Hardcore

Hardcore is a variant of Survival and one of the main game modes in Minecraft. In this mode, the world is locked to Hard difficulty and the player cannot respawn after dying.

Features
The key feature of Hardcore mode is that the player is not given the option to respawn upon death as they would in other game modes. Instead, there are two buttons on the death screen: "Spectate world" and "Title screen". "Spectate world" sets the player to Spectator mode and respawns the player at the world's spawn point, making them able to view and explore the world only in that mode. The "Title screen" button simply leads the player to the main menu screen; re-opening the world simply returns the player back to the same death screen as before. Respawn anchors do not resurrect players in Hardcore mode.

In addition, Hardcore mode worlds are restricted to Hard difficulty, being the second key feature.

When creating a Hardcore mode world, the Enable Cheats and Bonus Chest world options are locked to OFF. On the world selection menu, Hardcore mode worlds display dark red text reading "Hardcore Mode!"

Hardcore mode is specific to worlds, not players; the variable determining whether the world is in Hardcore mode is saved in. Thus, the player can use (if cheats are enabled) to set themselves to Creative mode. Players in Creative mode while on a Hardcore mode world still see Hardcore mode's death screen upon death.

It is normally impossible to toggle Hardcore mode once the world has been created, though it is possible to use external programs such as NBTExplorer to change it by setting the  tag to either 1 (hardcore) or 0 (normal).

However, it is possible to enable cheats through the Open to LAN feature in the pause menu. From here, the player can, while spectating the world after death, type to bring themselves back to Survival mode, being able to play again by cheating death.

Multiplayer
Hardcore mode is an option for multiplayer, and its functions are similar to those in singleplayer. All players have Hardcore mode enabled — it is impossible to have some players in Hardcore and some not. Hardcore mode cannot be played in Realms.

Server operators can use the command to change the game mode of themselves or another player.

Trivia



 * When Notch announced Hardcore mode on Twitter, he jokingly posted an image of an 'ultra hardcore' mode where the premium status of the player's account is revoked on death. This is not to be confused with the custom gamemode of Ultra Hardcore, which was invented later.
 * When a Hardcore mode world is loaded on a version released prior to Hardcore mode, the world is converted into a Survival world. Loading this world in a version featuring Hardcore mode does not revert the world back to Hardcore mode.