Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Reveals New Hardcore Mode with Minimal UI and Permanent Negative Perks

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Summary

  • Warhorse Studios gives Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 fans a new look at the upcoming Hardcore mode.
  • The mode will have minimal UI, remove fast travel, and force players to choose 3 of the 10 permanent negative perks.
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2’s Hardcore mode will be released sometime in March.

In a recent livestream, Warhorse Studios, the developers behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, unveiled the long-awaited Hardcore mode. This mode will introduce various challenging elements and alterations in gameplay. It’s important to note that Warhorse Studios has previously mentioned plans for additional content updates and DLC expansions for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. However, this latest deep dive provides fans with a more comprehensive understanding of the game’s post-launch content.

Following a seven-year wait, the long-anticipated sequel to “Kingdom Come: Deliverance,” titled “Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2,” has been unveiled this month. The much-awaited follow-up has had an impressive debut in its initial weeks, garnering a “very positive” review on Steam, a commendable Metacritic score of 88, and boasting over 250,000 simultaneous users on Steam alone. In addition, developer Warhorse Studios announced that “Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2” has surpassed the sale of 2 million copies within its first fortnight. With the game already establishing itself as one of the top RPGs of 2025, fans eagerly anticipate immersing themselves in more content from “Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2” throughout the remainder of the year.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Shows Off New Hardcore Mode

Even prior to the official launch, Warhorse Studios had unveiled the entire post-release plan for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, including three DLC expansions and free content updates. Recently, during a live stream on February 27, the team offered an in-depth peek at the forthcoming Hardcore mode, slated to be released as part of the Spring update at no cost. While they didn’t specify an exact date, the developers mentioned that they are targeting a March release. During this stream, they also shared additional details on the mode and its challenging features, such as the penalties that players will encounter.

In this game, the main distinction between Standard and Hardcore modes lies in a minimal user interface. In Hardcore, there won’t be any player marker on the map or cardinal directions shown on the compass. To make things tougher, players won’t have the option to quickly travel, meaning navigating the map depends solely on personal orientation. Additionally, players will need to select three unfavorable traits that significantly change the gameplay experience. There are a total of ten perks for you to pick from, one more than what’s available in Kingdom Come: Deliverance‘s Hardcore mode. You can find all the perks listed in the table below.

Perk Description
Bad Luck You can generally carry less, and whenever you bend to pick up a herb or mushroom, there’s a small chance you’ll strain your back and be left hobbling for a while.
Heavy-Footed Your shoes wear down faster, and you generally make more noise.
Numbskull All your experience gain is 20% slower.
Somnambulant You lose Energy faster and every time you sleep, there’s a chance your sleepwalking legs will take you somewhere else.
Hangry Henry In addition to the usual effects of hunger, starving also reduces your Speech, Charisma, and Intimidation. Moreover, all food will fill you 20% less, and your digestion rate increases by 50%.
Sweaty You get dirty faster, meaning you start to smell faster. And when you do, you can be smelled from twice as far away, making you easier to detect. Plus, perfume doesn’t give you any positive effects. You just can’t hide this stench.
Picky Eater Your pickiness causes all food in your inventory to spoil 25% faster. When gutting animals, you’re also pickier and get only half the meat and other items from animals.
Bashful You can’t ask people for directions, so it’s more difficult to find your way around. Besides that, you’re too shy to speak to the girls at the bathhouse, so you can’t request all of their services. Since you’re not much of a talker, gaining Speech skill is also slower.
Punchable Face Coming across travellers on the road is more dangerous, as is getting into a fight. Besides that, enemies never surrender and are more confident, making fights more difficult.
Menace Once you’re branded for a crime, the effect is permanent, and getting caught for any other serious crime will lead to your execution. What’s more, guards will punish you more severely and the consequences of these punishments will be more intense.

During the live broadcast, Warhorse Studios unveiled some of the upcoming customization features for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, showcasing these changes with one of the game’s free updates. Soon players can transform Henry’s appearance by choosing from different hairstyles and beard options, and a new enhancement called “Freshly Trimmed” is also in the works. Once Henry adopts a fresh look, players will gain the “Freshly Trimmed” buff, which temporarily boosts Charisma by 2 points for a limited time.

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2025-02-28 17:44