Red Dead Redemption 2 Player With Hundreds of Hours in the Game Creates Hardcore Mode Ruleset

17.03.2024 - 05:39 / gamerant.com / Red Dead Redemption / Josh Tolentino / Hardcore

A Red Dead Redemption 2 player has come up with a new way to play Rockstar's Wild West game. Their proposed «hardcore mode» rules could allow even veteran Red Dead Redemption 2 players to refresh their sense of challenge and discovery.

Even without the expansive multiplayer options found in Red Dead Online, the single-player portion of Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the largest and longest open-world games to be found on modern platforms. It contains dozens or even hundreds of hours of distinct activities, story missions, and character moments spread out across a massive map approximating the American southwest and parts beyond. Even within the game's distinct structure, there are ways to play it differently, allowing variety throughout multiple playthroughs.

Of course, any game with a substantial community eventually gets a set of «unofficial» rules. Sometimes these are undocumented multiplayer practices, like the unspoken rules of Helldivers 2. In Red Dead Redemption 2's case, user javc13 devised a set of self-imposed rules that they called «Hardcore mode» as a way to inject new challenge and variety into their third playthrough of the game.

Javc13's rules amounted to a drastic stripping back of the level of assistance given to players by the game's systems and interface. These included turning off the in-game minimap, as well as shutting down HUD elements like a targeting reticle, ammo counter, and aim assistance. In addition, javc13 suggested other austerities like limiting the number of upgrades acquired, eschewing fast travel, and donating the majority of Arthur's earnings to the camp. Javc13 even half-jokingly proposed never using external guides, such as where to find Red Dead Redemption 2 dinosaur bones, just to make the game «virtually impossible» to complete.

Fellow players on the subreddit were amused by javc13's proposals, and even added a few of their own to make the game even harder. One suggested never clearing their Red Dead Redemption 2 bounty, to add an element of being hunted constantly by bounty hunters and dogs. Another suggested playing entirely in first-person view, on account of the game being quite a bit more awkward to control compared to dedicated first-person shooters.

Given that Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn't have a specific, officially designed hardcore mode of its own, players have been manipulating the game's settings and, in the case of the PC version, using mods to customize the experience to their own liking. Javc13's rules (and some comments) seem partly devised in jest, but one can't discount some players' desire for a challenging, unforgiving vision of the Wild West that aligns with Red Dead Redemption's own harsh outlook.

RDR2 is a Western-themed action/adventure game