We’ve all beaten games and seen the credits roll. In this day and age, developers are increasingly keen to make finishing a game the standard, rather than a mythical goal designed for that small subset of players that have the tenaciousness of a particularly irritating fly. In the same way that movie directors want you to sit to the end of the movie and books are written in an effort to keep you turning until the last page, so too are games designed as entertainment rather than pure challenge.
It’s not necessarily that games have become easier. Not entirely anyway. Instead, checkpoints are much more generous and there’s a general unwillingness to make players repeat content in order to succeed.
Despite these concessions to the modern gamer though, there are the occasional games that can still best us. The games that beat us rather than us beating them. You know the ones I mean. That rock-hard boss that you just couldn’t get past or that race around Silverstone that dumped you in second place no matter how hard you try. Somes, just sometimes, a game tears you down no matter you throw at it. The games where you say enough’s enough, cut your losses and move onto something else.
So this is a sort of mutual aid fellowship. A little place where we can come together and admit to our struggles, the moments where games kicked us to the curb and made us look like downright amateurs.
I’ll get things going with mine. In truth, there haven’t been a great deal lately that have massively troubled me. A section in the first act of Pillars of Eternity nearly had me beaten, an early boss fight against a king, but after a few evenings (!) woth of attempts, I finally managed to struggle through.
For me, the biggest game I bounced off recently due to struggling with it was Don’t Starve. The inherent repetition found in a roguelike really gets me down, and I’ve got an unwillingness to learn if I just keep getting smacked around and have to start over again. And again. And again. Give me Bloodborne over that any day. I cannot fathom how people manage to keep butting their head against roguelikes, even those with distinct endings. They are their own peculiar brand of masochism.
Alright then, time to be honest, which games have been really struggling to beat recently? Have you got any modern examples of games which you found just too damn difficult? Get it off your chest in the comments below!
Login or Register to join the debate
PC Specs
Blip&Blop
PC Specs
i have a real bad time always when a game does not let me roam freely. realistik movement is just not my thing sometimes.
also the new god of war got my butt kicked pretty hard in some places. Valkyr hunting or how baldur smashed me head once(playing on hard mode)
PC Specs
Dettlaff in the witcher 3 almost beat me.
PC Specs
Pretty true.
PC Specs
Pipi & bibis
PC Specs
i like the post very much(thanks).First Part (about before 35%) From Dying light.Really I do not want to engage even please STAY AWAY Mr. zombie
the game was so difficult.Shadow of colossus -not that much xp- but it made me angry.Fun time
PC Specs
wait Dying light was difficult for y?
PC Specs
at the beginnings of the game(before Pistole or good weapons)...For Sure
PC Specs
i was using bow and arrows whole game
PC Specs
Well its mostly the old games that give people this kind of trouble and I cant say I have meddled too much with those. Dark Souls and the like are a (relative) breeze.
A game that I didnt manage to complete fully was Super Meat Boy :(. The light world I managed with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Man those last few levels of the Dark world though, they were just sadistic. I couldnt do them all. Neither could I pass all the special ones with the different characters etc.
PC Specs
Dark Souls 3, The Nameless King, haven't beaten him yet. Dex build with medium health and stats, weapon max. Have beaten all other bosses in the dark souls series.
PC Specs
ringed city bosses are harder, how haven't you beaten the nameless king and beaten them when they include the same type of mechanics as the nameless king along with new and more advanced type ones.
PC Specs
I have beaten them with max stats, but fought nameless king with average stats. And still cannot cope of with the speed and style change after defeating the dragon.
PC Specs
with a weapon that isnt very slow (like a greatsword or ultra greatsword) you should be fine. Just dont get greedy and hit him only a couple of times. Oh and I hope you got plenty of stamina. 30+ endurance and chloranthy are almost a must. Also a shield with good lightning resistance makes things far far simpler. it didnt take more than 10-15 tries when I first confronted him (though my black knight GS was a tad slow. Still perfectly doable of course. Good luck :)
PC Specs
Sentient and Tomb Raider something (both PSX). Failed to finish these two, not even halfway.. and I played these without any single guide/walkthrough.
PC Specs
Done all if a remember but one game got the better of me even tho i finished it, mostly.
Street Fighter Alpha 3
My fingers screamed in pain from the combos, NO MOAR!
PC Specs
one game that was unreasonably hard was nier automa
PC Specs
There's a setting you can use to make the game basically play itself.
PC Specs
Trial Evolution, i thought i was a pro at this because i had beaten Trial HD in its most hardest track at the hardest difficulty.
PC Specs
I will add the old Monster Hunter games, like MH Freedom Unite (2nd G in Japan). That's some hardcore gameplay O_O
PC Specs
old games almost always are way harder now............Grab my Hand Player................end game
PC Specs
The first tomb raider games, i think it was tomb raider 3 and angel of darkness the first one because it was boring and the second because i saved in a "oh f*ck" moment and couldnt progress any further or load another save, also there was some crashes and bugs, and ofc all the dark souls games, i just couldnt get throgh.
PC Specs
As a kid, Hexen has beaten me, because at that time it was way too scary for me. But a few years later I took my revenge ;)
PC Specs
Diablo 2 that fc boss at end of chapter 2
PC Specs
Duriel was probably the most difficult, but I don't think it was that hard. At least not with a Paladin. I found Diablo in Act4 to be impossible to beat with my first barbarian build and I went bankrupt. In my defense - It was my firt RPG game and it was a pirated russian copy, so I didn't understand jack sh*t what I was doing xDDD
PC Specs
i am necromancer tank with my friend sorceress and he 2shots us 1shot all my minions in same time just no chance the name of the boss is yea its Duriel
PC Specs
Max Payne. That game was too dark that I couldn't tolerate, and I avoid all horror games. Other than that I never defeated super Mario Bros, because of power outages.
PC Specs
The Impossible Game...
PC Specs
Bloodborne for me lol
PC Specs
I'll say any fighting game (stuff like Mortal Combat). I just don't get those games and I can never beat them other than in their lowest difficulties.
PC Specs
Oh also this one particular race in GRiD 2, which I do not remember the name for. Every single time I'd just end up in second place. I only got first in it after I rammed every single AI driver into the walls out of frustration of having repeated that race 10s of times.
PC Specs
I love Mortal Kombat! :)
The key is timing and combos. These games just don't play well if you just mash buttons and hope for the best without knowing your character :)
PC Specs
Triple H. I couldn't take it. So I didn't make it.