Ghostrunner was one of October's hidden gems, and it's about to get a lot better for players who like a challenge: hardcore mode is coming to the first-person action-platformer in a free update due this Thursday.
Even on normal difficulty, Ghostrunner revels in corpse-running and challenges you to master encounters by banging your head against it until it breaks, often to the tune of several dozen deaths. According to co-publishers 505 Games and All In Games, hardcore mode ratchets the difficulty up considerably, but only after you complete the base game. Once you do, you can run through again to take on "altered level designs as well as tougher enemies from the beginning." Depending on the depth of the alterations, this could play out like Ghostrunner 1.5.
Hardcore mode will be free to all players, but Ghostrunner is also getting a snippet of paid DLC with the new winter pack, which unlocks an icy new katana and a seasonally appropriate red glove. You can get both cosmetics for $1.99, and while I'm sure some players will wish it was free, two bucks is pretty dang reasonable for some cool new toys.
In case you missed its debut, let our own Ben Tyrer explain why Ghostrunner kicks so much ass: "It's something much more fascinating - and punishing - than its high concept might suggest. At its core, this is Super Meat Boy meets Mirror's Edge, a first person runner where you can die in one hit. That last part is key to everything the game gets right and wrong in its early stages, as you learn how to navigate around obstacles and enemies when a single wrong step could be the difference between progression or death."
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