Mod Hardcore Revival (for Deus Ex Human Revolution)

The mod Hardcore Revival for Deus Ex Human Revolution is a mod which aim at improving the gameplay of the game Deus Ex Human Revolution Director's Cuts on PC, but that's not all : It even modify how some characters look.
The mod works with the Steam and the Gog version of the game.
Note : To play with mods on the GOG version of the game, you need the GOG Modhook for Deus Ex Human Revolution Director's Cuts created by Gibbed.

Presentation of the mod

I created this mod because, althought I really like Deus Ex Human Revolution, I was annoyed by how its gameplay heavily favors and even incites People to play stealthly, non-lethally and as a hacker.
Actually, the game isn't very friendly to players who like to go all guns blazing or who just want to play differently.
If you don't play "correctly", it's harder and you get less experience points.
And so the mod makes various changes to the gameplay so People can play more like they want and in the way they want without being penalized by the game for doing so.
One way to achieve that was to make the difficulty even whether one chooses to play stealthly or they like to confront the enemy NPCs directly.
And so, now playing stealthly and as a hacker is more challenging and less rewarding : It is just one way of completing the missions, not the best way anymore.
Last but not least, the mod also improves various others aspects of the gameplay.
For example, if you enable the energy augmentation to its maximum level, then Adam Jensen's first energy cell will be recharged in 4 seconds : You won't have to wait around 1 minutes for the cell to recharge anymore and 4 seconds is a long enough delay so it isn't possible to spam takedowns after takedowns when confronting multiple enemies at the same time.
Also, the cloaking augmentation has been nerfed and the dermal armor made slightly more powerful at maximum level.
Coupled with things like changes to the merchants stock and the replacement of some items by others in the levels, it allows a more balanced gameplay where the players can more approach the situations in different ways.
With the mod, it is now even possible to fight the first Boss (Lawrence Barret) with the laser rifle or the plasma rifle (That is if you manage to find them, of course).
Well, increased difficulties and more possibilities is what this mod do.

Detailled description of the mod

Latest Version : 1.020.

Changed :

- All merchants sell new items and in different quantities (including DLC's Quinn and the LIMB Clinics).
- The merchants won't buy common items and weapons from the player (unless they are equipped with their special upgrades).
- Some quests items are now playable items.
- Some items found in the maps have been changed by others.
- Items prices, size and stacking values have been modded.
- The blurred vision effect after drinking beverages last only 3 seconds (per drink) instead of 30 seconds.
- The energy jar recovers 5 energy cells (instead of 3).

- Stun Gun : Increased range. No effects on non-organic targets. Occasionally, several darts may be needed to KO the more resistant NPCs.
- Rocket launcher : More powerful weapon of the game (Now it can destroy a big robot with 1 hit).
- Sniper rifles can't be upgraded with a laser sight anymore (as this item ruin their aiming when using the scope).
- The revolver can't be upgraded with a laser sight anymore (Now Only Burke's revolver has a laser sight).
- The Zenith pistol now exists in 2 versions: One can be upgraded with a silencer and a laser sight. The other one has the armor piercing upgrade.
- The PEPS gun can now be upgraded with a laser sight and 3 reload upgrades.
- The Shotgun can equip a little bit more upgrades which make it more useful when fully upgraded.
- More reload upgrades for the Double Barrel Shotgun and its description shows it has the Burst Round System equipped by default.
- Frag Grenades are now a little bit less powerful : 2 of them are needed to kill the heavy guards and characters like Michael Zelazny.
- 2 EMP Grenades are now necessary to destroy the boxguard and with distance, their effects lose power : At the limit of their range perimeter, they only stun robots and sentries for a dozens seconds.

- More praxis kits are required to unlock augmentations and upgrades.
- The tech tree of several augmentations has been changed.
- The radar augmentation is disabled by default and can be enabled with 2 praxis kits.
- With the hyper-oxygenation upgrade, the player can now sprint for a longer time : about 15 seconds.
- The fortify augmentation allows to add 5 points to a Node (instead of 2).
- The dermal armor augmentation makes the player more resistant at maximum level.
- Energy augmentation : 1 energy cell by default, no automatic recharge at base level and very fast recharge at level 2.
- The player can stay invisible less time.
- Inverted Takedown prompts: To do a (silent) non-lethal takedown, hold A for 3 seconds. And to do a (very noisy) lethal takedown, press A.

- The amount of experience points given to the player is no longer indicated at the screen.
- Reading rare notebook only grants 10 xp points (instead of 200).
- The Ghost and Smooth Operator bonus now grant zero xp points (unless on 2 occasions where the alternative is a conversation battle).
- The player get zero experience points for completing the side quests.
- The player gets 2 praxis kits if he decides to install the TYM chip in Hengsha (Second visit).
- No experience points obtained for hacking computers and consoles.
- 80% of the hacking mini-games now contain zero datastores and most of them contain only Nuke and Stop programs.
- Most computers and consoles in secure areas are now level 3, 4 and 5 with a security node of 4 minimum.

- Main quest "Back in the Saddle" : Less time to wander in Sarif Headquarters before Sarif tells the player that "the situation has gotten worse".
- Cloak & Dagger Side Quest : If the player lets O'Malley goes, he will now get rewarded with 10,000 credits (instead of 3,000).

- A few semi-important characters who had a generic appearance now have a more unique look.
- The luminosity, fog density and coloration of some areas have been changed.

Preview

A side by side comparision which shows the mod's changes.
The left part of the pictures shows the base game, the right part shows what the mdo Hardcore Revival changed.

Pictures

Grayson had the same face as Lyle Rogers and a few others NPC characters. Not anymore : The mod alters his physical appearance to give him a custom look. He isn't a clone anymore.

One of them is the cop who patrols inside Detroit's Limb Clinic. And so I made him a unique character too. And he's now augmented.
Also, in this map, the doctors who was complaining to him about the rioters had the same face as a hobo. The mod makes this character to look more credible and unique. A few other characters have been modded like that too, like Sherri Ter Horst, the Chiron Building's receptionist and one of the MCB gangbangers who wander near Highland Park.

With the mod active, the items use more inventory space but they can stack a lots more. This allows the player to play comfortably with up to 3 weapons, as the high stacking values I set allows for carrying way more ammos and grenades than before.
This way, you have to pick your weapons (= make choices) but then, you can play with them to your heart's contents as you won't run out of ammos if you bought enough of them.

Talking about that, the merchants stocks have also been modded in a way that whatever areas, there is a way for players to use the preferred weapons, even if it is still necessary to rationate plasma ammos, laser ammos, rockets, grenades ammos, stun darts and tranquilizer darts (Otherwise, the game would become too easy).
Also, the Limb Clinics don't sell the Typhoon ammo anymore, so this ammunition is now rarer (as it should be).
To compensate this, a few items in the "Sarif Manufacting Plant" and "Sarif HQ's Helicopter maintenance room" have been replaced by Typhoon ammos.
And in replacement of the Typhoon ammos, the Limb Clinic now sell an item which was previously a non-playable story item used in the optional side-quest "Acquaintance forgotten" : A First Aid Kit.

Also, a lots of changes has been made when it comes to Adam Jensen's augmentations tree to make leveling up more interesting : Now to unlock the best upgrades of an augmentation, you have to unlock it completly. For example, to unlock the inventory's full capacity, it is now required to enable first all the others upgrades in the Cybernetic Arm Prosthesis augmentation. And since the augmentations now require more praxis kits to be unlocked, by the end of the game, your Adam Jensen will be quite customized. All in all, it is possible to unlock around 60% of all of his augmentations during a single playthrought. And by the way, for thoses who may be wondering if it is possible to make Jensen "complete" if you then start a party with the mode New Game +, the reponse is yes. By the end of this second party, your Jensen will have all his augmentations enabled.

Version 1.018 :

This is a complete presentation of an older version of the mod : Hardcore Revival 1.018.
The video shows mainly the changes on the gameplay but also the new look I have given to Grayson, Sherri Ter Horst and a few others characters.

Version 1.016 :

This is an even older version with different options.

Version 1.0 (First version of the mod).

In this version, the takedowns don't consume energy at all. A feature which I abandonned in the next versions of the mod as it made it possible to spam takedowns after takedowns, which made the game way too easy. Also, the augmented sprint was nerfed in the 1.016 and 1.018 version as it allowed to simply run away from situations.

So many things were changed, but this is this first version which started all :

Where to download the mod

The DXHR Hardcore Revival mod's page on Nexus.

The DXHR Hardcore Revival mod's page on Moddb.

Return to the presentation page of Deus Ex Human Revolution.