Professional or Hardcore

[Bort]

I just beat the game on Standard... died a few times but no brick walls.

I'm going to start a new game on a harder difficulty. Should I try Hardcore or go straight to Professional? For reference, I loved Madhouse on RE7, but hated Village of Shadows as it was designed around having the extra content unlocked.

[Steel]

Professional is more like VoS than it is Madhouse. I'm gonna be honest Pro in this game made me start hating it, the gameplay is not consistent enough to handle that level of challenge. The way they increase the difficulty feels specifically designed to showcase the flaws in the combat.

[๖ۣۜMk137]

Professional on NG+ is not significantly harder than hardcore on new game. That being said, neither of them are easy. I would personally recommend hardcore first and then a professional run if you feel comfortable with it.

[Bort]

Thanks to both of you. I'll start Hardcore. I'm enjoying the game and don't want to ruin it.

[Turkwise]

Professional is still nowhere near as difficult as VoS on new game. Playing through the village in new game professional can be a bit of a hassle but once you get to the castle its completely fine.

[Sadyka]

Never played a "new game" on VoS , but I JUST finished my pro run for my handcannon (Think I clocked in at 6hrs 20 minutes or so). I've played VoS (RE8), Inferno (RE3 Remake), whatever the difficulty is for RE2 Remake and Madhouse for RE7. This one was definitely tough but again enjoyable.

Its absolutely tough, unfair and made me want to pull my hair out. But, once you figure out a section and beat it, its extremely satisfying. Going for my S+ now with the Handcannon + unlimited Ammo once I get the ticket to do so. I did it in 50-60 saves, I'm a scrub and forgot most of the time theres a typewriter after a chapter.

[Banana]

This game is very generous on save point, even Pro has no auto save but they put tons of save point everywhere, so you can just play, die, learn, reload, and die again.
Starting is hard, because in Pro is different than other difficulties due to you can only do perfect parry, means you cant let enemies get near you, plus enemies can do combo (like 1 2 punch then grab you instantly, cant dodge).
Without bonus weapon, it is hard, but doable, but still... strongly suggest getting Ashely' armor to save your sanity.

[Veylox]

If you want to play it regularly, professional is an actual nightmare, mostly because of the saves, and you should probably try hardcore first.

But professional is so bad that it encourages you to play the game like a speedrun, and if you do it kinda becomes a cakewalk, it's just not really interesting

[Lunar Shower]

Really don't understand a lot of the complaints for Professional here, or at least the comparisons to VoS in RE8. Its nowhere NEAR that bad, the survival section in that, and even more so the first Dimitrescu daughter can make a casual, NG playthrough of VoS something you can ACTUALLY soft lock in if you don't manage your resources correctly, something that's really just not nearly as possible in Pro RE4 unless you absolutely waste everything you get given how much the game will shower you in whatever resource you're lacking (ammo, health, money otherwise). Its difficult for sure, especially if you're going for S+, though there are ways to make it infinitely easier (Armored Ashley, Chicken Hat, Chicago Sweeper).

All in all, Hardcore is probably a better difficulty to go up to, just for the fact you can better prepare yourself for Pro by unlocking Armored Ashley with an A on a Hardcore run, then probably just go for either S+ Hardcore as further prep if you care about S+ Pro for the chicken hat, or just go into a NG+ Pro with something like the infinite RPG to get an easy sweeper.

The only major differences by and large in Hardcore and Pro is the far stricter timing for the parries, and lack of auto saves, even limiting manual saves to 15 or less if going for S+. Its a challenging mode for sure, tougher than that of the OG's Pro difficulty, but its not NEARLY as bad as Village of Shadows, or even Inferno RE3Make, especially if you attempt that without any bonuses/unlocked buffs.

[Faded]

Do standard, hardcore, take a break with assisted, and then pro.

Thats what im doing, im currently on my break run through on assisted just for easy money. Then im on to pro