Hell Mode: Yarikomizuki no Gamer wa Hai Settei no Isekai de Musou suru

"Level up even while offline?! That's not a game on 'easy mode'—that's just an AFK game!" The online game Kenichi Yamada had been playing religiously is shutting down its servers, leaving him with a void in his heart. He looks for a new game to fill it, but everything he finds is way too easy. The kind of game he likes—the kind punishing enough to make players want to spend thousands of hours on it—just isn't around anymore.

"What's this? 'You are invited to a game that will never end.'" Kenichi stumbles upon an untitled game, one promising incomparable challenge with unprecedented potential. Without hesitation, he selects the "Hell Mode" difficulty. Lo and behold, he finds himself reincarnated in another world as a serf! Now called Allen, he sets out to unlock the secrets of his mystery-laden Summoner class; without the convenience of walkthroughs, game guides, or online forums, he must grope his way to the top of his new world!

(Source: J-Novel Club)

Allen Main

Tamura, Mutsumi Japanese

Theresia Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Dogora Supporting

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Mash Supporting

Koichi, Makoto Japanese

Deboji Supporting

Chafuurin Japanese

Gerda Supporting

Shirokuma, Hiroshi Japanese

Pelomas Supporting

Matsumoto, Sara Japanese

Leibrand Supporting

Kokubun, Masato Japanese

Mithilda Supporting

Okamura, Akemi Japanese

Commoner Supporting

Aoi, Hiroyuki Producer

Kaneko, Hirotaka Producer

Tsuboi, Nobuhito Producer

Yoneyama, Takayuki Producer

Reviews

Jan 30, 2026

thewiru

Recommended

Preliminary (4/12 eps)

Normally, 4 episodes are enough to do a proper review on a LN adaptation, as it is usually the episode amount needed to cover it's first volume.
Based on it's pacing and the LN covers, it seems that Hell Mode will either just adapt two volumes (Similar to "Tsuyokute New Saga"), or it will take it's time (5 or 6 episodes) with the first and then use the rest to adapt volumes 2 and 3.

Regardless, this slower pace gives the anime a certain "comfy" feeling: Yes, eventually our characters will don the cool gear that's on the poster, but for now... let's just enjoy the scrap ... clothes, the wooden swords, the serf life at the lord's lands, bartering for prices in salt, enjoying our family life and thinking about this years taxes.
While the obvious comparison would be Mushoku Tensei (It's easy to see Krena as a mix or Sylphie and Eris, especially the latter), I would say it is closer to Honzuki no Gekokujou.
I absolutely LOVE the "skills and stats autism" in this anime, just like I loved it in Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?. In that regard it technically competes with Tensei shitara Dragon no Tamago datta, but I just see the situation as "HOLY SHIT, TWO CAKES!".

The premise is... a bit absurd.
It reminds me of pre-Narou isekai, where the past of a character before coming to a new world simply doesn't matter and is rarely, if any, mentioned/referenced. We simply have a guy that just accepts that he was teleported and treats it like a game... despite the fact of having to actually live like a serf 24/7 (Honestly, at this point he could've just interpreted real life as an unbalanced game and become the ultimate hustler). I could at least kinda understand last season's Yasei no Last Boss ga Arawareta! approach to that, as it was 1: Inspiring itself in Overlord, in which the protagonist DOESN'T WANT TO go back to his previous world and 2: That's technically a world she feels familiar and related to...
But here? It feels like it wants to have a cake and eat it: I don't feel that the "This world is real to this people" strikes as hard as similar scenes in Mushoku Tensei or Re:Zero, because in those we have a backstory of our protagonists previous lives to draw a connection, while here we have... kinda nothing (Granted, Re:Zero only started touching the previous life of it's main character in it's third arc, and Honzuki no Gekokujou also did something similar, so maybe there's hope here?).

The CGI might look a bit silly, and it's studio also sucks, but from the moment I saw it's color palette (Vibrant ones rather than washed ones you usually see in generic, low quality stuff), I new it was already a level above slop, and I was proven correct.
Honestly, if you enjoyed the "Feudal communal life" aspect of Honzuki no Gekokujou (Which I did) and Narou-kei RPG stat growth mechanics (Which I also did), this might be the perfect anime for you, lol.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 30, 2026

Turtezin

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (4/12 eps)

Story
The start is actually pretty decent. It sets up the "Hell Mode" grind well and the progress feels steady so far. My main worry is the 12-episode limit. For a story that’s supposed to be a slow burn, I’m scared the studio is going to panic and rush everything or just give us a "go read the manga" cliffhanger ending. It’s got potential, but the pacing is on thin ice.

Visuals
Visually, it’s your standard, middle-of-the-road isekai. It doesn’t look bad, but it doesn't look great either. To be honest, I’m pretty disappointed with how cartoonish the MC’s summons look, they lack any real "cool" factor. We ... haven't seen any big budget animation or crazy effects yet, so the jury is still out on whether the action will actually look good later on.

Conclusion
Is it worth watching? Only if you’re a die-hard isekai fan with nothing else on your list. It’s a cool concept, but 12 episodes is a tight window for this kind of story. I’d say hold off for a few weeks until episode 8 is out. That way, you’ll know if the quality stays solid or if it turns into a rushed mess before you commit.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Hell Mode: Yarikomizuki no Gamer wa Hai Settei no Isekai de Musou suru Episode 4 Discussion Stark700 - Jan 30	17 replies	by Dreadogastus_F »» Feb 1, 6:13 PM
	Poll: Hell Mode: Yarikomizuki no Gamer wa Hai Settei no Isekai de Musou suru Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jan 16	52 replies	by Dreadogastus_F »» Feb 1, 4:47 PM
	Poll: Hell Mode: Yarikomizuki no Gamer wa Hai Settei no Isekai de Musou suru Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jan 9	58 replies	by lkaser »» Jan 27, 10:29 AM
	Poll: Hell Mode: Yarikomizuki no Gamer wa Hai Settei no Isekai de Musou suru Episode 3 Discussion UtakaSenpai - Jan 23	24 replies	by Eddyiori76 »» Jan 27, 5:43 AM
	Opening similarities to Great Cleric tyguru - Jan 22	2 replies	by Pyon2WarpKun »» Jan 25, 7:06 AM