If you fancy playing an RPG as a sleepwalker who can find themself in different places when they wake up, then must find their way navigating by the sun before they starve to death, Kingdom Come: Deliverance now has you covered. Developers Warhorse Studios today patched in a ‘Hardcore Mode’ making the medieval RPG more like a survival game, hiding UI elements like the health bar and compass while making existence tougher. Most interesting to me is Hardcore Mode mandating players pick two negative perks, ranging from a tapeworm to the aforementioned somnambulism.

Oh, and a new trailer gives a look at the upcoming village-building paid DLC.

First, here’s the blurb on hardcore mode:

“The HUD has been significantly altered and simplified. Map navigation and compass have been reworked so that players have to navigate using landmarks. Fast travel is disabled and overall survival (staying fed and rested) is more difficult. Combat is a lot more realistic and fairer to your opponents. There are harsher penalties for using damaged items, so taking regular care of your equipment is a must. And because public health in 1403 is not at its best, your existence will be more troublesome due to the addition of certain permanent ailments that can optionally further scale the level of difficulty as you see fit. Hardcore Mode targets repeat players seeking new challenges, but also new players who would like a more realistic experience.”

Yeah but ‘realism’ can do one.

See today’s patch notes for more details on hardcore’s changes and perks. A claustrophobic haemophiliac who panics and hits softer when their helmet is down but bleeds more when stabbed sounds tough. But mostly I’m interested in sleepwalking giving a small chance to wake up somewhere else – possibly even in a secret area. Dovetails nicely with the navigation changes, that.

God, every time a game adds a hardcore mode, a certain song gets stuck in my head for a few days. You may as well suffer too:



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I assume that’s how players clamouring for hardcore modes see themselves too.

As for Kingdom Come’s first proper DLC, From The Ashes is due to launch some time in July. It will cast as us a bailiff in charge of building and settling a village. Observe:



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Kingdom Come has 30% off in the Steam sale right now. The game is on GOG too, but GOG’s summer sale has passed.