Haunted Castle earns its infamy as perhaps the toughest version of Simon Belmont's first adventure. Its clunky, sluggish movement makes you vulnerable to hits that smoother console versions would avoid, and its brutal arcade design offers no quarter. For years, even die-hard fans struggled to conquer it without the modern luxury of save states. | © Konami
Valheim's difficulty lies in its harsh survival stakes. Dying means dropping all your gear and potentially losing skill levels, forcing a perilous, unequipped run to your corpse. This demands extreme preparation, like building outposts and stashing backup gear near bosses, just to have a fighting chance in a world without fast travel. | © Iron Gate Studio
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze cranks the series' signature challenge to a punishing new level, getting tough alarmingly fast. By the second world, it demands perfect enemy bounces and pinpoint platforming, skills the previous game saved for its final stretch. Each multi-phase boss is a major ordeal, which is precisely why the Switch version finally introduced an easier mode for players who hit a wall. | © Retro Studios
The classic Super Monkey Ball games demand a level of precision few mainstream titles ever ask for. Your control over the tilt of the stage must be absolutely perfect, requiring movement skills on another level just to survive. The modern remake removed its life system for a reason; the original GameCube versions are so brutal that most players need a glitch just to reach the infamous Master levels. | © Amusement Vision
If you want a game to humble any Souls veteran, look no further than Ninja Gaiden 2. It completely rejects slow, strategic combat for a blistering pace that demands real-life dexterity and split-second reactions. While you can find some exploitable tricks, its opening chapters are brutally limiting, and the late-game severely restricts resources, creating a white-knuckle challenge from start to finish. | © Team Ninja
Sifu is a brutally demanding action game where even its standard campaign, with its limited upgrades and punishing bosses, offers a serious challenge. The real test, however, is the Arena mode, which grants you a full moveset only to hit you with relentlessly tough, multi-phase fights. The endgame challenges here reach a level of difficulty that arguably surpasses even the most notorious action game gauntlet. | © Sloclap
Celeste tells a heartfelt story about overcoming inner demons, matched perfectly by its incredibly challenging 2D platforming. It hands you a simple moveset, then crafts brilliantly tough levels that demand pixel-perfect execution of every dash and jump. The instant respawns keep you trying through hundreds of deaths, with the optional B-side levels standing as a brutal test for true experts. | © Maddy Makes Games
Bloodborne forced a radical shift in playstyle from its Souls predecessors, trading shields for aggressive combat. While debates rage over the hardest Soulsborne game, its DLC is undeniably brutal, housing legendary challenges like Ludwig and the Orphan of Kos. Even regular areas can swarm you with foes, and with only a few hits between you and a checkpoint, the pressure to perform is constant. | © FromSoftware
Darkest Dungeon matches its gloomy aesthetic with a brutal difficulty that wears down both your heroes and your patience. Every expedition risks stress, disease, and quirks, where a single critical hit can trigger an unrecoverable spiral. It's a game that forces you to accept retreat or death, relentlessly pressuring you with punishing RNG and ruthless resource management. | © Red Hook Studios
God Hand is often rated as one of the toughest brawlers ever, surpassing even Elden Ring in pure intensity. While you can craft custom combos from dozens of moves, button-mashing leads to a quick defeat. Its infamous dynamic difficulty ramps up enemies to be faster and more unpredictable the better you play, forcing flawless execution. | © Clover Studio
Super Meat Boy is a gory, brutal platformer where every single level is a gauntlet of whirring blades and instant-death spikes. It’s all about pure trial-and-error, demanding perfect timing and reaction speed to navigate its obvious but deadly paths. While its chapter structure offers some relief from tougher stages, the sheer relief of finally nailing a sequence is a hard-earned victory. | © Team Meat
Cuphead is beloved for its stunning 1930s animation, but it's truly infamous for its relentless, old-school difficulty. Each boss fight is a demanding test of pattern recognition and rhythm, starting simple before layering on elaborate, screen-filling attacks that are hard to even track. The punishing run-and-gun stages and the brutal expansion content ensure that every moment is a frantic fight for survival. | © Studio MDHR
While every Soulsborne fan has their pick for toughest game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice stands apart with its unique, punishing demands. It ditches defensive play for a razor-sharp focus on offensive timing and a complex posture system, where every panicked dodge can ruin your rhythm. The extreme speed of combat and ever-evolving enemy movesets mean a simple miscalculation leads to a quick death, demanding total mastery from start to finish. | © FromSoftware
Battletoads earned its notorious reputation back in 1991, and that brutal difficulty has never faded. Beneath its fun cartoon style lies a devious mix of every classic platformer challenge: punishing vehicle levels, icy terrain, and enemies that just won't quit. It's a relic from an era designed to be merciless, securing its place as one of the hardest games ever made. | © Rare
Many players jumped into the hype for Hollow Knight: Silksong without realizing just how tough its beautiful, animated world would be. Pharloom is a grim and punishing realm, filled with brutal platforming challenges that demand perfect control of Hornet's agile, complex moveset. While her wider arsenal of tools is impressive, the sheer mastery required to overcome its infamous bosses and traps will make many players quit long before the end. | © Team Cherry
Elden Ring is famously tough, but the gaming world is full of challenges that push players even further. From brutal classics to modern masochistic masterpieces, here are 15 games that are officially harder than Elden Ring.
