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Fallout veterans will likely be the only people up for the challenge of Fallout: New Vegas‘ Hardcore Mode. As Bethesda’s Jason Bergman explained, “It’s not so much about difficulty as it is making every decision you do and how you play the game much, much more meaningful.” Hardcore Mode forces you to play the game carefully, and it takes away many of the game-y concessions you might be used to:
- ammunition has weight
- you have to eat and sleep every day
- stimpaks heal over time, not instantly
- crippled limbs can only be healed by a doctor or a doctor’s bag (which requires high Science and Medicine skills to use)
- it’s the Nevada desert, so you have to keep yourself hydrated — and since this is a Fallout game, some of the water in the world is irradiated
As you can see, it’s a very “tactical way of playing the game,” one that keeps you on your toes at all times. According to Bergman, about half of the game’s QA testers chose to play through it in Hardcore Mode. Will you join them?
