What changes
- No player marker on the map and no cardinal directions on the compass: you navigate by landmarks and by asking.
- No fast travel. Every journey is ridden.
- Manual saves only: schnapps, beds, baths, and after alchemy. No autosave, no quicksave.
- Health and stamina bars hidden; the combat direction indicators nearly invisible.
- Points of interest and collectibles reveal in a smaller radius; quest markers appear on the compass only when you are almost there.
The negative perks (choose at least three, forever)
| Perk | Cost |
|---|---|
| Bad Back | Carry capacity halved; picking herbs can strain your back |
| Bashful | Cannot ask directions; Speech grows 20% slower |
| Hangry Henry | Food fills half as much; Speech, Charisma and intimidation drop when hungry |
| Heavy-Footed | Permanent noise 25; shoes wear twice as fast |
| Menace | Crime marks never fade; a second serious crime is execution |
| Numbskull | All skill experience 40% slower |
| Picky Eater | Food spoils 25% faster; a quarter of the meat from animals |
| Punchable Face | Enemies more aggressive and stronger; 10% more damage taken |
| Somnambulant | Rest drains 40% faster; you may sleepwalk somewhere else |
| Sweaty | Clothes dirty 50% faster; NPCs smell you from twice as far |
Picking three
- The one to avoid on a first hardcore run: Menace. A second crime ends the file, and crime in Kuttenberg is easy to commit by accident.
- Numbskull is the honest one: slower everything, nothing that kills you.
Still to verify
Cross-checked on 17 September 2026 against Fextralife’s Hardcore Mode page (the patch date, the rule changes and the ten perks with their numbers) and GamesRadar’s and TheGamer’s perk write-ups; the advice on which three to take is theirs and the community’s, not from a playthrough. Not from a playthrough: checked against the sources above. Still to confirm in-game.