Vex 7 Hardcore Acts: How to Unlock Them and What Changes

What the game calls Hard mode

In the menus and trophies Vex 7 calls these levels Hardcore acts, and one tutorial sign calls it Hard mode. There are nine of them, one each for Acts 1 to 9. The tenth act, Vexation, has no hardcore version. In the level hub each hardcore act has its own block next to the normal one.

How to unlock a hardcore act

A hardcore act stays locked until you get all three stars in its normal act: finish it, collect every coin, and finish it without dying. Until then the game puts a row of spikes on top of the hardcore block, so you cannot use it. The stars can come from different runs. Our stars guide lists the coin goal for every act.

What changes in a hardcore act

A hardcore act is not the normal level with faster traps. It is a separate layout in the game’s level file, built on the same route. Comparing the two files shows a clear pattern:

• The coin goal stays the same. Each hardcore act asks for the same number of coins as its normal act, and the death target is still zero.
• The number of checkpoints stays the same. Checkpoints are not taken away, but the stretches between them are harder.
• There are more hazards. Act 2 goes from 17 buzzsaws and 19 spike strips to 25 saws and 35 spike strips. Act 5 goes from 11 to 19 saws.
• New trap types appear. Hardcore Act 1 adds missile launchers and vertical saws, and hardcore Act 6 adds lasers, security cameras and shuriken spawners, none of which are in the normal version.

Each hardcore act also has its own music track and its own best time, kept apart from your normal time.

Trap types you will meet

The death messages in the game’s text file give a quick list of what kills you: spikes, hard landings, buzzsaws, crushing blocks, drowning, falling out of the world, the reaper’s scythe, shurikens, electricity, lasers and spikes that drop from above. Hardcore acts use more of all of these, so it helps to know how each one behaves:

• Lasers are hard to get through slowly. An in-game tip suggests the kick (hold down in mid-air) to get through them faster.
• Sparks run along the edges of some blocks, and a spark that touches water electrifies it.
• Solar blocks vanish when the lights go off, and pink blocks turn invisible as you get closer.
• Red keys disappear after five seconds, so you have to move quickly once one is in play.

Trophies for hardcore play

The Trophies screen has a Hardcore tab with one trophy per act (“Complete Act Hard 1” and so on) and a trophy for finishing all of them. These are separate from the standard act trophies.

A sensible order

• Get all three stars on one normal act before moving to the next. Each set of stars opens a hardcore act right away, which gives you something new to try.
• Learn the hardcore act one checkpoint at a time. The checkpoints are in familiar places, so that is where you rebuild your rhythm.
• Turn on auto restart for the no-death star only after you can finish the level reliably.