Game fans who grew up in the 80s and 90s know what hard means when it comes to video games. The NES had brutal games like Battletoads and Ninja Gaiden, and even the most popular games, like Super Mario Bros., were challenging. No one enjoyed hard games back then, but hard games today are beloved by a hardcore group of players.
There are many ways developers can make games hard, like with a difficulty setting. Then there are games with mechanics that players can’t change and are challenging from the start. Let’s go over some of the hardest games in recent memory and pinpoint how some of the mechanics are a bit unnecessarily rough. That doesn’t mean these games are bad; they’re just difficult to adjust to.
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Demon’s Souls
Goodbye, Progress
Demon's Souls
- Released
- November 12, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence
- Genre(s)
- RPG
Demon’s Souls is where the idea of hard games was sort of reborn, and it was the first game by FromSoftware that gave rise to the Soulslike genre term. There are many reasons why these games are challenging, but the most insulting mechanic is losing progress upon death.
Defeating enemies will net players Souls, which can be used to level up or buy items. If players die, they can run back to retrieve their Souls, but if they die again along the way, then those Souls are lost for good. Spending hours grinding only to have it lost can be a disheartening feeling, but for others, that risk-reward trial is invigorating, and it was made a bit more accesible with the 2020 remake.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
My Bug Kingdom For A Checkpoint
Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Released
- September 4, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
Hollow Knight was not an easy game, but the discourse around its sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, is largely centered on the difficulty spike. One big issue is the run-up to bosses, who are already hard, but they are made more taxing because of the routes to get back to them.
Savage Beastfly and Last Judge are two of the hardest bosses in the game, but not as hard as the trial players have to go through in-between bench save points. It’s like adding insult to injury, and it could be made so much easier if there were checkpoints, but some may enjoy the process.
Death Stranding
Do Boots Really Wear Out That Fast?
Death Stranding
- Released
- November 8, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Action
Death Stranding was Hideo Kojima’s first game after leaving Konami, and it’s significantly harder than any Metal Gear game. The basic premise is about Sam, the protagonist, delivering packages to post-apocalyptic bunker societies in the wastes of the United States. There were mechanics stacked on top of mechanics, and it could have been a simple courier game.
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Players can't move too fast or else they’d trip and fall, causing package damage and Sam’s partner, a baby called BB, to cry. There are evil entities that can stalk players too without a way back. All of this was simplified in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. So, at least Kojima learned from the challenges players had with the original.
Cuphead
Gorgeous But Devious
Cuphead
- Released
- September 29, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
Cuphead is one of the best hand-drawn games ever made, but it’s also one of the toughest. Except for some stages, most levels are focused on big, elaborate boss fights that can take a while. While the amount of projectiles can make bosses challenging, it’s the fact that there are no checkpoints that can drive players wild. The game does have an “easier” setting called Simple Mode, but if players beat a boss in this mode, it doesn’t count toward the story’s progress. It may as well not even be there, and it didn’t have to be this way.
Monster Hunter: World
Time Out
Monster Hunter: World Game
- Released
- January 26, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Teen
- Genre(s)
- Fighting, Action RPG, Action-Adventure
There are a few things that can give players trouble in Monster Hunter: World, even though it does feature many quality-of-life improvements from its predecessors. For example, players can group up with three other players online to hunt massive beasts to get crafting materials.
Most of these hunts have time limits and death counts. If the group dies a certain number of times, that’s it, even if the monster is about to die and there are still three allies left alive. Between the timer, failing because of someone else, and not seeing a health bar on enemies, Monster Hunter as a whole can be one of the hardest series to get into.
XCOM: Enemy Within
Fight Aliens, Lose Allies
XCOM: Enemy Within
- Released
- November 12, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based Strategy, Tactical
XCOM: Enemy Within has one of the hardest mechanics that can drive any player away: permadeath. This strategy game involves the titular XCOM organization fighting back against alien invaders. Players create and control customized and random characters in battle, upgrading them in-between missions.
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If a teammate dies in battle, that’s it for them. Players can try to use save tricks to reload before death, but this process can be a hassle. Like Soulslike games, it can be disheartening to lose progress after building up a character for countless hours.
Jak 2
A Wild Leap In Difficulty
Jak II
- Released
- October 14, 2003
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure, Third-Person Shooter
Jak 2 is an example of a sequel that went too far in the other direction. While challenging at times, the first game, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, was a fairly inviting 3D platformer. Its sequel ramped up the difficulty tenfold by adding guns and a Grand Theft Auto-like mission structure.
There are many missions set to timers or that have strange conditions, which can make them hard to finish. It’s a cool, more mature game that does technically fit with where the first game leaves off, but the difficulty spike is just so abrupt.
Breath Of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Countdown To Doom
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
- Released
- November 2, 2002
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Genre(s)
- JRPG, Strategy
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is the fifth game in the series and the first on the PS2, which moved the setting from fantasy to sci-fi. There are a lot of things to like about the new setting, gameplay, and art style, but there’s also a big difficulty spike in the game’s design compared to other entries.
Everything players do, from fighting to moving, adds percentages to a timer. At 100%, it's Game Over. The only real way to combat this timer was to start over, thankfully with carried-over progress. It’s almost like a looper game, as players have to get as far as they can before having to restart all over again, countless times.
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