From punishing platformers to merciless action games, these titles will test your skills and patience. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're at the most challenging games released each year, from 2000 to 2024.
Category
🎮️
GamingTranscript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we are showcasing the most challenging video games to release
00:09each year, from 2000 to 2024.
00:13As always, we'll be going off of North American release dates.
00:172000 MDK 2 The third game Bioware ever developed didn't
00:36quite reach the popularity of its RPGs, but it's still noteworthy for being the hardest
00:41game released in 2000.
00:43The sequel has players once again going up against an invasive alien force as reluctant
00:49hero Kurt Hectic.
00:51Where the original was a straightforward run and gunner, MDK 2 featured three playable
00:56characters with more diverse gameplay, including platforming and puzzle solving.
01:00That's why it was hard, though.
01:03Platforming sections could be tedious and frustrating, and checkpoints were few and
01:07far between.
01:09We're mainly talking about the original Dreamcast version, since four difficulty settings and
01:14the option to manually save were added for the PC port after too many complaints.
01:212001 Oni A mostly forgotten action game from the creators
01:32of Halo and Destiny, Bungie's Oni failed to break through the noise in 2001.
01:38Inspired by anime like Ghost in the Shell, it follows an agent of a totalitarian government
01:44turning against it after discovering its secrets.
01:47While it looked cool and combat shined, that combat could still get incredibly challenging.
01:53And once again, a game's difficulty was heightened by a lack of enough save points.
01:58Not only was the game tough, but once you died, you'd have to replay lengthy sections
02:03of the game.
02:042002 Shinobi For players who like to take their time, best
02:19stay away from this one.
02:21Shinobi is a story of vengeance, following the ninja Hatsuma who seeks justice for his
02:26murdered clan.
02:28However, the sword he uses to do so feeds on souls.
02:32That's great to use on your enemies, but if you don't work quickly enough, it'll
02:36begin to drain your health.
02:38Fights are tough enough without having to worry about an unseen time limit.
02:42Not only that, but later sections include tricky platforming elements, forcing you to
02:46contend with enemies while you avoid falling into piss.
02:50This one's not for the faint of heart.
02:562003 F-Zero GX
03:06The North American release of the brutal shoot-em-up Ikaruga nearly claimed this spot.
03:11But Captain Falcon's GameCube outing can make you rage almost as quickly as his high-speed
03:17races.
03:18The series has always been considered challenging, it's just that everything is a bit harder
03:23here.
03:24There's an impressive visual display at 60 frames per second, though that can be hard
03:27to appreciate when you're constantly careening into walls or other racers.
03:32Track design is complex, and controlling your vehicles requires the fastest of reflexes.
03:38This is true no matter what difficulty setting you're playing on.
03:42Even the story mode gives you no time to get used to things before you're thrown into
03:46the deep end.
03:502004 Ninja Gaiden
04:01There are plenty of franchise revivals that fail to capture the essence of the original
04:06games.
04:072004's Ninja Gaiden is not one of them, though, as it is just as grueling as its predecessors.
04:14Similar to Shinobi, it follows a master ninja on a quest to avenge his clan.
04:19While he doesn't have a life-draining sword, Ryu still undeniably has the cards stacked
04:24against him.
04:25Right from the get-go, you'll find yourself swarmed by enemies, so you can imagine how
04:30ruthless they become as you try to push forward.
04:33Combat is quick and vicious, but with every mistake you make, there will always be an
04:38enemy to take advantage of it.
04:432005 Devil May Cry 3
04:48Dante's Awakening
04:55For the third game in the Devil May Cry series, Capcom famously made the hard mode of European
05:01and Japanese versions the normal mode in the North American one.
05:05Needless to say, there were a lot of players here who were surprised at how often they
05:10died.
05:11The first two were hard, but this was ridiculous.
05:14Dante's Awakening placed a heavier focus on combat, featuring four styles to switch
05:19between.
05:20And while fights could be incredible, the multiple stances just served to be overwhelming
05:25since enemies would never let up.
05:28It was such an issue that, when Capcom released the Special Edition, it adjusted the difficulty
05:34levels.
05:372006 God Hand
05:41What's the matter?
05:42You on a tight budget, big guy?
05:45You know what?
05:46I'm getting a bit hungry, and a little huevón sounds like it would hit the spine.
05:51The final game to be released by Clover Studio is undoubtedly the hardest game it put out
05:57in its short time.
05:58God Hand has a unique way in how it deals with difficulty.
06:02Instead of choosing a mode in the settings, it adapts to you.
06:06If you're doing poorly, it goes a bit easier on you.
06:09And if you're wiping the floor with enemies, it kicks it up a notch, increasing their power
06:13and skill.
06:15That may sound balanced, but the game already starts out tough.
06:19Once you start doing better, it pushes back and does so with a lot of force.
06:24That's on top of several unforgiving bosses and an aged camera that works against you
06:29in group encounters.
06:332007
06:36I Wanna Be The Guy – The Movie – The Game
06:49If you're familiar with this game, you know exactly why it deserves to be here.
06:53A flash game created by Michael Cahan O'Reilly, I Wanna Be The Guy borrows elements from many
06:59old school games.
07:01But where beating those games is difficult, beating this one is a Herculean task.
07:07The only way to get through it is to die over and over, possibly more than you've ever
07:11died in any video game before.
07:13There are traps hidden on every screen, some of which you'll never see coming, and others
07:18that simply defy all video game logic.
07:21Your memorization and reflexes will be tested to the utmost degree.
07:272008 – Mega Man 9
07:36Mega Man's classic adventures are some of the hardest retro games in existence.
07:42When Capcom chose to revisit that style, the team knew just what to do.
07:47Mega Man 9 sees the Blue Bomber once again setting out to stop a group of rogue robots.
07:52In addition to those providing hellishly hard boss fights, regular enemies are unquestionably
07:58built to demolish.
07:59Level design also amps up the difficulty, featuring clever trap placement and tricky
08:04platforming sections.
08:05That's just the base game.
08:07If you really wanted to challenge yourself, the achievements more than cover it.
08:11One requires you to beat it without using an E-Tank, and another requires you to beat
08:16it without dying once.
08:202009 – Demon's Souls
08:30And here we see the beginning of the modern reign of From Software as the challenging
08:35champ.
08:36While Demon's Souls isn't the hardest game from the studio, it's certainly the
08:40hardest game released in 2009.
08:42Every enemy, from the most basic to the fiercest boss, threatened to decimate in a formula
08:48that popularized the phrase, get good.
08:51As if fighting foes wasn't demanding enough, the game also features a unique tendency system.
08:57If you kill NPCs or act like a jerk towards another player, the game grows more difficult.
09:03Unfortunately, the difficulty also increases if you die repeatedly.
09:07And trust us, that's going to happen.
09:132010 – Super Meat Boy
09:23With his girlfriend kidnapped by a diabolical villain, the strange mascot Meat Boy heads
09:29out on a thrilling adventure to save her.
09:31The only problem is that every level on this adventure overflows with the most diabolical
09:36traps ever seen in a platformer.
09:39Buzz saws, laser beams, rockets, salt, which yes, is deadly to a hunk of meat like you,
09:45all await to make you go splat.
09:48Super Meat Boy gained a reputation on release for its high level of challenge, a reputation
09:53it has maintained over the years.
09:55While its simple mechanics are incredibly smooth, it has racked up an ungodly amount
10:00of player deaths.
10:042011 – Dark Souls
10:16Even bigger and more unforgiving than the Demon Souls that preceded it, FromSoftware's
10:21Dark Souls ensured that the studio's ultra-hard subgenre was here to stay.
10:26While the environment was more open, that only meant a bit more non-linearity when choosing
10:31which direction you wanted to die in.
10:33Certain areas are easy to get lost in, adding to the stress of being inches from death at
10:38any given turn.
10:40Enemies are even more merciless, and bosses are now iconic in their cruelty.
10:45Dark Souls was a crucial release in modern gaming, pushing demanding gameplay to the
10:50forefront and making us question whether we had what it took to reach the end.
10:562012 – FTL – Faster Than Light
11:05From the outside looking in, you may not think FTL is all that hard.
11:09It's a strategy game, meaning you can take your time with combat.
11:13However, since it's also a roguelike, there's no way to plan for what the game will throw
11:18at you.
11:19And since any mistake can't be fixed, you might end up on a path to failure without
11:24even realizing it.
11:25It follows a group during war trying to make it to their allies through eight sectors of
11:29space, while being chased by the opposing side.
11:33Complicating things are the threats of ship destruction or total crew annihilation, either
11:38of which will force you to start all the way over.
11:442013 – Geometry Dash
11:55Rhythm games usually require quick reflexes, but Geometry Dash is on another level.
12:00While the premise is simple, consisting of 26 musical levels to hop through, making it
12:05through them definitely isn't.
12:07Each one moves at a ridiculously fast speed and is packed with obstacles and hazards.
12:13By the end, you'll be in disbelief at how badly it punishes you.
12:17Perpetuating its difficulty is the ability for players to create their own levels.
12:21Geometry Dash has developed a thriving fan community, who always seems to want to one
12:27up everyone else in how absurdly hard their levels can be.
12:332014 – Dark Souls 2
12:42Here we are again with From Software, and certainly not for the last time.
12:48Dark Souls 2 features every obstacle in your way of success that the first does.
12:53Aggravating enemies that know how to swarm you?
12:56Check.
12:57Colossal bosses that can pummel you into the dirt?
12:59Check.
13:00Punishing level design that makes you question your purpose?
13:03Check.
13:04Check and check.
13:05However, one new mechanic, called hollowing, also brings the pain.
13:10Every time you die, your max health decreases until you reach 50%.
13:15The only way to get it back is to give up a rare item, which is naturally not so easily
13:19earned.
13:242015 – Bloodborne
13:32When exploring Yharnam for the first time, two thoughts ring out clearly in your mind.
13:39Man, that gothic aesthetic is awesome, and holy hell, what a steep learning curve.
13:45Bloodborne encourages you to be aggressive, rather than practice caution like previous
13:49From Software games.
13:51It does so by giving you firearms, and rewarding you for dodging and countering at the right
13:55moments.
13:56Which is nice, because it isn't as if these enemies are any less aggressive than those
14:01found in the studio's other releases.
14:03This game is a bit more forgiving than the Dark Souls series, but that in no way makes
14:08it easy.
14:09It's still more than deserving of its inclusion.
14:192016 – XCOM 2
14:26We'll take a break from the From Software train, passing over Dark Souls 3 for XCOM 2.
14:33Again, as a strategy game, you may think it's more than manageable, but you would be mistaken.
14:38With alien forces bearing down on Earth, you'll surely have your resilience tested against
14:43some of the most intimidating space invaders in gaming.
14:48Developer Firaxis created a phenomenal enemy AI, which is to say that they know how to
14:53overwhelm and defeat you.
14:56No matter what difficulty setting you choose, encounters are designed for victory to be
15:00almost out of reach, making it all the more satisfying when you clutch it.
15:062017 – Cuphead
15:11Cuphead looks so charming, it's almost easy to forget how punishing it can be.
15:16In Debt with the Devil, you must track down souls owed to him.
15:20Unfortunately, those souls belong to some of the toughest bosses of the 2010s.
15:25Each fight comes in multiple phases, all of which are tests of endurance.
15:30All of them dwarf you in size, and most of them can easily smash you with a wallop or
15:35swarm you with projectiles.
15:37With only a few power-ups to choose from before entering an encounter, it's more than likely
15:41you'll suffer numerous deaths before you narrowly squeeze out a victory.
15:502018 – Celeste
15:56Celeste is an incredibly rewarding platformer on several levels.
16:04Witnessing Madeline's journey of self-acceptance through depression and anxiety is wonderful.
16:09So too is conquering the titular mountain, which does everything in its power to knock
16:14you back down.
16:16Levels require precise execution, lest you fall into a pit of spikes, get crushed by
16:21crumbling scenery, or die by one of many other hazards blocking your path.
16:26It feels incredible to finally make it out of any section because you'll undoubtedly
16:30rack up numerous deaths before you can.
16:32That's not to mention extra hard versions of levels, the B-Sides and C-Sides, as well
16:38as the DLC chapter Farewell, one of the most brutal platforming levels ever created.
16:472019 – Sekiro – Shadows Die Twice
17:02With Sekiro, FromSoftware tried something new with its tried-and-true combat.
17:06It introduced a posture meter for each enemy, which you had to fill through multiple attacks
17:11in order to open them up for a fatal blow.
17:14But because you had to keep attacking to fill this meter, gone were the days of patiently
17:18waiting and dodging until you could chip off some health.
17:22Sekiro just may be the studio's hardest game for this very reason.
17:26But then you add on its tendency to include savage bosses that can drain your health bar
17:31in just a couple of hits, and that becomes apparent.
17:33It's a remarkable game, for sure, but it is also adept at making players fume.
17:452020 – Nioh 2
17:56As FromSoftware's style has grown more and more popular, it has inspired other studios
18:02to follow in those footsteps.
18:04Nioh 2 builds off of its predecessor in providing players with an experience that will annihilate
18:09them time and time again.
18:11We can't deny, it does this very, very well.
18:15As a human-yokai hybrid, you're given much more to do in combat than in the first game.
18:20But that just gives you a lot of things to balance, though, increasing the challenge.
18:25And it isn't as if these enemies are going to give you an easier time.
18:28They'll still intimidate you in every area.
18:31In particular, bosses are sure to bring you at least a few hours of frustration.
18:382021 – Returnal
18:49Like many other roguelikes, Returnal sends you right back to the beginning each time
18:54you die.
18:55And that's only the start of what makes it so hard.
18:58After landing on a strange planet, astronaut Selene Vasos is forced to fight her way out
19:03of a time loop.
19:04You have to really care about her survival, though, since every section of the game is
19:09packed with horrific aliens that'll make you wish you never set foot on the planet's
19:14surface.
19:15Whether they appear in hordes or are so powerful, they can put you into the ground alone.
19:20Fights are absolutely vicious.
19:23And while the gameplay is magnificent, the enemies are at a level that can crush your
19:28spirit.
19:352022 – Elden Ring
19:43Compared to the other games of FromSoftware, Elden Ring is the studio's easiest.
19:47With its open-ended structure, you can simply go elsewhere to grow stronger when met by
19:52an impassable boss.
19:54Still, don't go in thinking you're in for a walk in the park, because you absolutely
19:59are not.
20:00There's a distinct lack of hand-holding that can make it easy to miss important details
20:04required to progress or reach certain areas.
20:07Although a strong character build will help in combat, that won't make your foes any
20:11more forgiving.
20:13Enemies and bosses alike will still easily destroy you if you aren't careful.
20:17Let's not forget about the likes of Millenia, Malekith, or, in the case of the DLC, Radahn.
20:252023 – Woe Long – Fallen Dynasty
20:32Like we said, the FromSoftware formula has gotten very popular.
20:41There were a couple of good imitators to choose from in 2023, including Lies of Pea.
20:47In the end though, Woe Long – Fallen Dynasty just beat it out.
20:51Right from the jump, the game's high difficulty will be made abundantly clear.
20:56There is no gradual introduction to what the game offers.
20:59Instead, you're hit with waves of powerful fighters that will demolish you in mere seconds.
21:04Truly, there hasn't been a difficulty curve this steep in quite some time.
21:10To get over this hump, you'll need the patience of a saint, though you won't find that the
21:14game grows easy by any means.
21:21Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
21:26about our latest videos.
21:27You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
21:31If you're on your phone, make sure to go into your settings and switch on notifications.
21:362024 – Black Myth – Wukong
21:48Black Myth – Wukong pleased a lot of players on release through its focus on Chinese mythology.
21:54It's also like a blend of the newer God of War games and FromSoftware's releases,
21:59which means it can get pretty tough.
22:01While it isn't as punishing as something like Dark Souls or Sekiro, you'll definitely
22:06feel challenged.
22:07You won't lose precious resources upon death, but that's a good thing since some of its
22:12bosses are surely going to kill you a few times.
22:15From the early Wandering White to the late game Erlang, you're bound to feel some frustration
22:21bubble up.
22:22It's not because the combat is hard to get a hang of, it's just that some of the bosses
22:26are intent on destroying you.
22:52________________
22:53________________
22:54________________
22:55________________
22:56________________
22:57________________
22:58________________
22:59________________
23:00________________
23:01________________
23:02________________
23:03________________
23:04________________
23:05________________
23:06________________
23:07________________
23:08________________
23:09________________
23:10________________
23:11________________
23:12________________
23:13________________
23:14________________
23:15________________
23:16________________
23:17________________
23:18________________
23:19________________
23:20________________