Best brutally hard games of all time
Some games don't just challenge you—they punish every misstep with brutal, unrelenting difficulty that separates the casual from the truly dedicated. From punishing bosses to unforgiving level design, these titles have earned legendary status for pushing players to their breaking point and beyond. Which of these merciless masterpieces deserves the crown for toughest game ever? Cast your vote and defend your pick.
What counts: Seeded with approximate figures where shown — the crowd's votes decide the order.
Elden Ring▲ Rising
Malenia, Blade of Miquella turned an entire generation of Souls veterans into gibbering wrecks, her Waterfowl Dance and self-heal on hit becoming the internet's shorthand for 'this boss is unfair.' FromSoftware took the punishing formula and blew it open into a sprawling open world, meaning the brutality was now optional yet omnipresent — you could ride past a demigod or get vaporized trying. It earns its spot by proving difficulty scales at open-world size without losing its teeth.
Year: 2022Critic score: 9.6/10
added by IJRin 13 rankings
30
Hollow Knight▲ Rising
The Path of Pain doesn't even pretend to be fair — it's a pixel-perfect platforming gauntlet hidden behind an already brutal game, built purely to punish mastery-seekers who thought they'd beaten the hardest content. Team Cherry proved a tiny indie studio could out-Metroidvania the genre while stacking optional bosses like Absolute Radiance on top of a merciless base game. It belongs here because it never needed padding — every inch of Hallownest can kill you, and it tells you nothing except 'get good.'
Year: 2017Critic score: 9.4/10
added by IJRin 10 rankings
18
Bloodborne▲ Rising
Orphan of Kos on the DLC's Fishing Hamlet cliffside became the moment players realized Bloodborne wasn't just Dark Souls with blood filters — it demanded aggression, punishing turtling with grab attacks and relentless combo strings. Its rally system rewrote Souls combat into something faster and meaner, forcing a whole community to relearn patience as a liability. It's here because it weaponized momentum itself as the difficulty curve.
Year: 2015Critic score: 9.2/10
added by IJRin 6 rankings
17
Celeste▲ Rising
Chapter 9's Farewell level, added for free post-launch, cranked precision platforming to a level where frame-perfect dashes felt like a rite of passage, yet the game's assist mode quietly insisted difficulty was a choice, not a gatekeeper. Madeline's climb turned brutal execution into an emotional metaphor for anxiety and self-doubt, making every death sting with meaning instead of just frustration. It earns its place by proving punishing precision and empathy aren't opposites.
Year: 2018Critic score: 9.2/10
added by IJRin 10 rankings
16
Dark Souls▼ Falling
The Ornstein and Smough gank fight, followed by the gut-punch of the Bed of Chaos, taught a generation that death was data, not failure — bonfires became checkpoints in a language of patience the industry hadn't spoken before. Its interconnected world and cryptic messaging turned suffering into shared folklore, spawning the phrase 'git gud' as gaming's defining meme. This is the blueprint everything else on this list is arguing with or bowing to.
Year: 2011Critic score: 8.9/10
added by IJRin 7 rankings
-3
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice▼ Falling
Isshin, Sword Saint didn't just kill players — it forced an entire fanbase raised on shields and dodge-rolling to abandon everything they knew and learn to deflect, turning parry timing into a religion. FromSoftware stripped away builds and co-op, leaving one shinobi, one prosthetic arm, and posture bars that punished passivity mercilessly. It's on this list because it redefined 'hard' as a rhythm game disguised as a katana duel.
Year: 2019Critic score: 9/10
added by IJRin 4 rankings
-6
Cuphead▼ Falling
King Dice's casino gauntlet, a boss rush disguised as a single fight, exposed just how merciless this 1930s-cartoon shooter really was beneath its inkwell charm, demanding parry timing and pattern memorization worthy of a bullet-hell shmup. Studio MDHR wrapped Contra-hard combat in hand-drawn animation so lovingly retro it almost let you forget how many times you'd die to Cala Maria. It's here because it proves brutal difficulty can wear a smile and still leave bruises.
Year: 2017Critic score: 8.8/10
added by IJRin 8 rankings
-11
XCOM 2▼ Falling
The infamous 'gotcha' moment when a 99% chance to hit whiffs and your best soldier eats a Berserker's fist is the game's whole philosophy distilled — brutal not through reflexes but through cruel, uncaring math. Firaxis built a game where losing a veteran to a missed shot felt like a personal betrayal, and permadeath meant every squad wipe was a story you'd tell in hushed, traumatized tones. It belongs on this list because it proves turn-based strategy can be just as merciless as any soulslike.
Year: 2016Critic score: 8.8/10
added by IJRin 2 rankings
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Comments (8)
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Voted — and the gap between #1 and #2 should be bigger.
The crowd is sleeping on the bottom half of this list.
This order is closer to right than any editor would've gotten.
Exactly the kind of argument the internet was built for.