Most difficult and challenging games

[KIFANATIC8488]

How about Geometry Dash? Have you play that game or not yet? Are you planning on playing it too?

Side-note: I wanna say now Geometry Dash bears a VERY strong resemblance to and at the same time reminds me very much of The Impossible Game

[FeverAyeAye]

Hardest games are games with an active and competitive multiplayer base.

As for PVE games, I had a really hard time with Karnov for the Spectrum. A bit like Ghouls and Ghosts, another game that you die instantly and there’s a lot on screen.

[DARKNIGHTSPIDEY]

All of the Story Missions on Very Hard were absolute MURDER. Especially missions 1, 5, 7, 8, and 9. Oh my God, mission 7.

[G1GlaciusPrime]

No I haven’t played Geometry Dash. But yeah, if it’s anything like the Impossible Game I bet it’s rough.
I don’t think I’d probably play that one though. I’m not a complete masochist.

[Blade4693]

Honestly, I think Battletoads could be the hardest. I just recently played it for the first time like a week ago via Rare Replay and even with the rewind button I couldn’t help but laugh at how stupid the game is. It is fun and I think it’s awesome, but unless you dedicate a ton of time replaying every level after stage 2 and memorize every single little thing that comes and when I don’t see how anyone could ever finish it lol

[NitricZenith]

The original Ecco the Dolphin, simultaneously one of the most beautiful, frustrating, stressful and nightmare inducing games I have ever played, yet I never got bored of it, though little me was very intrigued by and at the same time completely terrified of "The Machine " level in particular.

This was an auto scrolling level where you had to memorise your route to avoid being crushed to death by the walls if you went the wrong route, if that wasn’t enough there were alien drones and projectiles coming out of the walls as you try to avoid getting crushed by them, for five whole minutes with some of the most unsettling music ever. (seriously, I used to turn it down when I was little.)

Then there are the levels where you have limited oxygen and have to search for air pockets or shells with air in (btw, red shells will hurt you instead) while simultaneously avoiding being killed by sharks, jellyfish, tentacles and puffafish.

The game is basically a stressful nightmare disguised as a cute kid’s game, as beautiful as it is dark as rewarding at times (reuniting a stranded dolphin with his family, you literally cannot get any cuter) as it is frustratingly difficult in others.

[BoJima404]

Midnight Club Los Angeles
Anyone agree?

And that’s coming from a Ninja Gaiden (and Ninja Gaiden Black) veteran

[DARKNIGHTSPIDEY]

Midnight Club 2 was pretty damn hard from what I remember.

[Blacklash93]

I recently finished a game called Furi a few weeks ago and it was pretty tough. It’s sort of a hybrid of hack-n-slash and bullet hell shooters, and the whole game is a boss rush of about a dozen lengthy duels. It’s a relatively recent release and a title I’d recommend.

@DEClimax

Yeah I dunno, you address it in your post but I’m really not sure I would call the souls games “hard,” more like very punishing for mistakes but entirely manageable other than occasional difficulty spikes. It’s actually one of my bigger gripes with the series, as its bigger “roadblock” bosses (e.g. capra/O&S in DS1) are often not very good fights. Some people complain about DS3 being “easier” but I just see it as them learning from mistakes made in earlier games, with the end result being some of those difficulty spikes getting smoothed out.

Yeah, if you’re comfortable with the mechanics and play carefully your deaths can be few and far between in those games (with the exceptions of a few of bosses). Most of Souls games’ intimidating difficulty stems from the learning curve.