What games have the biggest disparity between Normal and Hard difficulties?

[ScOULaris]

This struck me while playing Katana Zero after they patched in a Hard Mode shortly after its initial release. When I first played through Katana Zero, one of my criticisms of the game was that it was a little too easy given how little gameplay there actually was between story sequences. In my mind, there needed to be more challenge to add some weight/meat to the bite-sized gauntlets that you run through in the game.

So when they added in a new Hard Mode via a free update a while after I completed the game, I was happy to dive in and experience a harder version of this game that had such a strong underlying core.

But my god. I've never experienced a greater divide between a game's Normal and Hard difficulties. While on Normal I was breezing through wishing for more challenge, on Hard I can barely progress at all even in the early levels. On Hard I'm having to redo what were simple, one-try rooms on Normal dozens upon dozens of times. Sometimes it feels borderline impossible!



This makes it look easy, but the split-second perfection required on Hard is absurd at times.

So now I'm curious as to what other games have this issue where the gulf between Normal and Hard is a mile wide.

 

[Z-Beat]

Nier Automata.Learned that the hard way, literally

 

[Deleted member 6263]

Devil May Cry 3 Normal Mode
Devil May Cry 3 SE Normal Mode

 

[Judau]

There's a game on XB1 called Crimsonland that I've been playing. It's a twin stick shooter and the campaign mode just has you fighting X amount of waves of enemies per level. It can get a bit challenging on Normal, especially during later stages. On Hard, though? I could barely get past the first level. There's at least one difficulty above Hard, so if it's that hard on Hard, I don't even wanna imagine what it's like on higher difficulties.

 

[Alecs27]

FF7 Remake

 

[TΛPIVVΛ]

Goldeneye 007/Perfect Dark

 

[ClickyCal']

All Uncharted and TLOU.

 

[Synth]

Streets of Rage 3 (except Bare Knuckle 3's Hard became SOR3's Normal). It is utterly ridiculous.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I remember Metroid: Zero Mission having a pretty big jump from Normal to Hard. Hard wasn't crazy difficult but Normal was quite easy.

 

[zMiiChy-]

Bomberman 64

 

[Strawberry Jam]

Halo 2? Legendary difficulty is ridiculously hard.

 

[sku]

Cuphead, given that there are entire boss phases and mechanics that someone would miss out on if playing on the easier mode.

OP says this large difference in difficulty is an "issue" but I think it's a great thing. I prefer an intentional, purposeful hard mode to so many difficulty modes that I can't possibly know which one to choose. Also, when there's that many difficulty modes, there's always one that is the true core experience, the one that the devs actually balanced the game around. Other difficulty modes are rarely balanced properly. That said, a game can still be improperly balanced even with fewer difficulty modes.

 

[MrFox]

Knack.

Hard Mode was correctly balanced like an old school platformer, as if the game was designed to be only in that mode, but the Easy Mode felt slapped in at the last minute and was stupidly easy to race through the levels without thinking, but for some segment it didn't work so they felt difficult all of a sudden because you had to think again. It was the most inconsistent "Easy" mode ever.

And then they hid the Very Hard mode behind a new game plus unlock.

 

[Cranster]

 

[Nameless]

REmake 1 and 2 are both nigh unplayable on Normal difficulty IMO, while ascending to Survival Horror perfection on hard. Too many resources, too much health, too much damage dealt, and with REmake 2 throw in the added sin of autosaves. It just strips away a ton of tension/dread/anxiety/stakes, which, for me, horror games are all about.

 

[pbayne]

It wasnt really a hard mode per se but i remember the post game missions in Valkyrie Chronicles 4 were a big step up from the base games missions

 

[Spazgadget]

Persona 5 Hard is a pretty big jump.

 

[DPB]

I find this to be the case in a lot of games, it's all too often that you're forced to choose between "too easy" and "absurdly difficult" when there really should be another difficulty level in between.

Nier Automata.Learned that the hard way, literally

Click to shrink...

This is a good example. You can easily button mash your way through normal, whereas in hard mode your character is made out of paper.

 

[Jimnymebob]

Nier Automata stands out for me. I did the intro on normal because everyone said don't play that bit on hard, but then I swapped to hard and stuck with it through to just after the A2 fight in the forest, and then I swapped to normal because the amount of damage enemies can sponge is ludicrous. It's not really hard as such, it'a just that the same stupid AI enemies deal way more damage and take 10x as long to kill.

 

[Serule]

Wolfenstein II default difficulty is pretty hard, but bumping it down one level makes it so you almost can't die.

 

[Garrison]

I remember old school MK games going from super easy on "easy mode" to "fuck you!" On other modes pretty quick.

 

[Dezzy]

The classic Thief games add more restrictions and all new mission objectives that can greatly change how you approach each level.

 

[LilScooby77]

All Uncharted and TLOU.

Click to shrink...

So true.

 

[FreshYoungDoggo]

Goldeneye and Perfect Dark added more objectives so they were totally different experiences. Not just a lateral increase to enemy health and damage.

 

[mute]

The guitar hero games that go from just using a few fingers to using all of them in hard.

 

[Cantaim]

Devil May Cry 3 Normal Mode
Devil May Cry 3 SE Normal Mode

Click to shrink...

DMC 3 normal mode is the stuff of legends. Whenever I find someone that doesn't know about it I bust it out and make them play it just to see their horror.

 

[kurt]

Golden eye 007 and super mario 3d land and zelda 1 are good examples.

 

[jelly]

Ninja Gaiden.

Hey, I'm pretty good at this.....yeah I'm really not.

 

[Shadow of the Void]

Halo 2

Normal is relatively easy, and Heroic is challenging but reasonable. Legendary on the other hand is just plain unfair, a total nightmare to complete. It requires you to employ a tiny handful of very specific strategies, and even then you stand a good chance of getting destroyed over and over. I default to Legendary in Halo CE, so I figured I'd play on Legendary during my initial playthrough and I had to give up and switch to Heroic. I've beaten Halo 2 on Legendary only a few times, and have little incentive to bother with it because of how incredibly frustrating it is.

 

[Deleted member 864]

Guitar Hero lol.

Normal mode, you're maybe using two to three fingers max. Hard mode and up though you're using your entire hand. I always had a hard time with this so I never played the games on hard or above.

 

[Tagyhag]

While I would agree with Halo and Legendary difficulty. I never saw Legendary as its "Hard mode", that would be Heroic to me since it comes right after Normal, Legendary is "Very Hard". Of course, this depends on how literal the OP was being. Are we talking about ALL difficulties greater than Normal, or just Hard mode?

 

[Vaser]

Crisis Core - Normal Mode is stupidly easy, but Hard Mode can be brutal at times.

 

[Xterrian]

Does Slay The Spire's ascension levels count?

Cuz going from a0 or "normal" mode to any double digit ascension is a very large leap.

 

[fourfourfun]

I used to have real trouble with FIFA. Either I'd have a fight out a 0-0 at best and more likely 0-1/0-2 loss, or I'd hand out 4 or 5 goal drubbings each match.