Super Hard and Extreme

Two new difficulty settings for White Knuckle, on the run setup screen next to Hard Mode and Iron Knuckle:

• SUPER HARD: heavier gravity, a 3-second grip, no trinkets, a Calming Buddy you must keep petting, and every zone gets nastier.
• EXTREME: everything SUPER HARD does, turned up as far as it goes while still being beatable. Half health, +50% gravity, a Hunter that never stops chasing you, and faster, deadlier enemies everywhere.

Tick one of them and every rule listed for it is active for the whole run. Neither one submits to the online leaderboards.

Installing

Install with a mod manager (r2modman / Thunderstore Mod Manager), or drop both .dll files into BepInEx/plugins. Needs BepInExPack.

If you used the separate SuperHardKnuckle or ExtremeKnuckle mods before, remove them first. This package replaces both.

SUPER HARD

Every zone

• Gravity is 20% stronger.
• Hanging drains a full grip in about 3 seconds.
• No trinkets. Bindings still work.
• Except one: you always start with the Calming Buddy. Pet it (hold it and use it) at least every 5 minutes or you die. There is no timer on screen, so keep track yourself.
• Red (explosive) roaches are everywhere: every one comes with 3 extra copies, and one spawns near you about every 35 seconds (not in safe rooms).
• Turrets are everywhere: every turret spawn chance is forced on and each turret gets 2 extra copies.
• The Mass is 1.6x faster.
• Survival mode and vanilla Hard Mode are always on.
• A Remains spawns near you every 10 minutes.
• The hammer does 40% less damage.
• Hopper roaches (Denizen_Hopper) kill you the moment they hurt you, in every zone.
• Tick roaches can't be thrown off or killed while they're latched on. They suck until they're full, then let go.
• Engraved Doors spawn 40% of the time.

Silos

• Sturges are everywhere: one spawns near you about every 25 seconds (up to 8 extra at once), and every Sturge gets an extra copy.
• Twice as many bloodbugs (every variant).
• The Mass moves at 0.6x of its (already faster) Super Hard speed.
• Only tier-one loot: _T2/_T3 items become their _T1 version, Rebar Rope becomes Rebar, and disk vendors and vending machines only sell tier one.
• Sturges hit twice as hard.

Pipeworks

• Twice as many barnacles.
• More hopper roaches.
• Steam pipes do 2.5x damage.

Habitation

• The Service Shaft gate (the shaft behind the break room) stays sealed until you beat the Body Cavity shortcut in that run. If you try to go in early, you get pushed back.
• The Rat King in the Body Cavity is 2.5x faster.
• Beating the Body Cavity doesn't give you the Amalgamator. It teleports you back to the Habitation yellow break room (the one with the save), and then the security gate opens.
• Teeth are 1.8x faster and won't leave until you hide.
• Vent things reach and drag 1.8x faster.
• Turrets do double damage, and drones show up next to them.

Abyss

• Once a face starts hunting, there are 5 faces after you, all at normal speed.
• No artifacts.
• If you fall 100 m, the nightmare kills you.

Nest

• Three times as many barnacles.
• Tick roaches can't be killed at all, even when they're not on you.
• Near the Mother you get 30 seconds before she kills you. Save her (press the 3 buttons in her room) or get away from her to stop the timer.
• Water is poison.
• In the last section the Mass moves at 1x speed.

EXTREME

The mode

• Switching on EXTREME also switches on SUPER HARD, Hard Mode and Survival (where the gamemode has them). You don't need to tick SUPER HARD yourself. Iron Knuckle stays off unless you pick it.
• No leaderboards and no achievements. Saves and checkpoints work as normal.
• A pulsing dark-red EXTREME label sits at the top of the screen.
• Normal progression only. The Body Cavity shortcut is closed, and SUPER HARD's Service Shaft lock is off.
• Stamina: a full grip lasts about 7 seconds while hanging (SUPER HARD's is 3).

Everywhere

• Gravity is 50% stronger.
• You have half your normal health.
• The Hunter is always after you. About 20 seconds into the run a slower Hunter (roughly half normal Hunter speed) appears and follows you through every zone for the rest of the run. You can hurt it, and even kill it, but it comes back 25 seconds later. Leave it far behind and it finds you again.
• Fall damage x2.5. If a single drop of more than 25 m ends on the ground, you die. Grabbing something or landing in water still saves you.
• Knockback is doubled while you're climbing, and doubled from explosions.
• Unstable handholds break twice as fast. Moving platforms and spinning hazards are 1.5x faster. Elevators, doors and gates stay normal.
• No trinkets except bindings and the Calming Buddy. Perks work as normal. The Amalgamator and extra-life items are removed.
• Hammer damage -65%.
• Consumable spawns -65%. Climbing tools and anything that looks like a key or quest item are never removed.
• Vending machines cost 3x and only stock about 40% of their slots. Disk and event vendors also cost 3x.
• Calming Buddy: you start with it and must pet it at least once a minute. There's no timer and no warning. Petting it while you're standing on the ground also gives back 20% of a full grip (at most once every 3 seconds).
• Red roaches: every spawn chance succeeds, each one comes with 5 copies, and roughly two spawn near you every 20 seconds (up to 16, never in safe rooms). They're 1.5x faster and their blast is 50% bigger.
• Turrets: every spawn chance succeeds, 3 extra copies each, target pick-up 60% faster, half the firing delay, 1.75x range.
• Hopper roaches: kill on hit, 1.6x speed, much shorter wind-up and recovery, 2x detection, 3x as many.
• Tick roaches: can't be removed while feeding, 2x damage, 1.5x speed, 2x detection.
• Remains: one every 4 minutes (at most 2 at once, never in safe rooms), 1.5x speed, 2x detection.
• Engraved Doors: 80% of the time, 2x damage, faster hazards, and the room past one gets an extra wave of enemies.
• The Mass: 2.2x speed, plus 10% for every 3 minutes you spend in a region (max 2.75x). Its approach sound is 40% quieter.

Silos

• 4x bloodbugs: 1.7x speed, 2x detection, much shorter cooldowns, 2.5x damage. Killing one has a 35% chance to draw in two more.
• A Sturge spawns near you every 12 seconds (up to 16), every Sturge gets 3 copies, 3x damage, faster attacks, 2x detection.
• Fans spin 2x and push/pull 75% harder. Crushers cycle 2x and kill on contact. Electrical hazards do 3x damage. Environmental explosions are twice as big. Machinery pauses are halved.
• Tier-one loot only (from SUPER HARD), and even less loot.
• The Mass moves at 1.1x, then 1.4x after 4 minutes in one area.

Pipeworks

• 5x barnacles: tongues reach 60% further and shoot out 2x faster, 3x damage, and they bite twice as often. Killing one can make the ones nearby lash out.
• 4x hopper roaches.
• Steam does 4x damage, bursts last twice as long, come twice as often and push 2.5x harder.
• 4x gasbags: 2x speed, 2x detection, 2x blast radius, 3x blast damage.
• Striders are 1.8x faster, and 2x if you ride one for more than 4 seconds.
• The Mass is 2.2x. In the Pipe Organ it creeps up to 2.6x if you take too long.

Habitation

• 3x enemies wherever nothing more specific applies, with 75% more detection.
• Teeth are 3x faster, get angry sooner, and catching you is instant death.
• Vent things reach and drag 3x faster and notice you from 80% further away.
• Turrets do 4x damage. Every turret brings a drone, and half of them bring a second one (up to 12 extra per zone). Drones are 1.75x faster with 2.5x damage.
• Delta Labs: the rising laser field is 2.2x faster (2x in High Security) and touching it kills you. Platforms move faster.
• Haunted Pier: moving hazards 1.75x, harmful fog does 3x.

Abyss

• 8 Nightmare faces hunt you at 1.6x speed and react twice as fast. Being caught kills you.
• Falling 40 m kills you. Falling for more than 2.5 seconds draws the faces to where you'll land.
• No artifacts.
• Dead Man's Handle: every hazard spawn chance succeeds, hazards cycle 2x and do 2.5x damage.

Nest

• 6x barnacles with 2x reach. 4x barnacle zombies (1.9x speed, 3x damage, security ones have +50% health).
• Tick roaches can't be killed, 4x as many, 2x speed, 3x feeding damage, feed 50% longer.
• 5x Spriders (2x speed, 2.5x damage, killing one alerts up to 4 more). 3x Grub Aunts. Faster Grub Sisters.
• 4x Spitter bloodbugs, swarm bloodbugs hit 3x harder, 3x gasbags, 3x Myzonts, 2x Ravelins, all faster and sharper.
• The Hunter is 2.5x faster, shakes off slows 65% sooner and hits 3x harder.
• The Mother: get within 50 m and you have 15 seconds to be 100 m away. There's no saving her in EXTREME.
• Water drains 20% of your max health every second.
• Infested Labs, Hot Zone and Feeding Trough: every hazard spawn chance succeeds and hazards cycle 2x. Biological surfaces in the Infested Labs do 2.5x, and everything environmental in the Hot Zone does 3x.
• In the last section the Mass is 2.2x, then 2.75x after 3 minutes.

Escalation and camping

• Every main region makes enemies faster: Pipeworks +10%, Habitation +20%, Abyss +30%, Nest +40%. Bosses and chase enemies keep their own speeds.
• Stay in roughly the same spot for 30 seconds and nearby enemies come looking. After 60 seconds, ambushes start.
• Every 5 minutes outside safe rooms, the next enemy that spawns has a 50% chance of bringing a copy.

Not in this version

These need game code this mod can't reach cleanly yet: the 5-second hammer stagger cooldown, shorter hazard warning sounds, faster turret and spitter bullets, darker fog on the Pier, Teeth searching hiding spots, and barnacles re-grabbing exactly 1 second after letting go.

Settings and logs

• SUPER HARD's numbers are in BepInEx/config/com.wkmods.superhardknuckle.cfg. EXTREME uses its own fixed numbers while an EXTREME run is going and never changes that file.
• EXTREME has BepInEx/config/com.wkmods.extremeknuckle.cfg (DebugLog, ShowLabel).
• With DebugLog on (the default), both modes write what they change to BepInEx/LogOutput.log. EXTREME lines start with [EXTREME]. If a rule doesn't seem to work, that log shows why.
• To go back to plain SUPER HARD, untick EXTREME.