One of the biggest complaints about Football Manager 26 (setting aside the endless arguments about FM26’s UI, feel, and general vibe) is that the game itself just isn’t hard enough anymore. Once you understand how the best tactics really work, it’s very easy to fall into META setups and start steamrolling the AI. In the Premier League, money barely matters. Spend big, spend badly, it rarely bites you where it hurts.

The AI’s transfer dealings don’t help either. If you’re even half-competent in the market, you can slowly but surely build a squad that outgrows everyone else. Real football is chaotic. You can rise quickly, but you can fall just as fast. In Football Manager, though, it’s unusual for your save to go anywhere other than steadily upwards once you’ve got going.

That might be about to change. A new Ultimate Difficulty Pack claims to turn FM26 from something that’s fairly comfortable most of the time into something genuinely punishing. A save that feels like a slow grind just to stay alive. But what actually is this difficulty mod, and does it really work? Let’s take a look.

Football Manager 26 Ultimate Difficulty

The Ultimate Difficulty Pack for FM26 is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a deliberately unforgiving overhaul aimed at players who think Football Manager has become a bit too cosy once you’ve cracked its systems.

Created by SirTAVARES and released on Boxing Day, the pack doesn’t rely on cheap tricks. Instead, it quietly tightens the screws across the game. Mistakes carry more weight. Progress takes longer. And success never feels guaranteed.

Rather than being a single blanket difficulty increase, the pack is split into two separate modes. One is built around smarter opposition and harsher decision-making. The other attacks the most powerful force in Football Manager: money. You can download it via FM Scout, where full installation instructions and compatibility details are also listed.

What does the mod actually do?

The Ultimate Difficulty Pack is about removing the safety nets that FM26, and pretty much every Football Manager before it, has always offered. This makes for a much more unforgiving experience with the introduction of new game modes that offer additional challenge.

Hardcore Mode

Hardcore Mode is the more familiar of the two options, but that doesn’t make it forgiving. This version focuses on making the footballing world around you far less patient. Opposition managers adapt quicker and punish lazy tactical choices. Boards demand results sooner and show far less interest in long-term rebuild speeches.

The transfer market becomes tighter and more competitive too. Miss out on a key target, misjudge a wage demand and you feel the consequences straight away. What stands out is that the difficulty feels fair. You’re not being cheated. You’re just being forced to plan properly, rotate sensibly, and deliver results consistently.

Berserk Mode

Berserk Mode takes everything Hardcore Mode does and removes the financial cushioning entirely. This is where the save stops feeling tough and starts feeling hostile.

Budgets are effectively gutted. Wage flexibility disappears. Sponsorship income dries up. Growth slows to a crawl, and every financial decision comes with long-term consequences. Even free transfers stop feeling free once wages and bonuses are taken into account. One bad contract renewal can ripple through your club for months.

This mode changes how you play FM26 at a fundamental level. Progress is slow and uncomfortable. You’re not building wonderkid factories or chasing back-to-back promotions here. You’re trying to keep the club afloat and avoid things spiralling out of control.

It definitely won’t be for everyone, and that’s the point. Berserk Mode is survival football stripped back to its basics. Perfect for players who genuinely want a challenge, or who secretly enjoy being punished by their saves.

Is the mod actually good?

This mod is a brilliant addition to Football Manager and I hope we see it for many games to come as well as FM26. I’ve asked the question of whether Football Manager is “too easy” many times on my page and the majority response back has always been that the game is just slightly easier than you’d like.

The game is not too easy if you’re new to the game, but if you’ve played for a long time then it definitely can become predictable when you learn all the tricks. Even if it was only too easy for a very small minority, having a mod that can improve the experience for the most experienced players who want a new challenge is great.

The only issue I’ve seen with the mod is that it’s incredibly hard to get players on a free transfer to want to come and play with you. But once this issue gets ironed out then this will be a brilliant addition to the game for those who want to play it. 

While Football Manager 26 was designed to be the first entry in a new generation of FM, the new game is essentially the same as every other game in the series, albeit with an annoying new UI and the addition of women’s football. Sure, there’s some fantastic changes in the mix, but Sports Interactive has consistently pushed back against harder difficulties in official releases, which this mod fixes.