Stardew Valley Fan Takes Joke "Hardcore Mode" And Makes It Real

screenrant.com:

is a gigantic experience so its almost expected that most new players will eventually open up a Wiki to figure out where to find a hidden object or how to befriend a certain villager… but what if they game didn't allow that? Despite its reputation as a cozy Farming RPG, ConcernedApe's ever-popular creation is also known for spawning hundreds of guides to help smooth the onboarding process. Half the fun may be in discovering the world of Pelican Town and naturally coming to learn its ins and outs, but a little exterior help can go a long way.

Posted to X (formerly Twitter), creator nightshademagia shared their «Hardcore Mode» mod, an add-on that was directly inspired by a satirical post by comedy website Hard Drive.

This brutal mod effectively locks players into, prohibiting any outside research or guides, making the game an experience driven by trial and error rather than remembering guides.The punishment for looking up a Wiki in a browser tab is the complete deletion of the save file in use, meaning anyone who looks up a guide will have all their progress automatically undone.

The bushes found around the Stardew Valley farm possess a feature that not many players are aware of. Knowing this is essential for farmers.

While the implementation of a Hardcore Mode is no doubt a hilarious way to play considering how often the community relies on guides to streamline a playthrough, it's by no means the only way to make the experience more difficult. The playerbase has spent many years divising unique challenge runs to make the Farmer's adventures more complicated without the severity of losing an entire save game. They may not test something as broad as one's knowledge about the entire game, but putting restrictions in place can create some interesting scenarios.

One of the most popular challenge runs is «No Farming» which is relatively self-explanatory: Players must successfully navigate the game without planting any crops. Instead, they must rely in Mining, Foraging,