What are the Most Challenging Video Games?

a man intensely playing a video game in his living room.

Sometimes you just want to kick back with a cold drink and enjoy some relaxing video gaming. But sometimes, you want to test yourself with a video game challenge that forces you to draw up all of your skills and abilities to allow you to achieve victory.

Gaming companies create games for every level of proficiency and competence. The trick is to find the right game for your mood at any given time. When you’re ready to enter a gaming event in which every fiber of your patience, intelligence and skills is to be tested, collect your casino bonus codes – if they offer them – and pick a game that transports you into a world of high-speed and high-energy gaming competition.

Some of the most difficult video games to play include:

Souldiers

Souldiers invites players to engage in a battle of attrition as they fight for freedom in the Terragaya fantasy world that’s suspended between the living and the fallen. This epic game features Metroidvania exploration, puzzle platforming and combat sequences. The fighters need to get to the next safe point before their supplies run out but are challenged by resource management, traps and deadly threats.

There are 3 classes to Souldiers and you pick your class – all of them will keep you on your toes throughout the gameplay. Each class has its own weapons that has its specific abilities – blocking, parrying, slicing and dicing, shooting and doing magic. New skills are granted with adds to replayability. The villains have different moves and your challenges are amplified by flying enemies, jump attacks and varied attack patterns of with varying levels of intensity.

Celeste

Celeste has a lot going for it. In addition to the challenges that it presents its engaging pixel art graphics, balanced difficulty curve, creative level design and melancholic storyline draw in players on all levels. The narrative sets the tone for the difficulty level since Madeline’s journey of self-discovery is paralleled by the gamer’s accomplishments.

This game is a test of skill and patience but despite its difficulty level, it’s surprisingly accessible. You can play it comfortably with no platform experience and you learn as you go along since the difficulty curve is linear and gradual so you ease into the gameplay gradually. The top 3 hardest mechanics are only used in the last “bonus” level sets so you can get through most of the game before you confront the hardest challenges.

The best thing about Celeste is that the storyline is intriguing enough and the gameplay is varied enough that, although you may struggle, you will want to get good. There’s a built-in “assist mode” where you can enable a variety of mini-hacks to help you.

Cuphead

Cuphead may look like an old-time cartoon but beware, it’s a tough run and gun game that requires razor-sharp timing, perfect play and precise mastery of enemy attacks, controls and patterns. The player takes either the role of Cuphead or his brother Mugman, the heroes, who battle their way through several levels while acquiring new power-ups and challenging bosses.

The most enchanting features of Cuphead are the visuals and audio which have been created with the same techniques used in the 1930s – watercolor backgrounds, original jazz recordings and traditional hand-drawn cel animation. You can play as either or his brother Mugman as the gameplay takes you through super moves, secrets, weapons and strange worlds on your way to confront the devil himself.

Will Cuphead succeed in repossessing the souls of debtors who evaded their debts at the Devil’s Casino? Or will Cuphead have to even the score with the devil on his own terms? The faster you get through the various levels, the quicker you’ll discover the truth. Seasoned players find Cuphead’s rigorous and unforgivable action to be invigorating without becoming overpowering.

Loop Hero

If you don’t mind a game built around players dying, you will enjoy Loop Hero which brings you from one level to the next as you gain more strength, more knowledge and more experience. If you’re willing to learn the game’s systems’ ins and outs, dive into the card-based mechanics and take advantage of all of the game’s resources, you’ll be on your way to a fun-filled and challenging gameplay loop.

Loop Hero is unique because it takes bits and pieces from other games and uses them to create something new. It’s not hard to understand the individual parts but if you don’t take the time to choose and place cards wisely, gather resources, prepare what you need to unlock new classes and plan out what needs to be built in which order at your camp, the game can get overwhelming.

Winnie the Pooh Home Run Derby

Here’s one that you wouldn’t expect. Winnie the Pooh Home Run Derby is, some seasoned gamers have said, one of the hardest games that they’ve ever played. It looks like a Disney children’s game. But suffice it to say that nothing could be further from the truth. The 2D baseball freeware starts off simply — click the ball with the bat as you square off with Eeyore and the Heffalump. But soon the pitches turn into curveballs and the crew from the Hundred Acre Woods gets malicious. Owl’s balls zig-zag, Rabbit’s throws speed up and slow down without warning and Tigger’s balls disappear.

When Christopher Robin appears his pitches come fast and furious. Nothing is easy to hit and it just gets harder as the game levels up. Unless you’re looking for pure frustration, avoid Winnie the Pooh Home Run Derby.