{"id":9827,"date":"2022-10-01T08:08:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T08:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.offkorn.com\/blog\/?p=9827"},"modified":"2025-12-01T23:04:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T23:04:41","slug":"hell-mode-1-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.offkorn.com\/blog\/hell-mode-1-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell Mode #1-4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally I was planning on skipping the Hell Mode<\/a> (English subtitle: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing<\/em>) novels since there was no indication the story was anything other than your standard harem-ish power fantasy… and I can’t remember why I ended up giving it a chance.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the first book turns out to be nothing of the sort. It’s actually a pretty damn good story about a guy who really loves doing mindlessly repetitive tasks in order to watch his stats go up (sort of similar in theme to Na Honjaman Level-Up<\/a>) and I ended up enjoying it even despite the fact that I’m actively opposed to his playstyle. The second book then isn’t much different beyond giving a brief nod near the end toward the meaning of the subtitle.<\/p>\n

The third though… the third is a problem. Those who’ve read the TenSura<\/a> novels may recall that at a certain point gamified dudgeon-delving was introduced out of nowhere. The same thing happens here. The protagonist also reverts to his pre-reincarnation personality and start spouting game terminology all the time which then gets incorporated into the other characters’ dialog. It’s real bad.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the fourth book, which changes locations once more to put the action on the front lines of the war. It’s here the series becomes a full-fledged power fantasy with all that entails. Just absolutely ridiculous numbers being thrown around to the point you have to wonder where exactly it can go from here. To be honest though I don’t really mind that. What I do mind is that there’s every indication the fifth book will go back to focusing on that dungeon-clearing bullshit and that the world will become increasingly gamified. So I don’t think I’ll be following the series any further.<\/p>\n

As an aside, I’m not sure why LN authors have a tendency to apologize<\/em> in the afterword whenever they write a normal-length book: “I’m terribly sorry for giving you your money’s worth!”. Like, seriously, what the hell?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally I was planning on skipping the Hell Mode (English subtitle: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing) novels since there was no indication the story was anything other than your standard harem-ish power fantasy… and I can’t remember why I ended up giving it a chance. Regardless, the first book turns out to be nothing of the sort. It’s actually a pretty damn good story about a guy who really loves doing mindlessly repetitive tasks in order to watch his stats go up (sort of similar in theme to Na Honjaman Level-Up) and I ended up enjoying it even despite the fact that I’m actively opposed to his playstyle. The second book then isn’t much different beyond giving a brief nod near the end toward the meaning of the subtitle. The third though… the third is a problem. Those who’ve read the TenSura novels may recall that at a certain point gamified dudgeon-delving was introduced out of nowhere. The same thing happens here. The protagonist also reverts to his pre-reincarnation personality and start spouting game terminology all the time which then gets incorporated into the other characters’ dialog. It’s real bad. Which brings us to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[28,560,559,510],"class_list":["post-9827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-related","tag-fantasy","tag-hamuo","tag-hell-mode","tag-young-adult-novel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t