The Hardest Video Games Of All Time

Have you ever caught yourself thinking many modern games feel too easy? All around are simple indies, arcade shooters, and interactive movies. Sometimes you want a real challenge and the pain of pushing through. We’ve gathered several dozen projects that will give you exactly that.

Let’s start with the embodiment of “hardcore.” These days even people far from the industry know Dark Souls can put your sanity at risk.

Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to 2009’s equally punishing Demon's Souls. The person who shredded the nerves of millions is Hidetaka Miyazaki. He essentially created the souls-like genre, which felt like a breath of fresh air amid interactive movies and scripted shooters that rarely challenged players.

If you somehow skipped the Souls games, do give them a try. The series will seem truly difficult only on your first playthrough. After that you’ll learn the nuances and it gets much easier.

Another game from the great and terrible Hidetaka Miyazaki. The arc is similar to the previous entry: unbelievable difficulty at first, then genuine joy once you grasp what it takes to win. Few games deliver that.

Despite the shared DNA, “Sekiro” differs from its older Dark Souls sibling. There’s directed storytelling with a clear plot and elements of vertical gameplay. At any moment you can not only dodge or roll away but also use a grappling hook to vault onto a nearby rooftop. That seemingly small change makes the game far more dynamic.

Note that to beat Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice you need near-lightning reflexes. That said, if you don’t smash your gamepad against the wall after a few failed boss attempts, your reaction speed will rise on its own.

We decided to mention all of Miyazaki’s marquee hits. Why not? Yes, these titles are staples of lists like this, but that doesn’t make them worse.

Bloodborne launched exclusively on PS4 in 2015. It packs everything we love about Souls: memorizing enemy placement and move sets and sharpening your skill. Contrary to some players’ claims, the gameplay is no easier than in other FromSoftware titles, and it comes with a suffocating, absorbing atmosphere.

Gothic Victorian England, pitch-black night, werewolves, and other abominations. Wandering this world in a dark cloak with a massive axe in hand, you really feel like the local Van Helsing. You’ll be a dubious Hunter at first, but as you progress you’ll learn to cleave through monsters with one hand tied.

The plot of The Binding of Isaac is based on the eponymous biblical story (the Binding of Isaac). At times you’ll genuinely feel as if you’re in hell. Expect to replay levels multiple times just to finally kill a boss or clear the next trial. That’s standard roguelike gameplay, but the uninitiated may need rehab afterward. Returning to normal life after all of Isaac’s bosses and ordeals isn’t so easy.

Miss old-school platformers that make you study every inch of a level? Cuphead fits perfectly.

Cuphead is a classic side-scroller where you traverse varied locations, shoot grunts, and most importantly fight bosses. Each boss encounter is an unforgettable trial. Despite the cartoony art, the game can torch your nervous system if not all of it, then most of it. Speaking of visuals:

The game is styled after classic 1930s–40s Disney cartoons. Even the leads nod to Mickey Mouse and the equally popular Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Credit to the devs for drawing everything by hand. Every frame was brought to life on paper by professional artists. Not all modern animated films treat 2D the this seriously.

In I Wanna Be the Guy, the levels are the hardest element. Every centimeter is crammed with hazards. Knives and other sharp objects fly at the protagonist “The Kid,” who strives to finally become “The Guy.” The path to the goal won’t just be thorny… it will be bloody and brutal.

As with most games here, be ready to replay each stage dozens of times. Without memorizing obstacle placement, you won’t advance the plot. Despite its apparent simplicity, I Wanna Be the Guy can truly make you convulse, especially when a knife from nowhere kills you a couple of inches from the finish.

Super Meat Boy is in many ways similar to I Wanna Be the Guy. You tackle levels stuffed with saws, spikes, knives, and other instruments of death.

You play not as “The Kid,” but as a slab of anthropomorphic meat. Each death leaves a huge pool of blood at the scene. This visual choice shows exactly how much effort a level took. Sometimes a crimson “blanket” covers nearly the entire map, so after finishing it you truly feel like you paid with sweat and blood.

Think indie means monotonous, melancholic walking sims? Not quite.

In N++ you play a ninja. As in Super Meat Boy, your job is to overcome deadly levels. The smallest misstep means death and a restart. Memorize hazards in detail, hit your timings, and be extremely careful.

Pain and suffering aren’t exclusive to big platforms. In 2013 the internet exploded over a “simple” game about a bird flapping between pipes. Sounds like a kids’ cartoon plot, right? Not really. Because of Flappy Bird, people smashed phones with hammers, hurled them at walls, and threw tantrums. Why the madness?

You must help the bird fly between vertical pipes. Each tap makes it flap. Tap too early and you hit the top pipe, too late and you hit the bottom. Early on, restarting doesn’t annoy, but once you get the hang of it and manage, say, a hundred pipes, losing the record can send you into a rage.

Sometimes you don’t need bosses who attack a thousand times per second to make a game hard. You can do it elegantly with realism. That’s what Daniel Vavra, creator of the first Mafia, chose for his latest project.

In Kingdom Come Deliverance you must constantly monitor the protagonist’s health and appearance and literally teach him everything. If you don’t raise Intelligence, Henry won’t be able to read properly, which complicates some quests. Fights will be tough at first too: he’s not a master fencer, just a blacksmith’s son.

You’ll learn everything alongside the hero, and learning, as we know, isn’t easy.

A typical survival game, but with several important differences from its peers.

In SCUM, just like in Kingdom Come Deliverance, the emphasis is on maximum realism of everything happening. If you need to cross a river along the way, be ready to dry your clothes afterward. Otherwise, your character will start freezing and die from hypothermia.

Aside from nature and the physiological needs of your character, other players will constantly get in your way. Naturally, in a multiplayer project no one will let you peacefully wander and explore the surroundings. You must always stay alert.

Another game with a strong focus on realism. If you think that war looks like classic 80s action movies, Arma 3 will quickly rid you of that illusion.

The main highlight of the third Arma installment is its multiplayer mode, which concentrates all the hardcore elements. It’s best experienced with friends, so you can fully appreciate the game’s deep tactical foundation. You can’t just rush headlong across the map—such recklessness will be punished. The key to success in Arma 3 is coordinated teamwork.

The shooter’s ballistics are top-notch as well. When firing, you must consider not only the enemy’s position but also wind speed, your stance, and the weapon’s characteristics. Hip-firing will never lead you to victory here.

Another representative of the roguelike genre, styled as a 2D platformer.

Levels in Dead Cells are procedurally generated, as are the stats of weapons scattered throughout each location. As is typical for roguelikes, there are no checkpoints here. Death means starting the game over from the very beginning, no matter how far you’ve progressed.

Interestingly, the developers originally intended to create a classic tower defense game where you would defend a fortress from zombie hordes. Their plans changed after the release of another entry on our list — The Binding of Isaac. Inspired by Isaac’s adventures, the team decided to make a completely different game — the one we know today.

The original Battletoads was released in 1991 as a competitor to the then-popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The game quickly achieved cult status thanks not only to their addictive gameplay but also to their incredible difficulty. The cartoonish visuals don’t stop Battletoads from demanding lightning-fast reflexes and a warrior’s patience from its players.

If you decide to give it a try, expect sweaty palms, the urge to call a therapist, and maybe even bufonophobia — the fear of toads.

Another retro game on our list. This time, it’s a top-down classic shooter.

Hotline Miami resembles the early Grand Theft Auto titles. Crime, buckets of blood, and an incredible soundtrack keep you engaged every minute. Enemies die fast, but the challenge lies in the fact that the protagonist also drops dead after just one hit. Each death means replaying the entire level from scratch.

Unsurprisingly, the success of the Dark Souls series inspired other developers to follow suit. One of the most notable Soulslike titles is Nioh.

Developed by Team Ninja — the studio also behind Ninja Gaiden — the game offered its own take on the formula, set in medieval Japan. Instead of inventing wholly new bosses, the creators introduced players to creatures from Japanese mythology.

Nioh doesn’t lack in difficulty either. Enemies kill fast and painfully. The urge to quit arises often. But if you manage to persevere and complete it, the sweet taste of victory will stay with you for a long time.

A game that won’t make you replay each level ten times. The protagonist doesn’t die from a stray bullet or a sword slash. The challenge lies elsewhere.

Instead of honing reflexes or memorizing enemy attack patterns, Day of the Tentacle Remastered makes you solve intricate puzzles. Legendary game designer Tim Schafer ensured that players would spend hours staring at the screen and clicking every corner of the visible area.

Without guides or online hints, completing this adventure could easily take dozens of hours. So if your friend keeps bragging about a Platinum in Dark Souls or Bloodborne, suggest Day of the Tentacle. It’ll put them in their place.

As you can see, not only action games can be difficult. Here’s another example — the point-and-click adventure Deponia.

The story follows Rufus, a reckless dreamer who, by chance, meets the mysterious princess Goal. Together they embark on a funny and fascinating adventure.

The puzzles, much like those in Day of the Tentacle, can take hours to solve. The absurdity of some of them will make your head spin, but you’ll still want to keep playing — the developers wrote an engaging and genuinely humorous story that’s hard to put down.

Many call Salt And Sanctuary a 2D Dark Souls — and the nickname fits perfectly.

The main task is to collect salt dropped by defeated enemies and bring it to sanctuaries. The challenge is that most foes are at least twice your size — and none are willing to give up their precious salt easily.

You’ll die often trying to recover lost resources. Paying close attention to your gear and upgrades is crucial since some enemies can only be beaten with specific equipment.

According to its developer, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy was made purely for suffering — so its inclusion here is mandatory.

The game has you climb surreal obstacles using only a huge hammer while sitting in a cauldron. Sounds absurd? It feels that way too. It mixes realism — moving with such tools would indeed be impossible — with deliberate, punishing difficulty across treacherous levels.

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy perfectly conveys the agony of climbing upward and the pain of falling all the way down.

Despite its bone-crushing difficulty (especially in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion), Elden Ring became the most popular and successful FromSoftware game to date: over 30 million copies have been sold. And judging by Steam statistics, players aren’t really put off by the challenge — more than 44% have logged over 100 hours. An impressive figure for such a hardcore experience.

Part of what softens Elden Ring’s brutal nature is its non-linear structure (stuck? Move on to another area) and the impressive variety of builds. The game features plenty of powerful weapon, spell, and item combinations — you just need to find the right one for your current problem.

Just like the 1985 original, Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection is a game for masochists. Many reviewers and players openly admit that it’s nearly impossible to beat on the highest difficulty levels. The hero can take only two hits, while enemies constantly attack from all directions.

Why so hardcore? The high difficulty in Ghosts 'n Goblins originated as a commercial design choice back in the arcade era of the 1980s, when games were deliberately made tough to make players feed them more coins.

Once you know how to play it, Darkest Dungeon becomes surprisingly meditative. But the key phrase is “once you know.” Early on, it will shred your nerves to pieces.

Most brutal games test your reflexes. This one tests your decision-making. Which mission should you choose? Who should you take along? Will you have enough supplies and gold? Should you touch that mysterious object — and what happens if your hero does it on their own?

The hardest recurring dilemma in Darkest Dungeon is whether to finish the mission or retreat.

Another tactical game that doesn’t forgive even the smallest mistakes. XCOM 2, especially in Ironman Mode where manual saving is disabled, isn’t just difficult — it’s brutally unpredictable. You can never know which mission will become fatal for your squad, so every deployment feels like a gamble.

Even under favorable circumstances, there’s always a risk that something will go wrong: a soldier misses a key shot, the last alien gets a lucky hit — and suddenly you’re back at base without your best operative. Gone forever, since in XCOM 2, death is permanent.

A whirlwind action game born from a mix of roguelike and bullet hell genres. In Returnal, the player dashes through procedurally generated levels, picking up random weapons and upgrades while battling hordes of agile enemies that mostly attack using various ranged abilities like plasma projectiles and energy beams. Reaction speed is crucial: few players can process the dazzling chaos on screen and dodge in time.

An intense action game about a kung fu master, built around a complex combat system of parries, dodges, and counterattacks. Interestingly, after each death, the protagonist ages. With age, health decreases, but attack power increases. Still, Sifu doesn’t get any easier: even on normal difficulty, the mechanics demand extremely precise timing. Miss it — and you’re done for.

The key feature of Monster Hunter: World, as in the entire MH series, is its lengthy battles against dangerous bosses. Even in co-op these fights take quite a while, but if you hunt monsters solo, a typical encounter can stretch for up to an hour. During that time, it’s vital to closely watch the enemy and react to every move in time. It’s not only a test of reflexes but also of endurance.

Some may be surprised to see Baldur's Gate 3 on this list. But if you’ve completed this masterful CRPG on Honour Mode, you know it absolutely deserves its place among the toughest games.

Without proper preparation and a few earlier playthroughs on lower difficulties, finishing BG3 on Honour Mode is impossible on the first try. Losing a single battle means the end of your entire campaign. Manual saves are disabled. Enemies have more health, deal higher damage, and gain access to abilities unavailable on other difficulties. Moreover, they apply debuffs more often, break concentration, and use AoE spells — and the AI is quite good at targeting the weakest member of your party.

Another example of a seemingly casual game that turns into nine circles of hell on its highest difficulty, aptly named “God of War.”

The game dramatically increases enemy health and damage; status effects like poison and fire become far deadlier for Kratos while barely harming foes. Enemies’ defenses are enhanced — you can only pin them to a wall if they’re airborne. They can counterattack right after taking or blocking a hit.

These changes are especially felt during fights with the Valkyries — optional bosses in God of War. After thirty attempts against the same one, you might start resembling Kratos yourself, having torn all your hair out in frustration.

Arguably the toughest game of 2025. The overall balance stays close to that of typical Souls titles — the challenges are tough but fair. However, Hollow Knight: Silksong also features several absurd difficulty spikes that can hardly be called fair: for instance, a boss fight where you face a giant foe and his annoying flying companion in a tiny cave during the first act. It’s the sequel’s only major flaw, but hardcore fans will likely count it as a plus.

Article by Nikita Ostrovsky and Fazil Dzhindzholia.

And what about you? Which games gave you the most trouble? Tell us in the comments.