Left 4 Dead 2

From 1UP’s Preview of Left 4 Dead 2:

But, as we wrap up our playtime, David Ellis notices a mysterious option in the menu as we wait for a new match to start: “Realism mode.” I ask Faliszek, and he coyly comments, “that’s a special modifier that we forgot to hide for this demo.” We then ask Valve VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi, and he quips that it’s something for the super hardcore player, and slightly elaborates, “Take Portal for example: We had our best internal players who could blow through that game in about 30 minutes, but within weeks of launching it we had people on YouTube beating [the testers'] times by 10 minutes or more. Realism is for those players.” We’ll keep an eye out for more details about Realism, and any other surprises as Left 4 Dead 2 gets closer to release.

From Destructoid:

Hey, I hear you’re pretty good at killing zombies in Left 4 Dead. Getting on the rescue chopper? Too easy. And that boat? That Tank may as well take his lunch break, because he’s wasting his time, right?

Well, the “Realism” mode — a game modifier spotted by 1UP during a recent Left 4 Dead 2 demo — is about to test your skills. While Valve isn’t ready to reveal the mode in full just yet (it was apparently a modifier it forgot to hide for the press demos), marketing director Doug Lombardi dropped a few hints on the mode apparently designed with the “hardcore” player in mind.

“Take Portal for example,” he says. “We had our best internal players who could blow through that game in about 30 minutes, but within weeks of launching it we had people on YouTube beating [the testers'] times by 10 minutes of more. Realism if for those players.”