Infinity Ward has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will finally get a Hardcore mode as part of new Season 2 updates.
The developer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took to Twitter to confirm that the long-awaited mode will arrive with Season 2, which is set to launch on February 15th, after a delay. “No HUD?” Not a problem. Hardcore is back! Developer Infinity Ward chirp (Opens in a new tab). Stay tuned for updates on Multiplayer Season 2 in our studio blog later this week.
Hardcore mode has been a part of every Call of Duty game since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007, so its absence from Modern Warfare 2 at launch was disappointing, to say the least. Infinity Ward released a ‘Tier 1’ playlist in November 2022, as part of Modern Warfare 2’s Season 1 update, which introduced elements of the Hardcore mode, but that hasn’t stopped players from hoping that the full Hardcore mode will eventually make a comeback.
What is hardcore mode?
Hardcore is an alternative to the regular Call of Duty playlist, allowing you to put your game on hard mode. It strives to provide players who want more challenge with realistic combat experience. There are many changes in this mode that will make your games much more painful.
Instead of the usual 100 health, you only get 30 in Hardcore, which means any weapon can kill you in about one or two hits. This is important now that friendly fire is also enabled, so be sure to look out for your friends, as they can easily put a bullet in the back of your head just because you look like the enemy.
Hardcore also has a lower HUD (Head Up Display), which usually gives you a lot of information about map layout, health, ammo, etc. There is no longer a mini-map in this playlist, and you won’t be able to see it showing capture markers or objectives on your screen. You couldn’t even have color-coded allies and enemies, friends’ names were in green over their heads, and enemies were dipped in red. Now, these are gone. It seems that Infinity Ward really wants you to shoot your allies.
This is a rough friend
For a casual gamer like myself, it’s hard to understand why someone would prefer this playlist headache. But I am confused because Hardcore is not for casual gamers. This complex mode challenges those who want to advance competitively while giving more depth to their FPS.
But the introduction of Hardcore Mode in Modern Warfare 2 is only one of the significant changes coming to Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 in Season 2, according to Activision.
in Twitter post (Opens in a new tab) Going public earlier this month, Activision stated that it had delayed the release of Season 2 to make “several changes based on what we’ve heard from our player community.” The tweet also revealed that some of the other major changes coming in Season 2 include the return of Resurgence to Warzone 2, updates to the Gulag, while ranked play and new maps will be added to Modern Warfare 2. I was hoping this delay meant something specific to Call of Duty since That Modern Warfare 2’s lack of content compared to its free-to-play Battle Royale sibling, Warzone, is painfully noticeable – and that seems to be the case.
Hardcore’s addition not only provides the depth and challenge that competitive players crave, but it also goes a long way toward solving the lack of content I was worried about. I think Hardcore will be a welcome addition to Modern Warfare 2 playlists for all its hardships.