Summary

  • Mods are making Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Hardcore Mode even more punishing.
  • Players are starting Hardcore Mode with all negative perks or just 1 HP.
  • Extreme players can combine 1 HP, all negative perks, and permanent death mods for the ultimate challenge.

Last week, Warhorse Studios added 'Hardcore Mode' to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. This mode stripped the game back to its basics, simplifying the UI by removing the on-screen compass, doing away with fast travel, and introducing a handful of mandatory negative perks.

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While some players have humbly admitted that the mode kicked their backside, it seems others are gluttons for punishment. With only a week passing since its release, these masochists are already finding ways to make Hardcore Mode just a little bit more hardcore.

Hardcore Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Players Are Making Hardcore Mode More Hardcore

Since its release, a selection of mods have begun to appear on Nexus Mods. These mods serve no purpose outside of making Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Hardcore Mode more punishing.

This new mode introduces a bunch of negative perks, of which players must choose three. There's the 'Bad Back' perk, which lowers carrying capacity by 50 percent, the 'Numbskull' one, which lowers experience gain by 40 percent, and 'Sweaty', which makes your clothes get dirty 50 percent faster, and people can smell you from twice as far away, to name a few. These perks have nothing but pretty severe negative consequences in the game.

Not content with just how brutally damaging these perks can be, one player has created and uploaded a mod titled "HARDCORE WITH ALL NEGATIVE PERKS AT THE START OF THE GAME". It, as you might expect, makes you start your Hardcore Mode run with each of the ten negative perks activated, making things frustratingly more difficult. And the full capitalization of the mod name really serves to let players know what they're getting into.

A second mod takes things a step further, though.

The 'Hardcore HP - 1 Percent' mod locks Henry into having just one HP for the entirety of the game. Falling off a slightly-too-high ledge? RIP lad. A little spot of food poisoning? It was good knowing you, Henry. Take a punch in a little bar scuffle? Yeah, it's over.

One HP is devastating, and this mod means you can't afford to put a foot wrong throughout your whole playthrough.

If, and it's a big if, you're an ultra-masochist, you can make things even more difficult with the 'Permanent Death' mod. This mod is another that does exactly what it says on the tin. You die, you lose ALL of your progress, and when combined with the other two, it makes for the ultimate hardcore Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 playthrough.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Like Follow Followed RPG Action-Adventure Open-World Systems OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 89/100 Critics Rec: 95% Released February 4, 2025 ESRB Mature 17+ / Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity Developer(s) Warhorse Studios Publisher(s) Deep Silver 12 Images Close
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Engine CryEngine Genre(s) RPG, Action-Adventure, Open-World Powered by Expand Collapse