Top 30 Hardest Modern Video Games To Beat

Many video games are designed to be easy to pick up and play, but some developers create games that are incredibly challenging. These games demand quick reactions, careful planning, and a lot of perseverance. Players find it incredibly rewarding to finally conquer these difficult games, which motivates them to spend hours learning all the intricate details. This list highlights the most difficult and demanding games released in the last twenty years.

‘Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time’ (2020)

This game looks bright and cheerful, but it’s actually very challenging. Players will need to carefully time jumps and avoid enemies in complex levels. Even finishing the game once is tough, but getting everything requires flawless gameplay. To really drive home the difficulty, the developers even added a feature that counts how many times you die.

‘The Witness’ (2016)

Jonathan Blow designed a challenging puzzle game set on a mysterious island. Instead of giving instructions, the game lets you learn by exploring and observing hundreds of increasingly difficult line puzzles. To finish the game, you’ll need to really understand how perspective and your surroundings work together to solve the puzzles.

‘Alien: Isolation’ (2014)

This survival horror game takes the tension of the original movies to a new level. You’ll have to outsmart a relentless Xenomorph that learns and adapts as it hunts you. Weapons aren’t enough to truly eliminate the danger, forcing you to rely on stealth and carefully manage limited supplies, creating a truly nerve-wracking experience.

‘Doom Eternal’ (2020)

This fast-paced shooter keeps you constantly on the move, forcing you to carefully manage your supplies while battling intense fights. You’ll need to quickly switch between weapons and use your abilities, scavenging health and ammo from defeated enemies. With so many demons appearing at once, you’ll have to make split-second decisions to stay alive. Crank up the difficulty, and the game becomes a true challenge of stamina and quick reactions.

‘Remnant: From the Ashes’ (2019)

This action game combines shooting with challenging, ‘soulslike’ gameplay and ever-changing, randomly created worlds. You’ll fight large groups of enemies and tough bosses that get harder depending on how many players are involved. Each time you play, the levels and enemies will be different, ensuring a unique experience. Successfully dodging attacks is key to staying alive against the constant onslaught.

‘Monster Hunter: World’ (2018)

Capcom successfully introduced their popular hunting series to more players while still keeping the challenging, detailed combat it’s known for. Players take on the role of hunters, tracking down and defeating giant monsters with powerful weapons and helpful items. Each monster is unique, demanding different tactics and strategies to win. These battles can be lengthy, often lasting up to an hour, and require players to stay focused and engaged the entire time.

‘XCOM 2’ (2016)

This strategy game puts you in command of a resistance against an alien invasion, but every decision matters. Soldiers can be permanently lost in battle, meaning you’ll face the consequences of your choices. Many missions have time limits, so careful planning needs to be balanced with quick action – a single mistake can quickly lead to disaster and end your campaign.

‘Frostpunk’ (2018)

In this city-building and survival game, you lead the last human city in a frozen, post-apocalyptic world – and heat means survival. As the city’s leader, you’ll face tough decisions with no easy answers. You’ll constantly need to balance managing limited resources with keeping your people hopeful, often having to make heartbreaking choices to protect the majority during deadly blizzards.

‘Sifu’ (2022)

This action game, centered around martial arts, has a clever twist: losing a fight ages your character. You’ll need to become skilled at a challenging combat system focused on blocking and careful timing. While each defeat makes your character more powerful, it also permanently lowers their health. To beat the game, you’ll have to play almost perfectly, before your character becomes too old to continue.

‘Returnal’ (2021)

This third-person shooter blends the intense, chaotic action of classic arcade games with the replayable structure of a roguelike. Players explore an ever-changing alien world, and each time you fall, the planet reshapes itself, sending you back to the beginning. You’ll face relentless waves of brightly colored bullets, demanding skillful dodging in a 3D environment. It’s a fast-paced experience that requires complete concentration and doesn’t allow for saving mid-run, making each attempt a lengthy test of skill.

‘Spelunky 2’ (2020)

This follow-up to the popular indie game builds on its unique blend of roguelike elements and platforming action, featuring even trickier traps and tougher enemies. Each time you play, the levels are newly created, so you can’t simply memorize your way through. The environment is unpredictable and everything reacts with everything else, potentially ending your run in an instant. Success depends on understanding how the game’s systems work together, not on making your character stronger.

‘The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth’ (2014)

This roguelike shooter sends you into randomly generated dungeons filled with danger and dark subject matter. You’ll find items that combine in unpredictable ways, leading to both incredibly strong and surprisingly negative outcomes. Success depends on a mix of skill and luck, as each playthrough is different. To unlock the complete story, you’ll need to defeat a series of ever-harder bosses across multiple runs.

‘Hotline Miami’ (2012)

This fast-paced action game features instant-death for both you and your enemies. You’ll battle through floors of armed guards using a mix of melee weapons and guns. It’s designed to be played through repeated attempts, learning from each death. Mastering the game means memorizing enemy positions and perfectly timing your attacks.

‘Devil May Cry 5’ (2019)

The game’s exciting action culminates in a challenging combat system that encourages players to experiment with different strategies and precise timing. It’s easy to pick up and play, but truly mastering the game—especially on higher difficulties—requires skill with all three playable characters. “Dante Must Die” mode throws even more intense fights at you with tougher, more aggressive enemies. To earn top style scores, you’ll need to stay on the attack while dodging damage.

‘Dead Cells’ (2018)

This game combines the exploration of Metroidvania-style games with the challenging, permadeath elements of roguelikes. Battles are quick and smooth, but enemies are powerful and unforgiving, so you’ll need to be precise. Each attempt will be different because you find random weapons and spells, forcing you to change how you play. To beat the game, you’ll have to journey through diverse and dangerous areas.

‘Nioh 2’ (2020)

Team Ninja has created a challenging action RPG where managing your stamina, called ‘Ki Pulse,’ is key to success. You play as a warrior with yokai powers who can transform and use special abilities during fights. Enemies are relentless and will try to exhaust you, leaving you open to attack. Beating the bosses requires careful observation of their moves and using the right elements against them.

‘Furi’ (2016)

This game is all about facing off against a series of tough bosses in one-on-one fights. Battles combine shooting with skillful sword fighting and blocking. Each boss has several stages, and they introduce new challenges and complex attack patterns. You won’t fight any weaker enemies – success depends entirely on mastering the core combat skills.

‘Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy’ (2017)

This challenging climbing game isn’t about smooth moves – it’s designed to test how well you handle frustration! You play as a man in a cauldron, climbing a mountain with just a sledgehammer. The controls are deliberately difficult, and one wrong move means falling all the way back down. It’s as much about staying patient and calm as it is about skillful gameplay.

‘Darkest Dungeon’ (2016)

This role-playing game challenges you to explore terrifying, Lovecraftian dungeons. It’s a turn-based game where your heroes can suffer lasting psychological trauma that impacts how they fight. Because characters can die permanently, you risk losing a lot of progress with each encounter. Keeping your party mentally stable is just as crucial as keeping them alive.

‘Super Meat Boy’ (2010)

This game is all about skillful jumping and timing as you guide a wobbly cube of meat through dangerous levels. You’ll need to make incredibly precise movements to dodge spinning buzzsaws and laser beams. Luckily, you respawn instantly, so you can quickly learn from your mistakes and keep trying. Only the most persistent players will be able to conquer the challenging dark world levels.

‘Celeste’ (2018)

This game is a challenging platformer with a surprisingly heartfelt story about dealing with anxiety. It’s known for being very difficult – the main game is tough, and extra levels are even harder, requiring skillful techniques like wave dashing to avoid deadly obstacles. The developers included an assist mode because they anticipated many players would struggle with the high level of difficulty.

‘Cuphead’ (2017)

This game looks like a classic 1930s cartoon, but it’s actually a fast-paced, challenging shooter centered around epic boss fights. Each boss changes throughout the battle, demanding you learn their patterns and react quickly. You have to beat them perfectly in one go, as there are no mid-battle saves. The added content makes things even harder, with quicker and more complicated enemies.

‘Hollow Knight’ (2017)

This game combines exploration and exciting battles within a vast world of insects. It begins at a relaxed pace, but soon requires skillful platforming and spellcasting to progress. Dedicated players can test their skills against incredibly tough optional bosses and unlock the game’s true ending. The Godmaster expansion takes the challenge even further with a relentless boss rush mode that’s among the most difficult in gaming.

‘Demon’s Souls’ (2020)

This updated version of the game that popularized the challenging ‘souls-like’ style keeps the original’s famously difficult gameplay. Levels are sprawling and dangerous, with limited places to save your progress. Dying repeatedly as a human player can actually make the game even harder through a system called World Tendency. And defeating the bosses isn’t just about fighting skill – you’ll often need to solve puzzles as well.

‘Dark Souls III’ (2016)

This final game in the trilogy boasts the quickest and most memorable battles of the series. Enemies are relentless, frequently swarming players, and the boss fights are multi-stage tests of stamina and quick reactions. The added downloadable content areas offer particularly tough challenges, even for experienced players.

‘Dark Souls’ (2011)

Man, this game totally changed how I think about challenging games. It throws you into this bleak, crumbling world and just… lets you figure things out. Seriously, every enemy can kill you if you’re not careful! It’s way different than the later games – the fights are slower, you really have to think about each move, and you can’t just rush in. The biggest thing, though? No map! You have to learn the world yourself, which is tough but so rewarding when you finally get your bearings.

‘Bloodborne’ (2015)

This Victorian horror RPG from FromSoftware throws out traditional shields, pushing players to fight offensively. A unique system rewards quick attacks after getting hit, letting you recover health. Enemies are relentlessly fast and use disturbing screams to intimidate you. Plus, the Chalice Dungeons provide endless, randomly generated challenges that can become incredibly difficult.

‘Nioh’ (2017)

This action game, set in the world of samurai, doesn’t play like typical ‘Souls’ games – it actively discourages that approach. Mastering the unique stance system is essential to survive, especially when facing difficult enemies. You’ll need quick reflexes, as enemies can defeat the main character with just one or two hits throughout the entire game, making the combat as fast-paced as games like Ninja Gaiden.

‘Elden Ring’ (2022)

The game lets you explore a vast world without many restrictions, but defeating the main bosses is still a serious challenge. As you progress, enemies become much tougher, hitting harder and having a lot more health. You’ll encounter a wide range of bosses, which means you need to keep changing how you build your character and approach fights. Malenia, in particular, is considered one of the hardest bosses ever created in a video game.

‘Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’ (2019)

This action game throws out typical help systems and leveling up. Instead, battles focus on perfectly timed deflections – you’ll need quick reflexes and careful timing to succeed. You win by holding your ground and breaking the enemy’s defenses with well-timed blocks. The final boss fight is a challenging, multi-stage duel that puts all your skills to the test.

Please describe your most frustrating gaming experience in the comments.

2025-11-22 23:52