Question What's the hardest, most difficult, game you've ever played?

[badman]

What games made you swear? What made you curse? That game you were so eager to finish, but face it: it was impossible because those **** devs made it too hard.

I personally think some 80's-90's floppy games, when saving your game was not an option, were hard. You had to leave the PC on, or all was lost. But those games mostly didn't took 20 hours+ to finish. So i'm looking for a game that takes some time to finish, doesn't have quicksaves (or has badly implemented checkpoints), and is so hard that I've never finished it. The first thing that crosses my mind is some classic adventure games, like Monkey Island or Gobliiins. I'm not an adventuregame fan, that's the first problem, but still wanted to look into those real classics. But somewhere in those games, I felt that the puzzles were just too far fetched. So I had to cheat my way out with internet walk throughs, a shame yeah.
When I'm thinking of genres I really enjoy... A lot of old platformgames come to mind (Elf-Gods-Turtles...). The game that really comes to mind is Metal Mutant. An oldie from a French company. That game didn't have a save-function I think, and was sooo hard...But I loved every bit of it. I kept trying, for years, but never made it to the end. Not by a long shot tbh.

In the last 10-15 years, I choose my games more carefully. Because work, because kids, because wif...oh, never mind I keep going back to more casual games, which in general are not hard. I never ever pick the most difficult setting, so that helps as well. What about you?

 

[DXCHASE]

The hardest series ive encountered in the last 10-15 years is easily Dark Souls, ive seen how you can easily defeat the games, but they just were the hardest to me. When it comes to older games, it'd be the point and click adventure games like Myst, Timelapse, Riven etc... being 10-13, not using a pro guide, those puzzles were hard to figure out.

Depends on the game when it comes to difficulty, i usually go for the hardest or the one right underneath, if its a game that i know i wont be playing long if its too hard, i opt for easy to get it out of the way.

 

[Zloth]

Fire Pro Wrestling World on Steam

The greatest grappling game returns to take on the world! Customize every aspect of the match, from your wrestler to the ring itself, in your fight for the championship belt.

store.steampowered.com

Looks like a really awesome game but, after 45 minutes in the tutorial, I still couldn't reliably get past the very first step.

 

[Sarafan]

The hardest thing I've experienced are probably DLCs for Dark Souls 2. Maybe I had an inappropriate character, but couldn't get through the Sinh - Slumbering Dragon in Crown of the Sunken King. DS games are well-known for their difficulty level, but this was simply too much for me.

Also classic RPGs can be very tough on higher difficulty levels. I remember replaying Baldur's Gate 2 last year and the game was very hard on the highest difficulty level. Had to lower it a bit after one of the encounters. The final boss of Throne of Bhaal was very hard even on this lowered difficulty level.

Members of this forum also probably remember my complaints about the high difficulty level in Divinity: Original Sin 2. The game was very hard for me even on normal difficulty level. I had to respec my character to actually have a chance.

 

[Pifanjr]

One that comes to mind is the "Chronicles of the Sword" mode in Soul Caliber III. My friends and I eventually made it to the final boss, but never managed to defeat it.

Another is Angband, which I've been playing for several months now without even getting to the lowest floor once. It's just so easy to make that one fatal mistake and have to start all over again.

 

[Mazer]

I tend to think of the 3rd and 4th gen consoles when considering ridiculous difficulty, stuff like The Ninja on the Sega Master System or Fatal Rewind, Ex-Mutants and Alien Soldier on Megadrive (Genesis for our American cousins)

But this is a PC gaming forum so I should probably name drop something like the classic X-COM games.

Angband, which I've been playing for several months now without even getting to the lowest floor once. It's just so easy to make that one fatal mistake and have to start all over again.

Time to play potion roulette again.

 

[Brian Boru]

Some chess game years ago. I decided to have a go at its highest setting and got my rook handed to me within 20 moves about 5 times in a row. No walkthrus for that!

My most enjoyable hardest game was C&C Generals Zero Hour, the Generals Challenge on brutal difficulty. Took me a summer to beat that ~15 years ago, which had the added benefit of curing me of 'needing' to 'beat' a game. Since then I've only ramped up the difficulty if it adds to my enjoyment.

I never finished any of the Myst games, apparently my mind isn't warped enough to twist thru some of the puzzles—who would've guessed?

Civ4 on Deity is another good way to get your rook handed to you quickly. I never tried it, because it requires playing artificially—eg not researching the techs you need, but instead ones you'll be able to trade with the AI because you've learned the AI's typical research paths.

 

[drunkpunk]

TMNT on the original NES. I also think this was the second NES game I owned as a very young child. Perhaps it was a product of my age and less about being incredibly difficult, or maybe it was really the nightmare I remember. But that game had me trying again and again and again to beat it, and I could get as far as the airport level before finally dying to a section where you had to drop down but the walls were closing in on you. I only got past that once, and died to the boss of the stage. I could get through that water level at the dam no problem, but that damn airport level....

 

[Frindis]

The hardest game I have ever played would have to be Mushihimesama. I am not sure how high it is on the list of difficulty as a bullet hell game, but I sure as hell did not get far even on normal difficulty (without using continue). There are just too many bullets flying everywhere and the gaps to fly safely into too narrow for my reaction.

 

[Clashback]

For me, the hardest games which elicit the loudest curses are basically (almost) all the games where you can't remap the keys.

As a lefty, it's next impossible for me and my brain to play with WASD. Telltale's The Walking Dead is fine: it's only WASD and Q & E; although I still think it's beyond stupid that I can't remap six measly keys. But more than six? I just can't make it work. I tried and died hilariously in the opening moments of Dead Space. For me, that's one of the hardest games I ever played. I just can't wrap my brain on WASD and other keys.

I think there should be a special place in hell for dev's who won't let you remap keybindings.

 

[SBan83]

I've yet to experience the obligatory humbling from a Souls game...because I've yet to play any of them. However, in all my three decades of gaming, the two hardest games I've played are Cuphead and Ghostrunner.

 

[badman]

My most enjoyable hardest game was C&C Generals Zero Hour, the Generals Challenge on brutal difficulty. Took me a summer to beat that ~15 years ago, which had the added benefit of curing me of 'needing' to 'beat' a game. Since then I've only ramped up the difficulty if it adds to my enjoyment.

Yeah, I remember the self-torture in the C&C games. Starting up a skirmishgame, selecting a handful 'hard' AI's and...then playing turtle. You were able to 'feel' the enemy approaching, because your PC was dropping to 5 fraps. Sometimes C&C just crashed, mostly in a LAN-game, but sometimes it lasted for hours and hours Loved those games.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've yet to experience the obligatory humbling from a Souls game...because I've yet to play any of them. However, in all my three decades of gaming, the two hardest games I've played are Cuphead and Ghostrunner.

I think I have about 10 hours total in the first Dark Souls now, split between two characters, but pretty much all of it has been spend at the first bonfire of the undead castle part. Which I can now clear without getting hit (if I don't get too cocky), but only by engaging enemies one by one or shooting them with my bow, so I can use my shield to block and then stab them until they're dead.

Because if I can't block an enemy's attack and immediately counter-attack, I have no idea what to do. For some reason I keep being terrible in predicting enemy attacks.

 

[Clashback]

I think there should be a special place in hell for dev's who won't let you remap keybindings.

To be honest, I always remap WASD to the arrowkeys. So there's most likely also a special place in hell for me too

 

[Brian Boru]

As a lefty, it's next impossible for me and my brain to play with WASD

You might find a "Gaming Keypad" does the job. Typically 20-25 programmable keys to set how you want.

 

[Clashback]

You might find a "Gaming Keypad" does the job. Typically 20-25 programmable keys to set how you want.

Thanks mate, had no idea those existed. Will give that a look. Cheers 👍

 

[gamer3105]

For me it was Star Wars: Rebel Assault, the CD- Rom version. I was around 12 at this time and I still have to think off the flight with the Tie- Fighter through that canyon and the cramped grip on that old Flightstick ...

I was so happy when I finally made it through

 

[JarlBSoD]

I can't remember exactly but the first one i come to think of would be The Last Ninja on C64, granted i was a young sprout at the time but i have tried the game later in my life and man it is tricky with those controlls

 

[mjs warlord]

Cant think of any individual pc games that were simply too hard to do because most games that involve some sort of combat have difficulty settings.

I have requested refunds on a few pc games due to the number of key options ..... if i need to write down what key does what ... it goes back...

Back in the days of spectrums etc i remember a few problematic games.

1. Cardboard key overlays for you to write on because of the number of keys in use.
2. The hobbit a good game but even when you knew what to the the typed words interface was a nightmare.
3. Vallhalla same as the above.
4. A game called the eye , magazines , the readers and even the makers could not explain what to do.

 

[Brian Boru]

In addition to my post #7 above, I must add the first Royal Envoy with the objective of the gold star on every level in Expert mode. You only get access to Expert mode when you get a gold star in every level of Standard mode.

That's a real challenge, which I only pursued once—in my annual replays [currently on RE3] since, I only seek all golds on Standard.

 

[Johnway]

One game that stands out as really, really difficult was la mulana. Played it last year and my god that game becomes increasingly insidious and cryptic that it verges on spiteful. Hell, i would rank La mulana harder then dark souls! It was that difficult for me. In dark souls at least i can grind, skill up, have a variety of options/weapons and have estus flasks and other healing items.

Even with a walkthrough i struggled to beat that game and i'm a happier man to give up on that game.

Roguelikes in general are too difficult, binding of isaac, enter the gungeon etc are too tough for me. i struggle with 4x games but endless legend was so tough that even on easy i was easily thrashed by the AI. It might be because i chose the wrong faction to play as (not likely the spacers are as vanilla as they get) or i don't understand the meta etc.

 

[McStabStab]

But this is a PC gaming forum so I should probably name drop something like the classic X-COM games.

Dude, X-Com: Terror From the Deep. You'll see Lobstermen in your nightmares for weeks.

Also, I once tried Darkseed, an old point and click horror game that had HR Geiger's artwork interlaced with the gameplay. The game is pretty much impossible. I have no idea how people figured it out without a walkthrough but they did it.

 

[Johnway]

Ah classic gaming difficulty spikes. Puzzle games were notorious for this. I hear stuff like Future wars (or other puzzle games by delphine or sierra) were pretty bad. Dead man walking syndrome was a common trait of some of those games. Throw in some obtuse, pixel hunting puzzles, random deaths and it was a recipe for disaster or BS.

Personally i think part of the reason older games were difficult was probably technical limitations and no proper unified UX. Everyone did their own thing and due to limitations just tried to find ways around technical issues. Whether it was dodgy graphics, naff programming / scripting , poor collision detection or not enough through play testing. Plus you couldn't patch games like modern times so a bug in a game or imbalances can't be addressed.

Great times. It was bed room coders doing their thing and experimenting and making their own games and whilst we didn't always get gold, we certainly saw a wide varied library of games and got people enthusiastic in computers and gaming in general. Hell, a lot of the legends of gaming came from humble backgrounds of bedroom coding.

 

[Zloth]

Plus you couldn't patch games like modern times so a bug in a game or imbalances can't be addressed.

REALLY old time, yeah. But BBS's could spread patches in the early 90's and FTP could pull down patches in the mid 90's up until Steam appeared.

But yeah, these were far smaller companies if not just one person. Lord British started Ultima all by himself, and I think Ultima 2 might have been him and just one or two other guys. Back in the day, even games from Activision were practically indie games. I mean, it isn't like you need a lot of people to make a game like this:

View: https://youtu.be/AYjZ88RAGN8

 

[Johnway]

REALLY old time, yeah. But BBS's could spread patches in the early 90's and FTP could pull down patches in the mid 90's up until Steam appeared.

Being in the UK I'm not entirely sure how it was managed, i'm sure we used the internet with dial up modems etc (hell recently i was cleaning the company office and found two EXTERNAL 56k modems), but my household didn't get the internet until 1999 and that was on PAYG 1p a minute or something. But there was a massive Amiga following so it had to have found ways besides advertising in the amiga magazines or being given away on demo disks.

Reading Retro Gamer you read up on how various developers got their break in games bedroom coders making it big and i suppose these days its still the same with the indie scene.

But i digress, retro gaming aside what about arcade machines, they're practically made so that you had to sink money into the games and that's not before the owners changed the settings to make things harder. In most cases, it wasn't about beating them, it was more, "fight and die well".