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The greatest-named mode ever.
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00:00Playing in hard mode is already a challenge in and of itself, however some games, including
00:04of course the ones I'm about to tell you about, decide to make you unlock it anyway
00:09behind a whole set of other challenges.
00:12The fruits of hard labour have never tasted so bitter as they do with the following secret
00:16hard modes, as your reward for taking on the challenge of unlocking them is to be able
00:20to suffer even more.
00:22I'm Jess from WhatCulture and here are 10 video game hard modes hidden behind unique
00:26challenges.
00:2710. Don't Starve The survival game Don't Starve offers players
00:32up with a suite of different characters who all have their own abilities and special quirks.
00:37Most of these characters are locked by gaming experience points, but some of them are locked
00:42behind special challenges, so you need to complete those in the game if you want to access them.
00:47To make things more interesting, one of these special characters is designed specifically
00:51to make survival more difficult.
00:53Wes is a secret mine character, and if you want to play as him, you'll need to rescue
00:58him during Maxwell's challenge maps.
01:00He's considered a hard mode character by Don't Starve's community, as he has the
01:04lowest stats of all the characters in the game, and being a mime he's unable to speak, forcing
01:09you to identify objects and Wes's needs all by yourself.
01:13The character's designed with veteran players in mind, providing them with a considerable challenge
01:18when they want to survive without any extra gimmicks and with barely enough health and
01:22sanity to feel comfortable.
01:23Which is probably why the game asks you to complete a set of challenges before you can
01:27play as him.
01:289.
01:29Frisk Undertale Undertale is full to the brim with secrets and
01:33easter eggs.
01:34Its special hard mode is, in fact, an interesting combination of the two.
01:38The mode is a secret that can only be unlocked in the intro sequence of the game.
01:42When Flowey asks for your name, you can input Frisk, and if you do so, you'll be thrown
01:48into a special, super tricky version of the game that quote, will make your life a living
01:53hell.
01:54And yeah, it really does that.
01:56The mode only works until the end of Ruins, but it still makes the enemies there significantly
02:00stronger and alters some minor things in the later parts of the game, like erasing the
02:05labels on switches and disabling the effects of certain items.
02:08The fun thing about Undertale's hard mode is that despite it not requiring the
02:12player to finish the game, you technically still need to do it to learn the protagonist's
02:16true identity and have the idea to use it as their name.
02:20It's an interesting reward for players who are attentive enough to learn this secret
02:24in the first place and then decide to apply it in a creative way.
02:288.
02:29Mad Chainsaw Resident Evil 4 Demo
02:32Resident Evil 4 Remake's demo version is a rare example of free preview content that's
02:37worth playing even if you've had the chance to play the full release.
02:40The reason for this is the secret hard mode that Capcom hid inside the demo version.
02:45Named Mad Chainsaw Mode, the difficulty setting makes all the enemies on the map significantly
02:50more difficult, and replaces some of them with brand new supercharged variants that'll
02:55make survival a nightmarishly impossible task.
02:58On top of that, the enemy placement is randomized, so you can't rely on your previous knowledge
03:04of the game.
03:05Mad Chainsaw Mode cannot be unlocked normally, you either have to be lucky and have it randomly
03:09trigger on one of your playthroughs or use a cheat code.
03:13The mode is an interesting addition to the demo, as it turns it into something of an odd
03:17arcade game.
03:18You don't play it to see what the remake has to offer, you play it to see how long
03:22you can survive this nightmarish rendition of the game.
03:25A game which is already its own nightmarish rendition, so there you go.
03:297.
03:30Charismatic Autobiography Yakuza 0
03:32The Yakuza series is known for two things, ridiculous over-the-top comedy and ridiculous
03:38over-the-top combat.
03:40These two things are combined in its secret hard mode item from Yakuza 0 called the Charismatic
03:45Autobiography.
03:47The Charismatic Autobiography is a special item that you obtain in Kiryu's sixth substory.
03:53The item's description says that it causes enemies to swarm you in battle, but that's
03:58really the tip of the iceberg.
03:59In reality, the Charismatic Autobiography causes all of the NPCs in the game to attack
04:05you on sight.
04:06The NPCs are also a little stronger, making the game feel more like a horror survival title
04:11than your typical Yakuza game.
04:13No matter where you go and what you do, as long as you have the Charismatic Autobiography
04:18equipped, you can expect an endless parade of battles with random strangers that'll
04:22test your skills and your patience.
04:24The item is supposed to pose a massive challenge, and it's trickier than any of the
04:29other hard modes that the game has to offer.
04:31Because, you know, the true hard mode is the enemies we made along the way.
04:366.
04:37Rictor – Symphony of the Night
04:39Symphony of the Night differs from the other entries in the series in that it doesn't
04:44put you in control of a monster-hunting Belmont family member.
04:47Instead, your main character is Dracula's son Alucard, who clearly wasn't too creative
04:52when making up a nickname for himself.
04:54All of this said, if you do want to play as a Belmont, there's actually a hidden cheat
04:59code that enables you to do so.
05:01All you need to do is type Rictor in the name entry screen, and Alucard will be transformed
05:06into Rictor Belmont, who has his own unique moveset and is considered a much harder character
05:11to play as.
05:12You see, unlike Alucard, Rictor doesn't have access to vampiric abilities or upgradable
05:17items.
05:18This makes both combat and exploration more difficult, which, combined with the fact that
05:23Rictor is also easier to kill, creates a far less forgiving experience.
05:27It takes time to learn how to use Rictor's limited abilities, but once you do, there is
05:32something strangely satisfying about defeating the final boss Dracula with only a whip and your
05:37own skills.
05:385.
05:39Super Sabers – Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
05:44Super Sabers is a secret cheat code from the 2005 Revenge of the Sith game that plays
05:49a bit of a trick on the player.
05:50From the sound of it, you'd think the cheat would give your characters special lightsabers
05:55that would make fighting easier.
05:56In reality, the cheat activates a special hard mode that doesn't give you a lightsaber,
06:02it gives all of your enemies lightsabers, and they're huge and super hard to dodge.
06:06Yes, as a cruel joke at the player's expense, Super Sabers equips your enemies with lightsabers
06:12that take up pretty much the entirety of the screen.
06:15Just the visual itself is pretty ridiculous, but if that wasn't enough, the elongated lightsabers
06:20actually come with a larger hitbox, turning every fight into a life or death game of jump
06:25rope.
06:26It takes great dexterity and reflexes to have even the slightest chance of beating any of
06:31the force-wielding bosses.
06:32You might think you're clever for figuring out the cheat code, but as soon as you see
06:36the results of it, you're going to be absolutely humbled, as this is way harder than anything
06:42else the game has to offer.
06:434.
06:44State of Emergency – Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
06:47In the final act of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, the entire city of Los Santos becomes
06:52a burning mess of riots and police raids that make even crossing a single street a near-death
06:58experience.
06:59The shift is meant to signify the finality of CJ's fight against his enemies and provide
07:04an extra challenge in the last few missions of the game.
07:07Now imagine how terrible it would be if you had to play the entire game in this state.
07:12Well, as it turns out, this is actually possible with a special mode that you can activate using
07:16the State of Emergency cheat code.
07:18This mode enables the epilogue riots to happen permanently, turning every civilian hostile
07:24and making police and military attacks frequent.
07:28Playing the game turns into a brand new challenge at this point as you try to complete missions
07:33while simultaneously dodging incoming attacks from angry pedestrians and officers.
07:38It's a fun secret that adds some spice to your gameplay if for some reason you felt your
07:42criminal undertakings in Los Santos were not difficult or chaotic enough.
07:46And if you want to make this mode even harder, you can use another cheat code to give all
07:51pedestrians rocket launches.
07:53I don't know why you'd do that, but you can.
07:56Number 3.
07:571999 Mode – Bioshock Infinite
08:00The Konami code is one of the earliest cheat codes in gaming and a huge part of its history.
08:05After it was introduced in Contrap, the cheat became so famous that many other games decided
08:09to use the same exact sequence for their own exploits.
08:12Bioshock Infinite is one of these titles, as you probably guessed from all the entries
08:17so far, and it unlocks a spirit-crushing hard mode.
08:21If you know the Konami code and are curious enough to use it in the game's menu, Bioshock
08:25Infinite rewards you with a special difficulty setting called 1999 Mode.
08:30Choosing it will immediately warn you that it will not make the game feel like Bioshock,
08:35and it's really easy to see why.
08:38Not only does the mode make enemies overpowered, it also affects your respawns.
08:42You get a lower number of them, and if you do die, you have to pay money to come back,
08:47adding a whole new wrinkle to the Bioshock experience.
08:501999 Mode can also be unlocked by finishing the game, but you've got to admit, it feels
08:55better to unlock it using your knowledge of the decades-old Konami code tradition.
09:002. Dante Must Die – Devil May Cry 5 The funny thing about Devil May Cry 5 is that
09:06the hardest boss in the game is the one you fight in the beginning.
09:09The game's main antagonist and final boss, Yurizen, makes an appearance in the intro sequence
09:14to wipe the floor with you while you're still severely under-equipped and have no grasp
09:19on the game's mechanics.
09:20Your defeat in the fight is what sets off the course of the rest of the game.
09:24However, the fight isn't scripted.
09:27You can kill Yurizen if you manage to, and there are some interesting endgame states
09:31if you can pull it off.
09:33When you defeat the intro Yurizen for the first time, you unlock a secret ending that goes
09:37straight to the credits and a special hard mode called Son of Sparta.
09:42However, this is only where the fun begins.
09:44You see, if you manage to defeat the undefeatable again on the new difficulty, defeat will reward
09:50you with an even harder game mode called Dante Must Die, which grants every enemy access to
09:56Dante's Devil Trigger.
09:58The difficulties can technically also be obtained by just finishing the game, but trying to unlock
10:03it this way does feel a lot more impressive.
10:051.
10:06Lars Bone – Divine Divinity
10:09Divine Divinity, Larian Studios' 2002 action RPG, is a game that hides its special hard-mode
10:15setting behind a challenge of a completely different kind – the player's actual computer
10:20skills.
10:20If you want to try out the greatest challenge that the game has to offer, I hope you paid
10:25attention in IT class.
10:27Because the way to access this isn't actually within the game.
10:30You gotta go dig into the game's files and alter them.
10:33Don't worry, the process is actually fairly simple when you know what to do.
10:37All it takes is going into the data folder of the game and then creating a new file called
10:42Bone.000.
10:45Once the file is created, a new difficulty mode called Lars Bone should show up in the
10:49options, which will cause the game to spawn endless hordes of extra powerful enemies.
10:54The difficulty is ridiculously hard, but the true challenge lies in the peculiar way of finding
10:59it.
11:00You wouldn't be able to tell the difficulty even exists without hacking the game and discovering
11:05the missing file.
11:06Now, whether that means Lars Bone was meant to be played only by the most hardcore Divine
11:11Divinity fans or none at all is a matter for a whole other discussion.
11:15However, seeing how impossibly hard and broken the setting is, it's possible the answer is
11:19the latter, but let me know what you reckon in the comments.
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