Minecraft just made it impossible to cheat in Hardcore worlds

A Hardcore save in Minecraft is truly one of the game's greatest challenges, but for too long, players have been able to use commands and change the gamemode as a way of getting around those pesky rules. Thankfully, Mojang has finally addressed this issue, with the 26.2 Pre-Release 5 update closing the loopholes that allowed players to cheat.

Minecraft Hardcore is simple in theory. You spawn into a world, and you need to mine, build houses, and fight off stronger mobs to survive. Die once, and it's game over. Your world locks, and you cannot go back other than to look at it - a floating camera looking wistfully at the place you used to call home.

Beating Hardcore Minecraft is a badge of honor and a sign that you have really mastered the game and its mechanics. Unfortunately, though, players discovered some workarounds that allowed them to circumvent the rules of the mode, meaning you could never truly tell if someone's run was legitimate or not. Thankfully, 26.2 Pre-Release 5 changes all that.

Previously, players could load exit out of their Hardcore save and load it up in LAN mode. Doing this allowed you to change the game mode. So, if you died, you could change it to a normal vanilla save, respawn, and then change it back. You would be alive in the world again as if nothing had happened, and you would avoid punishment.

In LAN mode, you could also turn on Commands, which are lines of code typed into the game that can turn on cheats or turn off settings. Players would use these to give them an advantage, again getting around the difficulty that makes Minecraft Hardcore such a tough challenge.

When the full Minecraft 26.2 update arrives on Tuesday, June 16, that'll all be gone, as Mojang has confirmed that these exploits are "no longer available in Hardcore mode worlds."

As someone who has beaten Minecraft before multiple times, but never managed to finish a Hardcore run, I'm glad to see Mojang step in and stop this behavior. It may also have a big effect on some Minecraft YouTubers, who may not be able to create their incredible "100 days in Hardcore" videos as easily now that they can't circumvent rules when required.

It's not just great fixes coming in Minecraft's 26.2 update either, as Chaos Cubed also introduces a brand-new biome, the Sulfur Cube mob, and Sulfur Caves for us to explore.