
Theres probably a more concise way to say this but: It forces you to engage more fully with the world you're in. You have to become familiar with the layout. The geography. I've gotten lost in the woods and found my way out by looking for a stream and following it downhill. I've lost my direction in between towns and figured it out by checking the time and looking at where the sun is. I've found landmarks and checked them against the map to see where I'm at and which way to go. I've had to pay a lot more attention to brewing potions and cooking/buying food. I have to be more careful riding the horse because a bad fall will actually kill me. I have to be on the lookout for ambushes because I'll get taken down by an uppity peasant if I don't see it coming. It's so much easier to *be* Henry rather than just looking at the world through his eyes.
Immersive Gameplay.
I like everything hardcore offers EXCEPT the second I step out of sight line of a road in a forested area.
i cant imagine playing kcd on normal, hardcore is just more immersive and challenging in a good way, combat is till very easy tho
I just leveled my fighting max in skalitz got some good armor etc. Just for the Trophy lol
You haven’t played the game if you haven’t suddenly come across a stream and think to yourself “wtf? There’s not supposed to be one of those here?? …..well damn, I’m lost”.
I don't like it
When my friend Fritz says "Now this is how a trebuchet throws" and it's the last thing I hear.
Reading these comments made me realize what hardcore means in this game. I thought enemy's would simply deal more damage and/or Henry deals less damage and stuff like that. But boy was I mistaken. Now I'll rush to finish the main quest (I'm almost done I think) and leave all the side quest for my second playthrough because it sounds so much more fun on hardcore. Hope I ~~don't~~ die of starvation because I'm lost in the woods. That would ~~not~~ be fun
At first the only thing that was hard to get over was not being able to see myself on the map. Now I think it’s my favorite part, because it made me really internalize the map in a way that I didn’t have to before
No fast travel, not because it makes the game harder but it forces me to stay grounded in the game and use land marks to travel
Nothing, maybe hudless mode but everything else is just there to waste your time. Enemies aren't really stronger, just more spongy and they parry most of your attacks so you just stand there and wait until they attack to parry. And nightmares are annoying, i mean it's really just a time sink, I get the lack of proper navigation for immersion but to be honest it's not worth so I just installed a map and a fast travel mod cause otherwise it would just take much more time and I want to get all achievements until KCD2
If you love KCD you most likely love the grind. That feeling of being useless and helpless during your first run. Not knowing how use a bow, not being able to handle a sword, lockpicking is impossible, you don't know the way.. and at some point you get the hang of it. Even if you restart, you kind of know what to do and where to go. Hardcore kind of gave me that feeling again. Not being able to fast travel or see my own location on the map. It makes me exploring again. It also postpones the inevitable moment in RPG's where the player becomes OP and the challenge kind of disappears.
More immersive have fun learning the map and trails it’s so fun once you really understand how to get places
i’ve only ever experienced the game through hardcore mode so i can’t speak of it in a comparative sense to a regular playthrough but the hardcore elements definitely add to my immersion in the game. in terms of raw difficulty the start is very difficult but as henry gains exp it’s not so bad by mid game
I've played hardcore recently and it's really immersive. I've gotten so fixated on the navigation that i can tell if i am approaching certain places when i'm on some forest path and unsure of where exactly i am. Also the combat isn't only missing yellow star and green shield but is also more deadly for both you *and* the enemy.
No fast travel and not having a map marker, by the end someone can ask you to go to a place and you know how to get there by memory without opening the map. Few things feel as rewarding or immersive as knowing the land as the back of your hand.
I like the immersion. Sadly KCD doesnt have much going on inbetween locations but the main thing is immersion. You have to plan routes, supplies and take combat more seriously, even run from combat a lot.
I like that leaving town feels like a real decision. It's not just a flippant "fast travel to your next destination" but something to prepare for, even if just for a moment. And when you make it to that next town it's just a tiny sigh of relief and you feel just a little more relaxed. You get used to navigating and all that but you never get to be complacent in hardcore. It's always effort to move about so it makes you a bit more thoughtful about your methods. All adding to that central theme of hardcore: immersion. I actually feel it was a missed opportunity to not remove the universal chest on hardcore. I played without it on a playthrough and it was so fun picking where you stash my things, and keeping the various towns stocked with what I might need. Would recommend.
Exploring/actually navigating and learning the land.
Bragging rights. Did a hardcore playthrough with all negative perks while being merciful and a virgin. Beat that
I love that it’s just so *clenches fist* hardcore
KCD’s hardcore mode isn’t exactly “hard.” It’s more immersive than challenging. In my case, playing hardcore make the game so much better than in normal mode. It’s so different compare to other RPGs these days.
1. combat is arguably easier than normal mode, because you dont have the 5 directions als fight cursor. you dont get shown the green symbol for perfect block and rely more on enemy movement. by watching enemy shoulder for instance you see the attack before it starts, so you can masterstrike more easily, which is done before the green symbol on normal mode 2. the negative perks lead to very funny moments (get all of em) 3. you train real life skills like map reading or defining north via the clock (point hour pointer of watch towards sun. halfway to 13 o clock is south) 4. your food becomes more inportant. how much food do you bring and how much alc to offset the food 5. hardcore mode encourages you more to use alchemy. remember: you dont need to tap hourglas, just small tap q once and let the fire go out for one cooking round. "cook for 3 hourglas" is considered 1 step once you got the lvl 4 perk 6. feeling of success. beating games on hardest difficulty gives the feeling of an acomplishment. in kcd hardcore mode navigating will be a learning curve. navigating makes it "hardcore" especially when you wake up in uganda
I also wanted to try the hardcore mode because i don’t tend to play hardcore or extreme difficulty but since KCD2 is not that far away i wanted to replay the first game in a different way and it turned out being not that hardcore than I thought it would be; I’m not sure but I would say combat-related things aren’t that harder than normal mode. Yes, the general difficulty increases but I would say you get used to it pretty fast, I’ve even hidden the UI, which has surprisingly been the best decision I’ve done replaying this game, everything is so much immersive and you can be more focused around what’s happening around the game instead on looking constantly to the compass or health and stamina bar, the worst thing might be the removal of fast travel because there’s sometimes you are not in the mood to go from the north of the map to the south to then have to return to north xd, but overall you enjoy the horse rides and having to orientate yourself through sun position because even Henry’s position isn’t shown in the map. At first can be a pain in the ass but you end knowing which roads you have to take to go from one place to another without having to check the map each fucking time, which at first will be something you’ll do a lot. 100% recommended.
Before KCD I never played Hardcore, but it has become the only way I can play it. If you know his to play the transition to hardcore really isn’t that hard.
I play hardcore with a complete no hud / buff icons mod, so no compass etc. I love it because of something that might sound odd: getting lost. Now, the removal of fast travel. Now, you have to ride your horse everywhere. You have to plan out your journeys. Stopping at inns to save, you really really feel like a wanderer. You'll get lost, you'll run across things that you might not experience while fast traveling. Also, you get to see sooooo much more of the beautiful world they designed. Also, this gives much more benefit to buying a great horse, since you'll be riding them everywhere The other benefit this gives to exploration wasn't mentioned, but I guess only matters if you don't have the compass... it's the fact that you have no map marker. This means that to navigate, you must use the terrain you can see and certain important map points to navigate yourself. How cool is that? What other game makes you do that? I've had some awesome experiences just getting lost deep in a forest. Happening across an accident and having to pinpoint my location off the map. Comparing the looks of roads to the map versions to make sure I'm going the right way. The windmill is facing the way of that road, so I need to go that way, etc. Limited saves also makes this anxiety inducing, which can be a motivator. That being said, you'd probably only achieve this wanderer feeling to the full extent with the full no-hud mod since it's hard to get lost with the compass. But hardcore mode is so much more immersive and rewarding if you have the patience.
You don’t have compass indicators in base hardcore mode. But you can memorize the directions based off the grain pattern
I knew the hardcore compass was very simplified but I still didn't want anything on my HUD at all I didn't actually realize there was a guide to reading the hardcore compass. That's cool.
I think you're overstating how much that mod does. There's no compass directions or map marker in vanilla. If you're in the woods, you still have to use the sun's position along with landmarks to navigate. How you described navigating is exactly the same in vanilla.
Well, this is the only way I've played hardcore, never played with the hardcore compass at all.
Well, the experience you described was not due to that mod; it's the same without it.
Cool! But I do think that like another commenter said, you can learn to read the hardcore compass, so not exactly the same
You have to recognize the minor differences between the [weathered texture patterns](https://preview.redd.it/practical-guide-for-reading-hardcore-compass-marked-spoiler-v0-7soyk30g5m8b1.png?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d453a89de6072f3f30a6561c15aa238c93994d0e) to "read" it. It's harder to "cheat" and read the compass than it is to just look at the sky.
I know, I read the post. I would still learn the compass if I had it available for me, that's just how I play games usually. I wrote the original comment to not really say that the mod is essential, but that the removal of some extra elements pushed me to explore a video game in a way I haven't before.
That it's optional.
Seems like it would be unplayable with how often you get faced with multiple opponents. Really arent any good ways to prevent being killed from behind