Experienced gamers are often looking for ways to increase difficulty while also changing the game other than varying health pools and damage numbers. Certain difficulty modes offer a way to both increase the difficulty while finding some way to change the game that adds to the immersion and storytelling while blending into existing mechanics.
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While the appeal of open-world games is being able to explore a diverse world and build up your character to face increasingly difficult challenges, near the end of the adventure the gameplay can start to feel stale. With these difficulty options, open-world games can feel like a truly immersive experience with new ways to play from beginning to end.
7Fallout 4
One of the most overlooked item groups inFallout 4is food and drink items which are usually only used as an emergency health boost. If you want to reshape how you view and play Fallout, Consider playing in Survival mode to create a true post-apocalyptic experience.
Survival mode reshapes the game by making combat more difficult while having resources become harder to find. You also won’t be able to save your game until you sleep in a bed. Fast travel is also disabled, and you will have to trek the Commonwealth to reach your destination. Finally, you have to eat food and drink water to survive, but since most sources are either irradiated or contaminated, you’ll likely get sick doing so, which forces you to prioritize finding clean sources.
6Kingdom Come: Deliverance
One of the most realistic medieval period games with a focus on starting as a simple blacksmith’s apprentice who must learn many new skills to survive,Kingdom Come: Deliverancecan be one of the most rewarding role-playing experiences. While thebeginning of the gameis difficult no matter what mode you play on, Hardcore mode ensures you will get a truly challenging and immersive game.
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Like Fallout 4, saving becomes more difficult as autosave has been turned off, forcing you to find rest in a bed or use a limited Saviour Schnapps. Fast travel is also erased, and your icon on the map doesn’t appear, forcing you to rely on your sense of direction and environmental clues.
As a further immersive element, the compass and hit direction HUD elements are also removed, where you must rely on visual weapon stances and your intuition in combat.
5The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Arriving in the form ofThe Master Trials DLC, Master Mode forZelda: Breath of the Wildis the only other difficulty option available. This mode is perfect for long-time fans and those who have replayed Breath of the Wild hundreds of times and need something that will truly provide a unique challenge.
While making enemies more difficult, sometimes very difficult, by raising their status from red to blue, blue to black, etc., their health will also slowly start to regenerate if you don’t lay on the heat. There are also additional enemies added, such as the white-maned lynel and sky octoroks which can sometimes be holding enemies and even treasure.
All of these changes require you to play smarter and make better use of your environment and resources to survive a Hyrule in calamity.
4Far Cry Primal
One of the more unique additions to the Far Cry series, Far Cry Primal puts you in the loincloth of a paleolithic hunter. While containing similar gameplay and even humor from other titles in the series, Primal includes Survivor mode, which turns this into one of the most unique Far Cry games available.
Survival mode removes the minimap and makes exploration more difficult with dangerous nights and adds a stamina bar that depletes the longer you go without food or sleep. These changes make Primal into an immersive, caveman simulator that is the recommended option for getting the most out of the game.
Because animals will also not respawn after they are hunted, you will have to manage your dwindling resources efficiently.
3The Outer Worlds
Containing plenty of humor and action-packed space exploration,The Outer Worldsis one of the hidden gems that offer endless replay value. While the main draw of The Outer Worlds is in its dynamic storytelling, the Supernova difficulty setting makes it an all-around home run.
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Supernova adds survival elements like requiring food, drink, and sleep to survive while ensuring your companion’s deaths are permanent. A unique feature of this difficulty is forcing you to pick character flaws on creation that can range from being partially blind to permanently crippled.
While making the core gameplay vastly more difficult, it aids in creating a role-play experience you don’t get in many games.
2The Last Of Us Part 1
One of the greatest narrative-focused games to ever release, the upgradedThe Last of UsPart 1 was given a much-needed face-lift with updated gameplay and graphics. Among the substantial accessibility and difficulty settings is Grounded mode, which transforms the gameplay into an intense, cinematic experience.
Grounded mode creates the most immersive Last of Us experience possible by removing nearly all the gameplay elements to force you to pay attention to audio and visual clues to progress. It does this by removing the listening mechanic and the HUD while making resources scarce and enemies almost as smart as you, which all work to express the danger within this new world.
1Divinity: Original Sin II
Made by the same studio in charge ofBaldur’s Gate III,Divinity: Original Sin IIis a high fantasy, turn-based, isometric RPG set in a diverse and magical world. While the danger is always around the corner both in the gameplay and story, there are ways to enhance the challenge and keep it from ever feeling dull or easy.
Combined with Tactician mode, which makes enemies more resistant while giving them more action points and a smarter AI, Honour mode raises the stakes by deleting your save file if your entire party parishes. On top of this, Tactician mode also doesn’t allow you to respec your skill points, meaningevery choice is crucial.
This makes you play the game more carefully while considering every angle before launching into an attack and is a much-needed difficulty option for experienced isometric RPG players.
