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If the default difficulty settings are too easy or too hard for you there is a master difficulty setting in the Preferences Screen that can be set to suit all levels of gamers. This setting does not only make your opponents weaker or stronger, it also changes some other subtle parameters to make the game more suitable to your taste.

Do not be embarrassed if the game is too hard for you even at Moderate Difficulty; Hollow Ground was designed with hardcore gamers in mind. Turn the difficulty down to begin with and hone your skills until you are ready for the tougher settings. Once you get a firm grip of the game's tactical side you will notice that there is a great deal of re-play value. Re-playing does not become repetitive once you understand where the true variation in the game comes from. Do not be fooled by the fact that Hollow Ground has some similarities with first-person action shooters; it is a game of tactics. Hollow Ground will jog both your trigger finger and your brain. Some veteran gamers would tell you that it is so addictive it ought to have a Surgeon General's Warning!

There is also a hidden difficulty mode called Suicide that is activated after you have finished the game once. Suicide difficulty is not impossible, but it is so hard that you need to be a true Hollow Ground master to beat the game at that insane difficulty.

Notice: If you are a very impatient person you might want to cheat by holding down the ALT key while selecting the general difficulty setting in the Preferences Screen to enable Suicide mode without actually having beaten the game. On the other hand if you can't beat the game, you will not survive more than a few seconds in Suicide Mode. This can of course also be handy in case your hi-score file is lost or deleted.