Current Events > What are some games out there that have amazing 'Hard Modes'

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm talking they change the way the game plays for the better and manages to remain difficult but fair, familiar but refreshing

Shantae: HGH had a difficult mode that I thought was just right. A little 'fuck you' in the beginning but evens itself out to be a fair and good challenge.

Ocarina of Time Master Quest changed all dungeons

FFVII Remake. Not only do bosses get a few new attacks and behaviors but the simple restriction of not being able to use items changes the way you play the game, making it so that MP is a valuable resource that you have to weigh if it's worth using on healing or using spells.

Weirdly enough, Kingdom Hearts has a pretty good track record. KH2's critical mode makes you take double damage, but you deal 1.5x damage. You start with 50 ability points (usually start with two) and access to a half dozen abilities you usually don't get until later. And there's a seventh ability that turns off experience gain, so there are people who beat the entire on max difficulty at level one.

RE7's Madhouse difficulty does more than just up the damage. Enemies are also faster, notably Jack who in normal mode cannot catch up to your running speed but can in Madhouse. It brings back the ink ribbon mechanic from older RE games, so you have limited saves. It rearranges enemies and items from the normal difficulty. And it increases the Antique Coin collectibes, but it also locks a bunch of new items behind Coin paywalls.

Timesplitters 2

Slice & Dice

I like the ascension system from slay the spire where you ramp up the difficulty by adding more and more modifiers to how the game runs.

It's not what I'd call amazing, but I really like that hard mode in the Arkham games removes counter prompts. You have to actually watch enemy movements and it's really fun.

PMarth2002 posted...

I like the ascension system from slay the spire where you ramp up the difficulty by adding more and more modifiers to how the game runs.

Hades (and I would assume Hades 2) has that same mechanic. You can turn on and off modifiers like "Traps deal 500% more damage."

I never played the mode for REmake1 but an invisible Forest as a crimson head zombie chasing you around the whole entire game sounds terrifying, and he wears a vest full of explosives so if you shoot him it's game over. Anyone ever played it and finished it?

Dying Light 2 if you have skills maxed out.

modena posted...

Dying Light 2 if you have skills maxed out.

I need to get this game. I loved part 1, gotta try part 2.

VeggetaX posted...

I need to get this game. I loved part 1, gotta try part 2.

The updates fixed a lot of issues, but my only gripe is with Xbox one updates they make me re-download the game as well.

Outstanding with good friends too.

pegusus123456 posted...

Hades (and I would assume Hades 2) has that same mechanic. You can turn on and off modifiers like "Traps deal 500% more damage."

Yeah, a lot of rogue-likes/rogue-lites use a similar idea. I think its generally better than the very easy to very hard you see most often