Dictionary

hard mode en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A game mode with a higher difficulty than the standard gameplay.
   • Currently, to increase accessibility as well as replayability of the game, we added two difficulty levels. On easy mode, most players should have little trouble reaching the end of a level. On hard mode, extra obstacles offer bigger challenges. 2013, Rafael Bidarra, Dien Gambon, Rob Kooij, Dylan Nagel, Maaike Schutjes, Ioanna Tziouvara, “Gaming at the dentist’s – serious game design for pain and discomfort distraction”, in Ben Schouten, Stephen Fedtke, Tilde Bekker, Marlies Schijven, Alex Gekker, editors, Games for Health: Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Gaming and Playful Interaction in Health Care, Wiesbaden, Hesse: Springer Vieweg, →ISBN, “Games for Care, Cure and Medicine Adherence” section, page 211:
   • More commonly, to support all player skill levels, games ship with multiple difficulty levels: an easy mode that’s tuned to provide very little resistance for players who want to focus on the story, a normal mode that’s tuned for most typical builds, a hard mode that’s challenging for a typical build, and a hardest mode tuned to be a challenge even to optimal builds, for example. 2022, Ian Schreiber, Brenda Romero, “Balancing for Character Progression”, in Game Balance, Boca Raton, Fla.; Abingdon, Oxfordshire: CRC Press, →ISBN, part I (Game Balance), chapter 9 (Characters and Character Builds), page 203:
   • Even then, once the main game is cleared – it has to be clocked in one play session, but it’s far from lengthy – hard mode is unlocked (plus a pair of affable bonus modes) which doesn’t just up the difficulty, but completely rewrites the dungeon structures and enemy patterns. 2008 April, “Dark Mist”, in Edge, Bath, Somerset: Future Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 96, column 4:
   • If you’re playing on hard mode, be warned that zombies can break down wooden doors. 2014, “Defending Your Home”, in How to Do Everything in Minecraft – 100% Unofficial & Independent, London: MagBook, Dennis Publishing, page 55, column 3:
2. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) A task or situation made deliberately more difficult than usual, often as a test of skill or endurance.
   • I moved across the country twice the year I finished my dissertation because I like to live on hard mode, apparently. 2019, Rachel Neff, “Is It a Dragon or a Windmill?”, in Chasing Chickens: When Life after Higher Education Doesn’t Go the Way You Planned, Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, →ISBN, page 74:
   • But just when I thought I’d gotten the hang of things, a snake chased me into a deeper level of the labyrinth! Everything’s on hard mode down here. 2018 March, Okina Baba, translated by Jenny McKeon, So I’m a Spider, So What?, volume 2, New York, N.Y.: Yen Press, →ISBN, back cover:
   • Easy mode: draw the recipe you found. Hard mode: Make the recipe and write about the experience making it. 2022, Caroline Brookfield, “N. is for Novelty”, in The Reluctant Creative: 5 Effortless Habits to Expand Your Comfort Zone, Artful Science, →ISBN:
3. (countable, uncountable) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hard, mode.
   • Since you are working on a target mode of giving—an unfamiliar or a hard mode—you will find this formula especially useful. 2009, Willa Miller, “Day Six: The Five Steps of Giving”, in Everyday Dharma: Seven Weeks to Finding the Buddha in You, Wheaton, Ill.: Quest Books, →ISBN, “Week Five: Be Magnanimous” section, page 189:
   • A hard mode in the form of a written document is often referred to as a “hard copy.” 2004, William H. A. Johnson, “How Hard Can It Be to Communicate? Communication Mode and Performance in Collaborative R&D Projects”, in Susan H[ayes] Godar, Sharmila Pixy Ferris, editors, Virtual and Collaborative Teams: Process, Technologies and Practice, Hershey, Pa.: Idea Group Publishing, →ISBN, section III (Communication in Virtual Teams), page 176:
   • Notwithſtanding this melancholy and hard mode of living, they are ſeldom or ever ſick, and all arrive at extreme old age. 1785, [Georges-Louis Leclerc,] Count de Buffon, translated by William Smellie, “Of the Varieties of the Human Species”, in Natural History, General and Particular, […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 63:

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