The survive part at the beginning is the only steep part. After that, Hardcore is pretty much the perfect difficulty for a first playthrough.

It feels pretty rough at the start but with any game like this it depends on your diligence, if you're pretty good with picking areas clean then you'll have a good stash of supplies for the rest of the game.

Early game hell is about the only part that really has you on edge. A few minibosses are incredibly tanky, and I guess it might be possible if you miss a lot of shots to run dry on ammo when fighting the main bosses, but generally? It's not that difficult.

More frustrating than anything, but considering the game doesn't even have ranks, dying isn't even a problem you can just throw yourself at things until you succeed. It only really becomes unwinnable if you've wasted all of your supplies somehow.

At hardcore.. sometimes it's better to throw some explosives or run away. There are certain sections where you can burn through your stuff and end up having next to nothing if you dont get that you could have just run.

standard's too easy

hardcore and VoS is where it's at

Hardcore is a bit harder than casual. Enemies hit a lot harder and they have increased health so if you avoid fighting unnecessary fights, you're good. Even on casual, if you pick every fight and use your gun, you will run out of ammo really fast and have a rough time. Guard more and use the knife more.

Hardcore is how the game should be play in my opinion. VOS make enemy way to spongy and the other 2 are kinda too easy.

Upgrading a weapon's capacity, either via upgrade or part, reloads the weapon completely. It is always a good idea to empty the weapon first then upgrade it's capacity so that you will get free ammo. That is especially handy for sniper rifle or magnum.

Not that hard. I played with Joystick for the first time. Always played FPS with k/m. 10 Bullets left of Magnum full Power Upgrade after Beating hardcore.Says it all. Killed all Mini bosses aswell. First playtrought. But i always play games on their highest difficulty without a guide,checking every corner.

Hardcore only issue I had was the start of the game with the siege. Once you figure out what to conserve and when to upgrade you're pretty much dead set on annihilating everything (give or take a couple tanky af enemies).

I'd say difficulty wise this game is much easier then most RE games at lower difficulties, but at higher it seems as if it plays as if it was tuned around Hardcore. I actually had a harder time figuring out where everything was (backtracking) then the combat lol.

Early game is mixed you do get a lot of ammo and supplies but some mini bosses and main bosses can use up tons of ammo. Also you can die easily even in late game with max health. I'd say rating wise it's like 6/10 for difficulty.

The game overall is super easy, might be the easiest game in the series. On hardcore its hard because of the ammo early game but after you finish benevento doll house it gets a lot easier because you ugrade your guns and also get new ones + even more bonuses from food.

Its only hard in the begining but it feels like easy and normal are there just so anyone can finish the game in a day....wich is bad for the game and immersion but it sells copies

its not hard but its garbage, enemies are bullets sponge for no reason

its very difficult as a first blind playthrough but i think it gets easier after the castle. not only when you upgrade obviously but when you learn some tactics and feel more confident in how to play. i replay the game on hardcore every year or sl and just finished it again todah. i tend to complete the game with hundreds of rounds of ammo, lots of explosives and nearly a dozen healing items


My Hardcore "Rules" and how i play

Ethan will regain health after going "critical" even in combat if you can survive long enough. this is really important in the really early game to not waste healing. upgrades to health also function like ammo capacity and heal Ethan to full. so i tend to wait until im near critical.

blocking is incredibly strong especially when upgraded. a few boss fights can feel a little unfair on hardcore because of their crazy cramped arena...until you realize Ethan has arms of Titanium (its actually explained very well in the story though). blocking the standard grab attack of an enemy deals negligible damage and can really save you. just remember blocking huge enemy attacks feels scary but sometimes can be the most efficient way to fight because it will leave the monster extremely open to attack.

non arena Boss enemies all have a tether, they will immediately back off or even despawn if they go past its radius. sometimes its extremely short too but others can be a bit deceptive. this can be seen as a bit of an exploit so it really depends. its frustrating to feel like youre cheating the AI but since the game has a terrible stealth system....

i think only two areas have infinite monsters. its always worth full clearing every area of the entire game for resources and to ensure you always have a safe zone to fall back on. the first infinite spawn is obvious sorta but even the second is extremely manageable with a few flash bangs.

headshots arent all that important compared to other Survival Horror games. its great to get a bit of damage bonus, but a solid shortgun blast and few Handgun bullets while a Lycan is down is solid win and can be extremely more reliable in a hectic fight.

some enemies LOVE to be nimbly dodgy jerks...but ONLY when you Aim. if you get good at hip fire and snap fire aiming it helps.

Rate of Fire and Reload upgrades are total garbage investments unless youre swimming in corpse cash in NG+. Damage is great but only on Shotguns and the Rifle because you will have enough ammo to really make the upgrades count. the magnum Damage upgrade is iffy since you have such limited ammo and i only get the first level usually. Capacity upgrades are the single most important obviously because of the free reload. Keep in mind if a gun modification increases capacity it also will give a free reload, this is especially useful for the Magnum!


oops! didnt realize this was resurrected as an undead Bioweapon Troll-post from 2021! but maybe someone playing Hardcore in 2024 or 2025 will find it relevant haha