As with its previous games, CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 features multiple difficulty settings. For one of these however, the studio seems to have found a unique, and immersive way to up the game’s difficulty. CD Projekt Red has revealed that Cyberpunk 2077‘s hardcore difficulty setting will turn off the game’s UI.
In an interview with WCCFTech, CD Projekt Red’s Alvin Liu talked about a number of topics including both its difficulty settings, and its accessibility. With the former, he revealed the game’s UI disabling hardcore setting, calling it “a real challenge for a lot of players.”
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The reveal does seem to address something about modern game UIs. Aside from being potenitally immersion breaking, some of the features added to modern UIs do tend to make the game easier. In addition to revealing resources such as health and ammunition, UIs also tend to subtly nudge players in the right direction with way points and markers for quests, enemies, NPCs, and more. Indeed, Liu did confirm that, outside of hardcore mode, the game’s UI will assist players, helping them avoid enemies beyond their current level.
With the removal of these elements, players will now have to pay more attention to the game’s world if they hope to not get lost, or just survive. Of course, this will be on top of any combat related adjustments CD Projekt Red will make to up the difficulty.
While the hardcore setting is obviously aimed at dedicated players, CD Projekt Red is also thinking about novices and players not used to first-person shooters. Many players will likely be coming from the Witcher series after all, which is anything but an FPS. On this, Liu confirmed that the game would also have difficulty options for those players, on top of the hardcore mode. He even pointed to the “smart gun” from a previous demo of the game as something that players who’re not used to aiming in first-person can use .