I suppose in many ways this is just a topic to vent, but I've been playing Hard Mode and it feels like a completely different game. You get blasted out of the first room and the enemy zoning game with guns, windows, and obnoxious enemy types are in full effect here. This shit is getting ridiculous, haha.

I just played 'First Blood' or the first mission with Richter where it was so hard I had to restart the mission a few times just to get a weapon spread that would let me in through the front door. In case you're not aware, every time you start a mission weapon types on enemies are fixed. Guys with guns will have guns, melee guys will have melee... but not the specific type of weapon.

The first enemy kept giving me shotguns which can't even deal with the half a dozen (no joke, a half a dozen!) enemies with knives and clubs descending on you. I got the pump (only 3 shots on hard) and then the double barrel (only 1 shot on hard!) and had to keep restarting the mission until it gave me an assault rifle.

Now, maybe you could possibly still beat it if the guy gives you a shotgun, but the weapon pick up prioritizes firearms and there are so many enemies grouped together I kept picking up the shotgun and getting shanked before I could react. And even then, you NEED a gun because there's one of those fat guys you can only kill with weapons walking toward your position with nowhere to hide. And the second floor is even better.

Hard Mode is indeed pretty fucking hard. That's not even including 'Dead Ahead' or the container ship with the detective. Fuck man, I didn't think I was going to be able to beat that one.

I just beat hard today and yup, pretty damn hard, but never unfair. Also, this game is amazing. The story in this kind of makes me wish it was made into a movie, where it can be given its due. They definitely one up the first game in that department

With First Blood in particular, I stood half-way in the door way so that I could still wander around outside, and then I would lure the enemies out. Meaning I could deal with all the melee guys, grab a weapon, and then focus on the rest of them. And yeah, that container ship level was real tough.

Hard mode is no joke, but I managed to hit the top of the leaderboards on one of the missions, so I'm satisfied.

@sunbrozak: Oh man, nice! I tried the door trick you mentioned but I guess I always stepped too far into the room. I eventually fell into some classic Super Meat Boy, OG Hotline mindset of 'go go go' until something stuck. And when I got the assault rifle to spawn I just kept trying to adjust my aim and manage bullets.

I dunno if this happens on normal, but when I was playing on hard mode and threw a gun, each throw would take away some of its ammo. o_o

So the way that works, is that Hard Mode is programmed as such to cut every magazine in half when you pick it up. It's not as simple as the guns have less ammo. It means every time you grab a gun, the magazine is cut in half. So if you throw the gun and pick it up again, it halves the magazine again. It's pretty messed up and makes your choice to pick guns up and use them very deliberate. Especially in the later stages.

I'm just starting the Hard mode, and it definitely lives up to the name. The whole losing ammo when you drop guns and getting half than normal is rough. I haven't made it too far yet but I'm all for more challenge.

I don't know what's more difficult; completing hard mode or getting A+ on all levels on normal. Some of the Richard levels require you to get a really high combo for that rank. There's no way I'm trying for A+ on hard mode.

There's no way I'm A+ (or S ranking stages. I actually managed to get one on normal mode) but I managed to get to the final level and it has a pretty nice gimmick taken from the first game. I noticed it actually doesn't have any of the Hard Mode hallmarks (you get normal ammo for weapon pickups) but it has a nice twist that still makes it pretty difficult to adjust to. Fun stuff, haha.

I'm going through hard mode now. I'm at the second actor stage and it's killing me. Although I went back and replayed some levels on normal and they feel like a walk in the park now. It's weird, just have gotten better at this game at some point.

can you re arm the flamethrower or does hard mode just not fucking give you any ammo on beard's levels i couldn't seem to find any , or is it just not highlighted anymore?

hard modes kicking my ass so far i ragequit the container ship level but came back to beat it this morning oh god that room with the 4 patrol fattys ,

im not looking forward to any more evan levels, the first one i pretty much had to force him to use lethal force, and oh god the fuckign prison level , ack ..

@envane: I completed the ship on hard, and on the way to the car I got stuck in a wall. Needless to say, I stopped playing the game for the day

@mr_fahrenheit10: ouch hate that stuck in wall shit happened to me right at the end of the abyss

You can definitely refill the flamethrower ammo on hard, that's the only way I managed to survive it. There's a specific crate with ammo in each area.

Also, for anyone going after the trophies/achievements; you don't need to complete Abyss on hard for the trophy, but it does count as one of the levels you need to get an A+ ranking in.

If you play as the twins on hard mode, the gun character gets the normal amount of ammo. They actually might be my favourite for just running like crazy through levels. Got the combo god achievement with them on their tower section (not on hard mode though).

I noticed that too! Which only makes them cooler in my eyes. It makes sense too. Since it only halves your ammo count if you're the one picking up the guns. Since your tag-along buddy in the Swan pair isn't you, they get normal ammo reserves. I guess they found it too punishing (or too hard to program) if your buddy gets half ammo in addition to being kind of hard to control.