Hardcore elements
Video game concept
Any concepts that make a game harder to get into (higher learning curve) and more demanding on player (more things to learn to have even passing success; less supplemental information given).
This is a container group; its children are:
| Fragile protagonist | The protagonist dies extremely easily (though not from single hit from [i]everything[/i]). (too short) | 1989 / 2019 | 104 games |
| Instant death | The player dies from single damaging hit of any kind, the equivalent of having never more than one life/hit point. | 1978 / 2021 | 1540 games |
| Map deficient | Either completely lacks maps or the provided maps are mostly unusable, forcing the player to draw one themselves to avoid getting lost. Mainly for games that are not linear and don't tell where to go. | 1975 / 2019 | 75 games |
| Overpowered | The enemies are too strong or numerous for the protagonist to handle, forcing them to sneak past them or otherwise avoid direct confrontations whenever possible. | 1983 / 2015 | 36 games |
| Permanent death | Upon the protagonist's death, [i]all[/i] game progress is lost and the player must start the game all over instead of loading a save or restarting at some checkpoint such as level start. | 1971 / 2021 | 557 games |
| Realistic damage | (too short) | 1985 / 2015 | 51 games |
| Simulation elements | (too short) | container group |