The development process of video games witnessed many stages. First was the classical arcades in the 80-90s, which demanded a constant stream of playing from one round to another. Following those was the first generation of consoles. You could find all the games running on these platforms surprisingly hard, due to the limitations in technology, as well as the cunning minds of the developers.
As we advanced to the 21st century, video games became much easier, user-friendlier than in the past, thanks to the comprehensive tutorials tailored in the game and the variety of difficulties. Yet there are still many titles with astonishingly high difficulty, which require a great will from players to complete. Check out these 15 modern games that will be a real challenge to you.
15. The Witness
Among the puzzle-solving games in a few years back, the Witness is probably the most brilliant one you can experience. The game puts you in a likely empty island, and with only one line, you have to move from one point to another in order to solve the game’s various logical puzzles. You will find the enormous number of puzzles and the requirements for each one most difficult. You should also learn the “rules” and apply them to the following puzzles to move on and reveal the world’s secrets. As you advance in the game, you can realize that you have to rely on the previous puzzles to solve the latter ones. This game will push your brain and your eyes to the very top of their capabilities. Each puzzle you meet in the game will grant you a whole new experience.
14. Monster Hunter: World
First released last year, Monster Hunter: World rapidly became Capcom’s most favorite product of all time. It was the game’s user-friendliness that made it more popular than its predecessors. Yet any newbies to the game would easily realize how hard the game could be. You must arm yourself with a considerable knowledge to combat in-game monsters: each one possesses its own attack behaviors. It is advisable that you master those patterns whilst being patient for the righteous moment to perform your attack. Understanding all 14 weapons of the game is also a hard task, since each of which has its own pros and cons that affect the way you combat. Monster Hunter: World requires you to encounter 48 monsters in total and defeat them all — it will take you many hours not just to win those monsters, but to practice thoroughly before each fight as well.
13. XCOM 2
XCOM 2, as well as its brother XCOM: Enemy Unknown, puts you into the commander seat of a military strike team. Your task is to get rid of all of the dangerous alien creatures together. The two titles above are popularly difficult for their AI systems, which are astonishingly intelligent (just like aliens). If you want to win the game, you should minimize all of your mistakes (I mean it). And remember, if your friendly dies, he’s screwed, the game doesn’t allow to respawn. You will find XCOM 2 a real challenge in case you’re a gamer of perfection. During primary battles, you will encounter a lot of future stuff, from weapons, to techs and abilities. Yet losing a teammate in XCOM can be really awful, which often results in restarting the entire battle. In fact, this ain’t wrong, yet the game will automatically increase the difficulty if it finds you complete your battles flawlessly, with zero mistake and RNG.
12. VVVVVV
VVVVVV puts you in the eyes of Captain Viridian, who has just lost all of his crewmen. You will have to get over a series of levels, including a lot of spikes and perilous obstacles, so as to grasp the entire crew. The interesting part of this game is that you don’t perform ordinary moves in navigating the level (jumping, etc.), but adjust the gravity accurately instead between the ceiling and the floor. This results in some mind-hacking scenarios that require your ability to reflex as quickly as possible. Apart from the rescue mission, there are optional trophies for you to collect, yet each of them can pose a considerable challenge to you.
11. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Your opponents in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus may always know where you are, just like eagle eyes. To make you busier, the game will give you a little instruction on enemies’ lines of fire. If you pick harder difficulties, it will be really demanding for you when your average damage and health are decreased. At the lowest difficulty, the game is still able to take a lot of your effort to complete. You can try the “Mein Leben” difficulty, in which you get only 1 life to complete the entire campaign – only 0.1% players can complete this. Can you?
10. Spelunky
You might have heard this title before, Spelunky is an exploring game which has surprising difficulties. Your objective is to collect all of the valuable loot while evading numerous obstacles, traps and enemies in a series of caverns generated procedurally. It is your greed that is tested the most when you play Spelunky. You may find a treasure chest out of reach while reaching a level’s ending. In case you can’t make it, you have to start over from the beginning. (frustrated, eh?) The game’s timer will surely put high pressure on you, as well as ensure you to constantly move forward. When the timer reaches 0, a ghost will spawn and chase you all around the map, which can end you instantly if touched. You may entertain a brutal, ruthless environment and enemies in Spelunky, but you will gain experience slowly (hopefully) after each run.
9. Celeste
Celeste is the story of a young female Madeline, who goes up a mountain whilst coping with her mental problems on the way. Celeste focuses on solving puzzles in order to progress the game. Precision is the most demanding thing in those puzzles, and your accuracy is increasingly tested as you get close to the game’s ending. The game will test your skill restlessly, yet you sure will improve it once you finish each puzzle. The entire game can make you feel like a stable incline, which is barely enough to push you out of your safe zone to move forward. As you complete the main task, you can finish some optional objectives by collecting the strawberries around the levels. But don’t think they’re easy, they often require your ability to think creatively to achieve.
8. Dead Cells
You may find Dead Cells similar to other procedural-based roguelike titles, yet you’ll gradually realize how it’s different once you play it. The continuous game flow consists of discovering a lot of connected corridors, acquiring in-game items and combating enemies in your path. As you progress the game, you can find numerous secrets and handful of powerups to claim. You should also prioritize on picking up the scrolls, which let you to enhance your Survival, Tactics and Brutality. These traits can affect your average health, as well as the damage you can inflict with each weapon. Your AI opponents are ruthless, who often strike you in groups and use projectile shots. At first, you will only get a humble amount of health, yet it will appear more as you advance the game. Boss fighting is also really challenging, when it requires not only the rightful way to build your character, but also the gamer’s skill to win.
7. Darkest Dungeon
Darkest Dungeon is a famous dungeon exploring title where you are the leader of an adventure team attempting to remove the dangerous inhabitants from the house you inherited. The dungeons in the game are procedurally-created, which are full of deadly traps, enemies and also, valuable items. When you travel through the dungeons, the game will give you a torch. And this is the tricky point. As you advance, the fire became weaker, so is your team. This game will test your bravery to take risks, as the bigger risks you take, the bigger prize you get.
6. The Binding of Isaac
The Binding of Issac, brainstormed and designed by Edmund McMillen (creator of Super Meat Boy), is also a dungeon exploring title that gives you zero comfortable. You are Issac, a young child whose mother removed all of his stuff to ensure his safety from the world outside. Each level starts from the basement, when you explore a set of rooms that are created procedurally. These rooms are inspired from The Legend of Zelda’s design and filled with loot, secrets and enemies. Nearly 200 types of enemies with nearly 200 different attack style require you to recognize as fast as possible when you get in a room. The trap systems and projectiles ensure you to be busy all the time dodging all of them. Issac can change his appearance or open new abilities by finding 550 valuable items on the track. You may think these abilities are advantageous, yet some of which in this game actually make your play much harder.
5. Enter The Gungeon
Produced by Dodge Roll Games studio, the game’s primary mechanics is actually… dodge roll. Your objective is to fight the enemies and survive through a number of floors generated procedurally. The deeper you enter the dungeon, the harder the game will be, as the enemies get tougher and resources get rarer. Your in-game opponents have the unique attack pattern for each of them, and bosses are completely a nightmare. Movement is also of the most importance, not to mention the skill to take advantage of the covers. Enter the Gungeon features 200 different types of gun, each of which has its own ability that you should master once you get in the game. The key to success in this game is to master the arsenal as soon as possible, given the fact that you only have a limited amount of health and numerous unforgiving enemies.
4. Super Meat Boy
Being a brother of the flash game Meat Boy (2008), Super Meat Boy offers you the adventure to save a piece of meat’s girlfriend. In 2010, when Super Meat Boy first showed up, gamers rapidly recognized the brutality of this title. It starts with a basic interface, integrated with in-game tutorials as players make progress. Yet once you are familiar with the control mechanics, you will encounter all kinds of buzzsaws, spikes and hazards. In Super Meat Boy world, your high accuracy and patience is put to the ultimate test. Fortunately, the game allows you to respawn immediately when you die.
3. Cuphead
Superficially, Cuphead seems to be like a piece of cake. The 1930 vibe of the game recalls us the dawn of cartoons, which yields us a feeling of comfort. But you might think twice once you spend some time in this game. Cuphead combines between hit-and-run factor with extremely difficult boss fights, which vary from nightmares of bullets to rapid movement sequences.
2. Nioh
Nioh stands out in this list thanks to the offensive tendency in combating, which is different from other titles with just tough boss fights and harsh combats. You can adjust your stance in game’s battles to inflict the desired amount of damage. There are three types of stance: High, Mid and Low, each of which prioritizes one aspect, such as damage (High), speed (Low) or balance (Mid). The key to success in Nioh lies in your ability to read your foes and choose the right moment to adjust stances. Nioh’s bosses are truly the stars of the game, when they give you a really limited chance to attack, even with pro players. You should also grasp a thorough understanding in combating abilities, different types of gears in order to complete this game.
1. Dark Souls/Bloodborne/Sekiro: Shadow’s Die Twice
No surprise, right? In the past 10 years, this series is probably the only one to pose a consistent level of difficulty for its players. You actually have to die in those games to sharpen your playing skills. It can be really frustrating to die in Soulsborne, when you prolly have to restart the entire journey, only to return to the foe that killed you and do everything over one more time. Combating mechanics is so hard to master, given it’s the game’s core. If you are inexperienced, don’t bother if you die too much. You need to learn the pattern of enemies’ strikes. Believe me, you will learn something after you die, and after a hundred times of dying, you will probably get a proper fight.
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