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17 Nearly-Impossible Games That Are Harder Than Bloodborne

Ron McNamara
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Bloodborne is often touted as one of the hardest games of all time. For that matter, the entire Dark Souls series is bandied as some of the hardest games ever, but Bloodborne is often seen as particularly challenging thanks to its fast-paced combat.

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That said, it's not as if Bloodborne is the be-all and end-all of difficult video games. In fact, there have been countless games released throughout the years that some may claim to be harder than Bloodborne. For example, old NES and Atari games. Most of them will have you throwing a controller in no time!

Updated December 28th, 2020 by Jack Pursey: The outpour of praise and acclaim that Bloodborne, along with the rest of the Soulsborne franchise, have received has quickly made FromSoftware one of the gaming industry's most beloved developers. The collection of games went against the grain of modern trends, ditching the ever-decreasing difficulty levels and excessive hand-holding for a punishing yet rewarding experience. The games have reminded people of why tricky video games can be so enjoyable, despite the frustration that they provide, and have players itching to challenge themselves with more tough games. To help scratch that itch, we have decided to expand this list with more difficult, but critically acclaimed games.

Updated August 11th, 2021, by Jack Pursey: The gaming industry's consistent growth over the years has meant that numerous games, from indie to AAA, are now releasing every single week. Although this is fantastic in regards to the plethora of choices available, it can make it tricky to filter through games and decide what to play. So, to help people out who are looking for some challenging games to test their skills, we've added some key details to each entry on this list and added a couple more games for good measure.

17 Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

After over 20 years, Crash Bandicoot fans were finally treated to a sequel to the classic Crash Bandicoot: Warped. This grand return came after the success of Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy, a remake of the bandicoot's iconic PlayStation 1 platforming games. The game has given hope to fans of forgotten gaming franchises of the past and has shown just how successful a well-designed remake can be.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time returns the series to its platforming roots and doesn't lower its difficulty to appeal to younger audiences; in fact, it ramps it up significantly. Completing the main story of Crash Bandicoot is tough, but not too taxing, thanks to the new unlimited lives system. However, completing the game 100% offers one of the toughest platforming challenges of the last decade. Platinum relics, flashback tapes, hidden gems, and much, much more need to be obtained to complete the entire game, pushing the player's platforming skills to their limit.

16 Nioh 2

Nioh 2 originally released on the PlayStation 4 in 2020 before coming to PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Windows in February 2021. The action role-playing game was developed by Team Ninja, who are best known for the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series; Kou Shibusawa also did development work on the game.

Nioh 2 is often compared to the soulsborne series, predominantly for its impressive boss fights, rhythmic combat, and of course, punishing difficulty. The game was very well-received by critics, exemplified by its 85 Metascore on PlayStation 4. Nioh 2 received a nomination for Best Action at the Game Awards 2020.

15 XCOM 2

The second entry in the rebooted XCOM franchise is one of the best modern turn-based tactics games on the market. XCOM 2's difficulty comes from several different places. Along with the often ridiculous hit percentages and A.I. that will punish even the slightest mistake; the game ditches the concept of respawning, meaning one bad mission can seriously damage a squad's overall skill and experience level.

14 Grim Fandango

Grim Fandango is considered to be the last major title released during the point and click genre's dominant era of the 90s. As anyone who's played a LucasArts or Sierra graphic adventure will know, numerous games in the genre could take this spot.

A large reason for the plethora of tricky and obscure puzzles in games like Grim Fandango is that the publishers would often have guide books or helplines to aid players who were stuck. Players couldn't quickly bring up a YouTube walkthrough on their smartphone back in the 90s, so helplines were the only way for gamers to progress if they were stuck. This money-making idea resulted in games like Grim Fandango having a handful of puzzles with solutions that make players wonder how they were ever supposed to figure it out.

13 Contra

One of the most iconic run and gun games of all time, Contra came to arcades in 1987 before porting to home consoles shortly after. As was often the case with arcade titles, Contra isn't particularly long, so Konami intentionally ramped up the difficulty to ensure that arcade gamers weren't getting too much value for their coin.

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The game can be made easier by using the recurring Konami Code, but even with the 30 additional lives, the game is still brutally difficult.

12 Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

One of the many iterations of the classic arcade game Punch-Out!!, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! was released in the west. The iconic boxer took the role of the Dream Fight opponent, which is filled by Super Macho Man or Mr. Dream in other versions.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! is by no means an easy game up until the final fight. However, it's safe to say that the jump in difficulty when facing the former heavyweight champion is one of the largest in gaming history.

11 The Witness

Designed byJonathan Blow, best known for his work on 2008's Braid, 2016's The Witness throws players into a Myst inspired island. The world is filled with tricky line puzzles, providing a massive challenge.

Much like Bloodborne, the game offers little in the way of hints or in-game help. Instead, it forces players to learn each area's themes and patterns by solving increasingly difficult puzzles.

10 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Everyone wondered what FromSoftware and Hidetaka Miyazaki had up their sleeves following the conclusion of the Dark Souls series. It was Sekiro, a samurai-themed game heavily imbued with Dark Souls DNA. And while it was certainly good, many people thought that it leaned way too heavily into the whole "these games are difficult" infamy.

Many players couldn't grasp the basic swordplay mechanics, and those that could had incredible difficulty with the bosses. It was called "cheap" on more than one occasion, and many people considered it far more difficult than the Dark Souls trilogy and Bloodborne.

9 Ghosts 'N Goblins

In many respects, Ghost 'N Goblins was the original Dark Souls. It's a platforming game that sees you playing as a knight forced to do battle with many supernatural creatures, including ghosts and goblins.

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It has a legacy for being one of the toughest games ever, as it only takes two (yes, two) hits to kill the player character. And if the player dies, they are forced all the way back to the beginning of the level. Not only that, gamers must play through the game twice in order to reach the true final boss and ending.

8 Ninja Gaiden II

Sekiro was often compared to the Ninja Gaiden series, and for good reason. Both contained a similar style, and both were relentlessly difficult. While all the Ninja Gaiden games are difficult, II is on a whole other level.

Enemies bombard the player at a relentless pace, and each deal a significant amount of damage. By the end of the game, the enemies have cannons and kill players in seconds flat, all but ensuring that no one ever finished the thing.

7 The Simpsons

The 1991 Simpsons arcade game is undoubtedly one of the greatest arcade beat-em-ups of all time. But, like all arcade games, it was designed with one objective: earn as much money as possible.

Seeing as how arcade machines earned money by players inserting coins to "continue" the game, this often meant that the game contained an artificially increased difficulty. The Simpsons was no better, as it contained hordes of enemies, all of whom deal enough damage to ensure the player's death after just a few minutes.

6 Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock

The great thing about the Guitar Hero series is that anyone could pick it up and play. But those who truly wanted to play and prove themselves were forced to play on expert difficulty, and it was easy to see they called it "expert."

Guitar Hero III ramped up the difficulty in an exponential way.Not only did it contain inherently challenging songs like Through the Fire and Flames and Cliffs of Dover, but the button sequencing was the most obtuse and challenging of the entire series.

5 Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy is a fantastic game, and it served as an incredible throwback to the platformers of yore. That said, it played a lot like the platformers of yore — meaning it featured obtuse game design and immense frustration.

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Unlike many platformers of the 80s and 90s, Super Meat Boy wasn't exactly difficult in a cheap sense. But it required precision and pitch-perfect timing, which not everyone has. It's certainly not for everyone, but for those looking for a challenging, throwback platformer, players could do a lot worse.

4 Cuphead

The Dark Souls series proved surprisingly popular, and as such, many developers took notice and realized that there was a market for strenuous video games. Enter Cuphead, another arduous run and gun game that has the ability to tire players out within seconds.

Many people called Cuphead cheap and unpredictable, as its approach is to bombard the player with dozens of obstacles, two of which are enough to kill them. Players have to have the reflexes of a cat to beat this thing.

3 Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer released for the NES back in 1990 and instantly received a reputation for being wildly hard. It is still regarded as one the hardest video games in existence, but unlike Dark Souls, it's not really difficult in a fair and fun way. It's difficult in a "who would actually play this!?" way.

The screen is constantly scrolling forward (despite the player's actions), the Silver Surfer is relentlessly attacked with items that can kill him with one hit, and the levels are often obtusely designed to be confusing. It's cheap, it's ridiculous, and it is no fun.

2 I Wanna Be The Guy

I Wanna Be the Guy was intentionally designed to be the biggest pain in the butt in gaming history. The levels are intentionally designed to be confusing, and some even downright cheat, all in order to frustrate the player.

Items that players don't expect to kill them will, and items fly in all sorts of nonsensical directions. And yes, players die in one single hit. It requires nothing short of sheer trial and error, and that doesn't exactly make for a fun video game.

1 Battletoads

Battletoads everything fascinating about old NES games. It is both wonderfully produced and exceptionally fun, but also incomprehensibly difficult. It's a side-scrolling game, but the gameplay is extremely fast-paced, resulting in obstacles often flying towards the player at high speed.

Platers must have both exceptionally fast reflexes and strong memory skills. At least one of the two is absolutely required to see the game through to completion.

NEXT: Ranked: The Hardest Bosses In Dark Souls

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