Is there enough information given to you from NPCS to work out how to get to the towns etc or is it recommended playing in normal instead?
I must say that i regret not having played Hardcore mode from the get go. I know the map too well now and it kibda breaks the wonder of breaking the summit of a hill in a rainy night and seeing Sasau with the yellow glow from its local inn inviting you to come in for ale and some warm food like roasted rabbit or some pottidge.
Do the NPCs give you a direction you need to go for quests though or is it expected you already know the map?
A quest marker will appear on your map.
Regarding your question, I’m more worried about the combat. It is hard to master at first, and learning it on hardcore will be a pain without some key UI elements (green shield for blocking) that are removed on that version.
Give it a try, but don’t come here and whine about impossible or clunky combat system 
If you can be prepared to fight and run away. To live to fight another day. Like be an actual weasel. Use cunning and a horse shoe up your ass.
Could be lots of fun.
Keep us posted, I’d find this interesting.
Alas I cannot unlearn all my shit now, there is no eternal sunshine of the spotless mind type gig. Otherwise I’d play this on hardcore, watch Always Sunny from the start and eat noob shitty cooked steak again. Nom nom.
I would not recommend it at all mostly due to the combat markers in the HUD. It be very hard to understand the 5 direction + thrust system it uses and knowing when you are in which one without any markers. There are other visual cues but I don’t think trying to catch everything without the help of the marker is a viable way of learning the way. You can probably learn the fighting to such a degree you can beat the game but it be very hard to understand it properly without seeing the markers first and get a feel for the timings in this rather unique 5+1 system of combat. I strongly recommend playing the game at least through to prologue and a little more so you can get to the training arena where you can see more in depth how the combat works. If you feel you really understand it and think you can do it without the red markers i the targeting star sure by all means go for hardcore.
But again I strongly advice you go and train the combat some with that star marker still helping you simply because without it it will be very hard to learn it properly.
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Go in and find out…
today i have been fighting me vs. 5 guys and easily won with some sword swinging and stabing, lol… you dont need to use 5direction fighting… only if you meet more cumans together you must run away on horse if you are too week for them in the beginnings… HC is hard speaking of no fast travel (you need much more time for the game, hope youre not hurry) but its fun to look at the sun to know where is north/east/west so you know where to go…
unfortunately if you die you can load on previous safe so its not rly hardcore like in Diablo if you die your character is dead and you cant play it anymore lul
It is possible if you did that playing similar games and have some expirience.
I have completed other games like dark souls. I was just curious if it’s possible to play the first run on hardcore without any previous knowledge of the game. It seems most people playing hardcore have already completed the game on the standard difficultly. I started playing last night and so far it seems okay.
You will not get some major problems if you completed DS. I think bugs and glitches will be your most tough “bosses” 
Ps4.
I only finished the main quest yesterday. I was taking my sweet time exploring and killing. Then…
Between waiting for the right patch. 1.5 got stuck back in lots done, 
then 1.6 took a giant shit on my playthrough, but couldn’t wait indefinitely to finish anymore. I kinda regret soldiering on Through 1.6. it made all the cut scenes just a distraction waiting for stuff to load in that never did.
I got back into the main quest when hardcore mode dropped because I wanted to try it, but I’m not gonna even consider the hardcore now till 1.6 is dead and buried.