Yep, and was able to shoot me, I did "extract" him using the stagbreaker.

Got me totally by surprise.

In hardcore preset or very hard combat, this is insta death.

EDIT: and it happened a second time

EDIT2: got the same thing, in the swamp, with one archer trapped in a big branch next to a building.

Yeah, those procedural generation discrepancies does void the "hardcore preset" for good. It is not a skill issue, but a pure luck issue.

I advise everybody to play NOT any run on the "hardcore preset".