The Hardest Games in recent (last 5) years.

So I'm playing through Guacamelee. I get to the final boss, and he takes somewhere around 50 tries and 100 swear words to beat. That was in normal. I'm now playing through on hard, and I'm pretty convinced this is could be the hardest game I've played recently.

That being said I haven't played every game ever, so what's the hardest game of recent years that you've played?

I haven't really encountered too many hard games in the last 5 years. Now if you'd like to travel back further, there are plenty.

I would say the souls games, but I feel once you've mastered the mechanics, they aren't 'hard' anymore. Just punishing if you mess up.

I forgot about Demons Souls, that's just in that 5 year window. And yeah that is pretty damn punishing, :P

Dark Souls

I guess Darksouls is the hardest game I've played in past 5yrs. I usually don't like games with bosses especially massive bosses, so it's surprising that I took to Darksouls which is plagued with bosses, and I am proud to say that I completed it. I guess ninja gaiden2 is quite hard also. Especially trying to master your favourite weapons.

Donkey Kong Returns 3D on the 3DS has given me some trouble. I found that some of the later cart/rocket levels have some challenging moments. After completing the game (every level, but not 100% completion), I found that game to be fairly hard.

Also, Skyrim on its hardest difficulty (mastery, I believe) can be absolutely unforgiving.

• Catherine
• Bayonetta
• Shadow of the Colossus (8 years old)
• Antichamber

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are always on here. They're extremely overrated; they're challenging at first, but you can get the gist of things halfway through and then just breeze.

Super Meat Boy always brings new challenge/frustration to each level. Once you complete the level it becomes a little easier, but it's not a sure fire thing of winning.

Spelunky seems to be a pretty tough game to get into; I'm just starting it, maybe it becomes more accessible the more you play, but I don't think it will become as accessible as the Souls games because of the random element to the game.

@Minishdriveby: Wouldn't exactly call those games "a breeze".

Also, "extremely overrated" is entirely opinion based; which I'd dare say the majority (including myself) disagree with you.
The souls series is challenging. If it wasn't for you, then good on you - but not everyone shares your sentiment.

Far Cry 2, just going from one place to another is a struggle. I'm having trouble with Bayonetta right now, not sure how to go about it haha.

Ninja Gaiden 2 but I don't know if that's more than 5 years old or not.

ninja gaiden(xbox) ninja gaiden 2 (xbox 360) sark sous demons souls

Dodonpachi Saidaioujou (xbox 360 - region free). released in arcades first in 2012 then ported as a physical release for xbox 360 thanks to Microsoft in 2013.

part of the reason being hibachi/inbachi.

I could list some other titles, but I think you guys would probably find my list boring lol

dark souls and demons souls

Dark Souls and Demons souls are not that hard, once you get the pattern ts not that hard.

but hardest game, hmmm havent really played anything really hard in a long time.

Higher difficulty in Skyrim = HP bloat

Not a good, interesting or fun way of increasing the difficulty. Just lazy.

I'll go with Knights of the Chalice.

Yeah, basically its a combination of HP bloat and stunting your damage output. It is an easy way to increase the difficulty, but also very effective.

Yea, very effective at boring the player, even more than they had been already.

Antichamber and Ikaruga

@fatee: Let's just say after Ornstein and Smough the game becomes a Hack and Slash Adventure although the DLC changes that notion.

Yeah, I'll admit that the toughest part is Ornstein and Smough. Granted, there were still challenging areas, such as Lost Izalith. To say the games are a breeze, though, is kind of wrong. Even on my third playthrough, there are things that can trip me up. Granted, it's MUCH less difficult since I know what to expect, but enemy formations and certain bosses can still be tricky.

For instance, the archers in Anor Londo. Those guys will never be easy to get by.

released in 2001/2002

? You can just run past everything in Lost Izalith and Anor Londo. I run past all the gargoyles and shield knights, and then two-hit-kill the silver knights in the castle to rack up souls. It's a good grinding spot because you can kill about 11 silver knights in about 45 seconds running through that castle.

• Demon's Souls
• Catherine
• Dark Souls

@Bandit_Haze: Some of the platforming in that game gave me hand cramps. I haven't done that kind of platforming since the NES days.

Anyway, past 5 years? Shit. I've beaten just about every game I get my hands on. I guess Demon Souls and Dark souls are up there. Legend of Grimrock is pretty rough too. I hear Catherine for the PS3 was but never played it. I also had a real hard time with X-COM: Enemy Within. Rogue Legacy was nuts until you gained enough levels. Braid is tough too. 5 Years is too long to think

Dark Souls hands down.

Catherine was a PS3/360 cross platform game

I can understand where you are coming from. For people who do not like the game to begin with, I couldn't imagine playing it on the mastery difficult level, especially for those who may not have patience or skill required. I know I ran out of patience playing Skyrim on mastery a couple of times, but as with all challenging games, it feels good once you conquer it.

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. They might not be "tough NES game" tough, but they take an amount of patience that few people nowadays possess. You don't just "cruise" on Demon's either, unless you're one of those tools that looked up how to cheat against Maneaters. And the final boss, Old King Allant, ain't no joke either. Dark Souls is much more difficult at the beginning, but I agree that this one tapers off about halfway through. But New Game + is brutal for both games.

Dota 2. You'd be hard-pressed to find another multiplayer game with the sheer complexity of Dota 2. It doesn't help that one mistake could get you flamed to oblivion by your teammates.

Donkey Kong Country Returns and Super Meat Boy - two really tough platformers, especially SMB.

@Some-Mist: That was crazy, I don't play a whole lot of top down shmups, that's one of the reasons, they get pretty nuts pretty fast. Kudos to the people who take the time to master those games.

They were tough, but not the toughest. I beat them on my first try (barely. No more estus and about 5 percent health left). I had a rougher time with the Four Kings.

Guacamelee isn't hard, especially not the final boss. Neither is Demon's Souls or Dark Souls. I can't even remember a game in the last five years I would consider especially difficult on the default difficulty setting.

Castlevania Order of Ecclesia

You must be a God among men. They always give me trouble.

@Black_Knight_00: That's a good choice. That game is very challenging, especially near the end. Definitely one of the toughest Metroidvania games.

I love guacamelee. It's one of my favourite download games around. Having said that there are far more difficult challenges to be found in the following games

-Punch-Out!! (challenge mode 100% completion)

-Donkey Kong Country Returns (200% completeion is a much harder challenge and getting shiny gold medals on all stages in time trials is even harder still)

-New Super Mario Bros. U (completing the challenge mode. I'll never be able to do it :s)

-Super Mario 3D World (the last two levels in the game... I hope to beat them some day)

-Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze (look at DKCR)

There are obviously even harder games than these hidden in the shadows as well, but these games are a lot more challenging than the vast majority of games these days

I'm torn about that game: on one hand it's probbaly the best among the Castelvania SotN clones and with one of the best female protagonists around, on the other it's incredibly cheap, especially during boss fights, and requires a monumental amount of grinding in order to unlock and purchase healing items.

@Black_Knight_00: Honestly I just looked at it as more demanding. Much like Dark Souls, if you get hit then you are bound to die in a few hits. It required a lot more perfection than the other games. I liked the challenge.

Single player:

Spelunky

Super meat boy

Dark souls

Multi:

Counterstrike: source

Dota 2

Starcraft 2

I think I was just lucky to beat them the first time.

Those archers are extremely easy to get by. If you run up to the one on the right he'll draw his sword. Then run back down the terrace and run around the square pillar he'll chase you around the square pillar and then you run back up the terrace and hop down to the bond fire in the castle.