The difference between Hard and Normal servers in Once Human

With season change in Once Human, there are a few new things to look out for. New Hard-Mode servers are one of those, and in this post I’ll be telling you exactly what the differences are.

There are also new Deviant variations in all servers, and you can take a look at my Super Anomalies in Once Human article to get a better sense of how that works and what rewards you can get in different servers.

Hard Server Challenges

Normal servers are what we just played through. Everything is pretty easy and there’s no real challenge in the overworld.

Hard servers offer a little more for those of us who seek a real challenge. In these servers we’ll see more Pollution zones all over, and they’ll drain our Sanity even more. So if you’re going to attempt these, make sure you know how to brew drinks in Once Human.

Your Energy and Hydration will also deplete twice as quickly as normal, so you’ll need to secure sources of food and drink as a matter of urgency.

Deviants will also be tougher, faster, more aware, and they’ll hit you more often. So the overworld will no longer be quite as safe as you remember it.

Finally, Territory Purifications will have even tougher Deviants attacking your base. This is welcome to me personally, as these were always pretty easy, am I right?

You can bet I’ll try to solo one of these for you and see if it’s even possible. But do give it time.

Overall, we might have to rely on friends more often in the Hard servers. This, weirdly, could make the Hard servers more social than the normal servers, where we can pretty much just speed run to the end solo.

Now that I’ve spent some time in the hard mode server, here are the answers to your burning questions.

How tough are Hard mode enemies?

In the overworld, they’re still pretty easy to deal with. They do seem to deal more damage — I’m certainly using a lot more activators than usual — but overall, if you have a solid build you’ll have no trouble with the new server mode.

However, as you progress past the beginner areas, you will encounter some tougher enemies. I encountered an elite Balance Super Anomaly enemy at Rippelby, and I had to use quite a few activators in this fight.

Given that my main build is currently power surge, I had to use my secondary DE.50. I had some trouble defeating him, since my DPS just wasn’t high enough on the pistol (and Balance enemies restore health). After enlisting the help of my deviant (a Wolf’s Whisper or Lone Wolf), I managed to defeat him.

Don’t take these types of enemies lightly.

How annoying is the increased hunger and thirst?

Not annoying at all! The first thirty minutes, maybe, you’ll have some trouble keeping your hunger and thirst topped up (if you, like me, don’t want to use the premium foods you’re given at the start). As soon as you’re established, however, just keep some dried meat and boiled water on you, and you’ll be fine.

Dried meat is super easy to make, all you need is salt and raw meat. To make salt, get some seawater and turn it into salt at the stove. Pop it into your meat drier (once you’ve unlocked the memetic) and you’ll have plenty of dried meat in no time.

Should you move to a Hard mode server in Once Human?

Absolutely. It’s the same old thing, you’ll be running the same spots you did and there’s no story this time — but it’s just new enough to keep one entertained. The hard mode server is a lot of fun, and Starry Studios have announced — through Once Human’s official Steam page — that more hard mode servers will be opening up soon.

If you’re worried about it being too difficult, don’t. It’s all the same thing, except for the slightly increased challenge of staying fed, and the new enemy types.

There is also, of course, the boost to rewards. Instead of 4,000 Starchrom when purifying 40 lvl 3 Cortexes, you’ll get 4,400. Over six weeks of server time, that’s an extra 2,400 Starchrom — almost enough for a new armor piece.

This reward may apply to Prime Wars as well — we’ll know for sure within the next two days.

The chests are all in the same spots, as are the secrets to be found.