Game Developers Being Cruel
Game devs and designers know how to pull a prank, or maybe their just sadistic and get a kick out of seeing players suffer. Considering how much time, thought, and effort goes into every game it's only natural that some like to add a cruel twist of fate that knocks the player off their feet... and then proceed to hit them repeatedly with a baseball bat.
I'm looking for enormous spikes in difficulty, sections of the game that suddenly expect an entirely different mindset and you need to readjust ASAP, traps where you could only avoid if you had prior knowledge and may potentially cause a dead game, mechanics or obstacles that are infamous for filtering a ton of players from even finishing the game, and so forth. When talking about difficulty spikes, try to keep the game's general difficulty in mind. Dark Souls bosses can be challenging, but it comes from an already challenging game. That isn't to say that there can't be bosses that are unreasonable even for Dark Souls (if I see comments saying Dark Souls is baby easy I swear to God!) It can be hard to tell sometimes but I'm also looking for intentionally designed torture. The Bed of Chaos is infamous, but as far as I recall it comes from it being more or less unfinished and rushed. Your sentence is different depending on your motive, we're looking for first degree murder. Lastly I won't accept "The Entire Game is cruel" statements. Too easy and vague, even if it is true for some.
Obviously be respectful as people will find different things difficult.
I'm looking for enormous spikes in difficulty, sections of the game that suddenly expect an entirely different mindset and you need to readjust ASAP, traps where you could only avoid if you had prior knowledge and may potentially cause a dead game, mechanics or obstacles that are infamous for filtering a ton of players from even finishing the game, and so forth. When talking about difficulty spikes, try to keep the game's general difficulty in mind. Dark Souls bosses can be challenging, but it comes from an already challenging game. That isn't to say that there can't be bosses that are unreasonable even for Dark Souls (if I see comments saying Dark Souls is baby easy I swear to God!) It can be hard to tell sometimes but I'm also looking for intentionally designed torture. The Bed of Chaos is infamous, but as far as I recall it comes from it being more or less unfinished and rushed. Your sentence is different depending on your motive, we're looking for first degree murder. Lastly I won't accept "The Entire Game is cruel" statements. Too easy and vague, even if it is true for some.
Obviously be respectful as people will find different things difficult.
24 Games
The Generator. Nothing like playing a horror game with a perpetual time limit. You need to keep the generator topped off with fuel in order to keep the lights on. While you have your own flashlight, it's both loud (which attracts the monster) and barely stays on for a few seconds. The monster is also far more active when the lights are out. This mechanic also heavily discourages you from making little bits of progress and running back to the save room, because that ends up wasting a lot of fuel for the generator. Admittedly brilliant, the generator is certainly evil.
Turbo Tunnel. Hard to believe that are even harder levels after this. If you were expecting a simple beat 'em up from this game, then this level is like taking off the gloves and now you're fighting with brass knuckles. It all comes down to precision and memorization, and while the game does warn you of upcoming obstacles it's going to take many attempts to get a rythym going. Also without cheats you only have around nine lives, including continues. So save yourself the trouble for your own sanity and just cheat.
The Cultists. They are the meanest kind of hitscanners. They shoot instantly on sight, deal a deadly amount of damage, have an absurd DPS that will kill you in seconds, are placed everywhere in every level, and show up as early as the first level. If you can't deal with them, then you can't play the game.
Knockout? For the sake of spoilers I won't say who, but in a already hard as hell game they had the gall to have one of the bosses do a fake out defeat animation. There has been plenty of players who sighed in relief, only to put down their controller as they look back to see the game over screen from seemingly nowhere.
The Darkest Dungeon. Not sure if this was ever adjusted; but apparently if you take a party into the final dungeon and leave for whatever reason, every single party member will refuse to enter it ever again. This forces you to build a brand new party for every single expedition, which will involve a lot of grinding.
Yurt, the Silent Chief. You saved a random NPC from a hanging cage? Well congratulations you just endangered every single person in the hub world, the only real safe place in the game. And since FSARPGs (see my Lies of P review) loves to have permanent autosave, let's hope he didn't kill anyone important before you noticed something is horribly wrong.
The final boss Malroth. In a already difficult RPG, the final boss has one last trick up its sleeve. Fullheal. Yep, anytime the final boss can just erase all the progress you made trying to deplete his health bar. Also he has infinite MP, meaning he can do it as many times as he desires.
Golden Treasures. While the devs added flashing notations to indicate what button to press, unlike the first game that mostly has no indicators other then the guessing based on film you're watching, the devs also knew this would make the game too easy by itself. So while paying attention to the flashing environments in order to press the right button, you also have to keep an eye on the more hidden golden treasures that are mandatory to reach the final section of the game. Many of these aren't very obvious considering both the insane level of visual detail of the movie but also how the flashing indicators will often take your attention away from locating these golden treasures, as the flashing is how you survive in the first place. If you miss even one treasure then your starting over again.
The Shield. Did you not want to use that shield weapon in the final stage because its range was bad? Then how about we send you back to the start of the previous level if you beat the penultimate final level? Now you'll never forget, use the shield!
Bomb arrows on Death Mountain. If you try to use a bomb arrow in the volcanic region, it will instantly blow up in your face from the intense heat.
Lord Iwama. Your swimming in a small pool when you notice a shadow in the water. There's been other enemies in the water, so you approach and are then thrown into one of the hardest bosses in the entire game. This giant carp has an obscene amount of health, can create water tiles that continually heal him, does a crap load of damage with each hit, is huge so stalling is way harder then normal, and you have at most only two party members to fight him.
Boobeam Trap (Yes that's its real name). Did you use crash bomber one too many times during the level or the boss fight with the reinforced wall turrets?
Then die. Because those turrets can only be harmed by that specific weapon and you have zero way to recover that weapon energy once you enter the boss room.
Then die. Because those turrets can only be harmed by that specific weapon and you have zero way to recover that weapon energy once you enter the boss room.
Spiders! Giant spiders that will drop from the ceiling and will deal 80% or more of your health. Hope you always have full health, or you don't have arachnophobia.
The Submerged Castle. A small dungeon but it has every hazard imaginable cranked up to eleven, has a roaming boss monster whose invincible and instant death on any Pikmin, and you can only bring Blue Pikmin whose only trait is that they can traverse water with no other utility. The trap RNG also seems far meaner then usual, constantly dropping bomb rocks and exploding spiders on your squad.
Monster Houses. You enter a seemingly inconspicuous room, only to be jumpscared by twenty or so enemy Pokemon falling out of the ceiling. The music alone still sends shivers down my spine. Sometimes the Pokémon aren't that threatening, but then you got ones where more then one of them has range attacks like earthquake, or maybe a buffing move that buffs every single enemy in this cramped room. These things can easily kill your dungeon run if you underestimate them. Did I mention that these rooms have more frequent floor traps?
Ultra Necrozma. You ever wondered why they don't make Pokémon games harder? Cause they're honestly not too enjoyable when they're overly brutal. You're required to beat this legendary that has amazing stats, gains a buff at the start of the battle to make those already great stats even more absurd, has an ability where its super-effective attacks deal more damage ontop of the bonus weakness damage, will likely outspeed most available Pokémon at that point in the game, is much higher level then average, and has type coverage that makes finding an efficient counter far more difficult. There has been plenty of players whose entire team gets one-shotted while Necrozma went first every single time.
Final boss. Had one of my siblings stopped right at the finish line. This boss is a marathon of four phases, the most out of any boss there is. So while their attacks may not be the hardest to deal with, the length of the duel exudes some intense pressure that makes panicking and messing up real easy. Especially if you have little patience. While cheesing is very possible, it also takes even longer. Whether you play honorably or not it's going to be an endurance test.
Nothing is Free. Added as a suggestion by @paqgamer_, Serious Sam is notorious for having trapped collectibles. If you see a inconspicuous health or armor pickup, there's a high likely hood that picking it up will spawn enemies from literally nowhere. Serious Sam unapologetically just teleports enemies whenever it feels like it.
"Oops! All Hit-Scanners!" According to @FastBlueApple (thanks for the suggestion), Shadow Warrior OG is just as bad if not worst then Blood when it comes to hit-scanners.
Matador the Fiend. Unlike the other added boss fights in the later additions of Nocturne, Matador is not only mandatory but comes out of nowhere. He's stationed in the middle of a hallway and only gives you a vague indication that something, or someone is there. His tactics involve buffing his evasion to max while pelting with you with party wide attacks that greatly whittle down your resources. Bearing in mind that when you miss your attacks in SMT, you lose precious turns. I'm genuinely curious how many people beat him on their first go without knowing anything about him.
Unlocking the Kid from I Wanna Be The Guy. There are harder levels in this game, but the precision require here is heart surgeon levels of precise. Plus if you quit for whatever reason you have to play through all three levels all over again.
Arcade Mode. If you don't have any friends and don't want to play online, then singleplayer provides the perfect waterboarding experience. I can't get into every single thing, but in short arcade mode has the computer players literally read your inputs, deal way more damage then characters normally do, can escape out of stun near instantly, and all around don't play fair.
The Dungeon Guardian. The old man at the dungeon tells you that you can't enter without beating his master. Thing is, the dungeon is open. Nothing is stopping you from entering the dungeon without dealing with this "Master". Except, I lied. If you go too far into the dungeon a enormous skull will appear out of the darkness and instantly kill you. It's also fast, can fly through walls, and will never stop chasing you. You can unlock a rare pet if you, somehow, beat the Dungeon Guardian but it doesn't open the dungeon (though at that point beating the Master should be a breeze).
The Hang Glider. Out of all games here, this one is most appropriate for the banned phrase "This entire game is cruel". There really isn't a definitive answer, so we'll go with the autoscroller. All you have to do is survive riding this hang glider, but while it appears to be shmup-like section it certainly doesn't control like one. You can only move down to dodge enemies but that puts you at risk of hitting a island and dying. The only way to ascend is to touch air currents that will lift you up, but you can also shoot and destroy these currents by accident with your gun, which is one of the only ways to defend yourself during this section against a constant stream of enemies. Worst of all, if you get hit just once, you start the entire game over again. No second chances. This is also a section during the latter half of the game, which means you lose a ton of progress if you fail (which you will).
3 Comments
Cultists from Blood are sure annoying but imo it doesn't hold a candle to Shadow Warrior
Or as I like to call it "Oops! All Hit-Scanners!"
Or as I like to call it "Oops! All Hit-Scanners!"
@paqgamer_ @FastBlueApple Both have been added, thanks. Man a lot of FPSs borderline on evil.
paq250_
5 months ago