What's the hardest game have you ever played?

What kind of game?

Assuming we are talking 3d action games, the hardest ones Ive played in the last few years would probably be Sekiro and Returnal.

Turn based strategy games, I'll say Battle Brothers is hard to get a handle on.

If youre into 2d games, then I hear Celeste is hard. Personally I really liked Hollow Knight and found it really tough but that might be partly me being bad at platformers.
 
May 13, 2024
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Vanquish
It's an older title, and while the gameplay isn't terribly difficult when you get the mechanics down, it's still fast-paced and the challenges at the end have some great replay value. The challenges especially require you to be on your toes pretty much at all times. Challenge 6 in particular is difficult. The game was originally released on console, which I played on PS3 and hands down was the most difficult of my Platinum games. Even after memorizing the stages of Challenge 6, the gameplay is dynamic enough that if you mess up just thismuch, it's pretty much a wipe.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI1eErdeGxc
 

Zloth

Community Contributor
The hardest for me was FirePro Wrestling - I couldn't even get through the tutorial!! It doesn't have a story, though, and graphics are looooow!

Several iso RPGs can be hard at high difficulty settings. Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous jump to mind. Graphics are great for that sort of game, but I'm guessing that isn't what you meant.

Dark Souls games, obviously, though I still haven't played any.

I don't know any game with a great story and really high difficulty off hand, though. I think game makers that know they have a good story don't want to frustrate players to the point where they won't see the story.

Oh, don't forget about mods! This is PC gaming, after all. The "Long War" mods for the two new XCOM games give you more tools but make the game a lot more difficult. Roguetech makes BattleTech a lot harder.
 

Brian Boru

Legenda in Aeternum
Moderator
tough games to play and with good storyline graphics should be also good

Civilization 4
Civilization 4 is the toughest of the last 3 they say, and of course has the best stories of all, those you make up yourself, rather than spoon-fed clichés. Check out the Hall of Fame here for the cream from thousands of entries:

The graphics are fine unless you need razzmatazz, it's from 2005 after all. Play it on Deity level, large Continents map.

C&C Generals ZH
Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour—the Generals' Challenge mode on Brutal difficulty is a nice tough set-to, took me a summer to beat them all.

I like the graphics, but of course that's subjective to every individual—we're talking 2003. The story is standard game quality and there isn't the same background as the other C&C series—it's all about the gameplay.

Royal Envoy
Royal Envoy 1 Collector's Edition is the hardest of the series. The graphics are stylized and therefore timeless, and getting 3 stars on every level at Expert level will test you—you need 3 stars at Normal level first before Expert opens up.

Story is basic but does its job of not getting in the way of very enjoyable play.
 

Zed Clampet

Community Contributor
Man of Medan meets all those requirements, but it's a co-op game. Maybe one of The Evil Within games would work. They are much harder than the Resident Evil games.

V Rising on Brutal difficulty is near impossible, and the graphics are great. The story is all lore, though. But it has so much atmosphere that it feels like there's a great story, if that makes sense.

Dying Light 1 and 2 have pretty interesting stories and can be difficult.

Hades can be difficult, and you have a story of sorts when you talk to all the people in between runs.
 
May 27, 2024
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You're making me dust the old memory bank. I don't think I've ever played a game that was hard from start to finish, but rather certains sections of games that became increasingly difficult. That trophy would go to Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. Or heck, maybe even Pac-Man World on the Sega Genesis.
 
Suggest me some good and hard to play games. I'm looking some tough games to play and with good storyline graphics should be also good but the difficulty level should be high so comment down and suggest me some games to play.
Obviously you should be playing Doki Doki Literature Club:
  • Tough to play
  • Good storyline
  • Graphics also good
Don't read anything about it (this is very important). Just get it (it's free).
 
May 19, 2024
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Certainly! "Dark Souls" is renowned for its challenging gameplay, where every encounter can be deadly and requires precise timing, strategy, and patience to overcome. The game features punishing difficulty, intricate level design, and tough enemies and bosses that demand skillful play and perseverance from the player. It's earned a reputation for being one of the most difficult games in the modern gaming era.
 
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Sekiro is the hardest game I have ever played during my 35 years of gaming. I am used to playing casual games like FF series, Uncharted, Spiderman, Batman , RE and MGS games, etc. And so this game was extremely challenging for me when I started playing it back in December 2024.

Sekiro was extremely challenging for me especially during the first run. While not all bosses are hard, there are some like Genichiro, Lady Ishin, Double Apes, True Corrupted Monk, Demon Hatered, and of course the hardest boss ever ... St. Ishin that I struggled beating.

Unlike Elden Ring, you don't have spirit ashes esp. mimic, or swords like the Blasphemous Blade with AOE fire that can literally carry you through the game without getting hurt as you become a spectator.

All bosses in Sekiro seem easier during the second run. But I found Genichiro, Demon Hatered, Double Apes, and St. Ishin as hard as during the first playthrough even after mastering the parry and mikri counter mechanics.

But at the end of the day, all the frustrations in beating a boss is worth as you progress through the game admiring beautiful Japanese vista and engaging storyline.

I struggled with fighting bosses in the game, but the fight game mechanic was so enjoyable and fun that I consider the game my second best ever played after Elden Ring. ER I rate higher just because of a large list of combat options and open world game. But the story and parry mechanic of Sekiro are better than ER.

After completing the game for the second time this Saturday, I have an itch to play it one more time from the start to experience the fun again.
But I think I may go at Elden Ring first one more time before playing Sekiro the third time.
I may have become addicted to FromSoft games as the other backlogs in my list now seem boring since I find FS games to be challenging, yet extremely satisfying .
 
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It's a mixed bag of nuts cause some people might find one game hard compared to another person.

For me Dark Souls 2, Hell Divers 2 on higher difficulty missions, Space Pirates and Zombies on higher difficulty, Elden Ring, Hollow Knight, The Last Remnant, X-Com series, Battletech, Front Mission, Dragons Dogma, Nier: Automate *the control setup had my playing crab style*.
 
I love that newcomers find old threads to comment on! Welcome!

Man, for me itd have to be dark souls too. They are purposely made to be hard/broken to the point that the immersive-ness in the game is complete removed. You have to learn that specific style of beating bosses to win. Even with 2 different souls games under my belt, that genre of game is on par with battle royale games.

any game can be played casually.

wonder how far youd get in a dark souls game if you played it this way
 
Since this thread seems revived...

Super Meat Boy. F. That. Game. I couldn't beat it for obvious reasons, but I did play a good amount of it. It's absolute torture and sadistic. It's been over 10 years, so maybe if I tried it now I would be a bit better, or worse I'm not sure. They just announced a 3D sequel, unfortunately not involving the original creator at all.
 
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The old NES mega man games. It has some serious platform elements you'll have to repeat couple of times to get it right. Also the bosses have to be defeated in a certain order because upon defeat you get there power. You'll need their powers to defeat the other bosses. Without it you don't stand a chance against the other bosses. so you'll have to figure out in what order you should take them on. One boss is killable with your basic weapon, so find out witch one it is, defeat him, get his power and then find the boss who is weak against that Power and so on.

try to play is without looking up what order you should kill them. I's rewarding
finding it for yourself.
 
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