hardcore mode is like survival mode, but the game is set to the hardest difficulty, which cannot be changed. the player also cannot enable cheats when they create the world and can only do so if they use the "open to lan" option in the game menu while they are playing. if a player dies in hardcore mode, they can not respawn, and can only play the world in spectator mode. if cheats are enabled, it is possible for the player to play in survival mode again by using commands to change the game mode. this game mode is only available in java edition.