played for the first time on hard difficulty, while also using the expanded game mod for the first time. the good news is hard difficulty was a refreshing way to play this game i've played about a thousand times now, and that's coming from someone who fucking hates playing on hard difficulties. the bad news is the expanded game mod is not balanced well for hard difficulty at all. the new york city level and the second section of the time warp level are WAY too fucking hard and tedious, while the additions to act 5, specifically the 3 new bosses, are actively fucking miserable. the worst part is they aren't optional like a lot of the additions in this mod, so you either have to power through bosses that do an insane amount of damage and have an insane amount of health OR just play as an overpowered character like the galactus mod i had. i had him on my roster simply because i wanted it to be themed after the fantastic four, and i never planned as playing him, but i had to bust him out to get through these sections. i'll probably play this mod again in the future on normal difficulty to see if it's balanced better there, because i wholeheartedly cannot recommend anyone play the expanded game mod on hard. still love this modding community and it amazes me that something like the expanded game can even exist, but playing it on hard difficulty just isn't it