Most Challenging Single Player Games...EVER

[Nessy]

So, out of all the single player games you have played, which do you find most challenging? And which out of them have you managed to complete?

Probably best to leave rhythm games like osu! and guitar hero out cos people saying "I think that 100% of Soulless 2 on guitar hero is the hardest" might get old.

Also no crappy amatuer impossibly-through-bad-design flash games.

Here is my List:

5. Quake 3 Arena (1999) on Nightmare: Completing this and beating xaero with out a death was very challenging, his reaction speed was inhuman.
4. Unreal Tournament 2004 on Godlike: The accuracy required to play this game is probably more than any other FPS i've played.
3. I wanna be the guy: This free side-scroller takes some people many months to complete, it is excellent fun and well designed as it's unpredictability and near-impossible jumps make it fun and addictive.
2. Unreal Tournament 99 on Godlike: So enclosed, so chaotic, almost Impossible
1. Nethack (1985): This Rogue-like is possibly not the most difficult one out there, but being that I started playing it when I was 11 years old, and I only managed to complete it for the first time in July last year (10 years later), I would say that that makes this at least good enough to top my list.

 

[SpawnShooter]

Mile High club on MW1, much harder than spec ops in 2

That's all I can realy think of that's challenged me in recent years, me and a friend did all 50 waves on horde in Gears of War 2 on Insane, but that's not realy that hard if you know what your doing and pick a good level.

Other than that Castlevania 64, that game felt so hard when I was young, I used to think I just had no skills, but that game is a shambolic mess, so I never stood a chance, it was the only game I've ever owned and not completed.

 

[Nessy]

ye, most of the new games really don't have the challenge of some of the old ones, the halo and cod series never takes more than 2 deaths to pass an area, even if you're not good at it yet.

 

[SpawnShooter]

^Agreed especially now in COD they took out the infinite enemy respawn thing, an the "snap" aim is ridiculous, developers realy want to hold our hands.

 

[Nessy]

Even the challenging single player games nowadays are crappy, most of them are only challenging because they are either incredibly luck based, and you get killed by random things that you can't stop (like halo 2 jackals).

In terms of FPS, the console community is being catered too so heavily that the PC community is being left out, UT3 takes pretty much no skill what-so-ever. There is a clear limit to how good you can be with a controller, and almost no limit to how good you can be with a mouse.

 

[aka958]

I don't agree with "I wanna be the guy" it's pretty much an indie game some dude made just to make it unfair and cruel with death surprises in every area. I think even the creator said so itself, it's not hard to make a near impossible game and that is what he/she wanted to prove.
So challenging? No. Tedious and timewasting? Yes, yes it is.

Prinny: Can I really be the hero?
Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!
Seriously. Amongst the hardest platforming games. <.<

DOOM 3 on Nightmare.
Try it once without constant saves and reloads. <.<

Ninja Gaiden 1 & 2 on Master Ninja difficulty.

Final Fantasy 3
Final Fantasy 4 DS

Super Ghouls and Ghosts

Super Monkey Ball. <.<

Contra

Battletoads

 

[Nessy]

i've actually completed doom 3 and ff4, doom 3 is actually incredibly easy compared with quake.

battletoads is definitely hard, contra is hard, but it's kinda like dmc, once you get good at it, it's very easy.

 

[SpawnShooter]

Battletoads!

I've never played it but know its rep, I also heard the Ninja Gaidens on the snes are supposed to make your fingernails bleed with rage.

 

[aka958]

i've actually completed doom 3 and ff4, doom 3 is actually incredibly easy compared with quake.

battletoads is definitely hard, contra is hard, but it's kinda like dmc, once you get good at it, it's very easy.

Doom 3 is really easy, but not on Nightmare. .-.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

Castlevania: Bloodlines/Vampire Killer/ The New Generation. It's mainly the last level... Castle Proserpina. Basically, the screen is split into three sections and none of the platforms or floors line up. Its supposed to be some sort of illusion, and it's very disorientating (especially for me and my brain).

Its the biggest b*tch I can remember.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Original Doom on hardest

The Settlers

Original AvP on hardest

Contra

 

[aka958]

Original Doom on hardest

The Settlers

Original AvP on hardest

Contra

Original Doom? It didn't have Nightmare I'm sure. o.o
Ultraviolence isn't that hard imo. =D

 

[Autumn]

Super Ghouls and Ghosts

​

I remember trying to play that again a few years back and I just couldn't get past the tidal wave bit at the beginning!

I would say most "retro" games. I replayed Super Probotector and even with being able to save on an emulator every few seconds, I still struggled with it. How the fudge did I manage to complete it on the SNES when I was a kid?

 

[Nessy]

Because you were better then...much much better.

Harder than all the snes games are the old rogue-likes from the 80s. Many people have spent vast amounts of time (i read about a guy that played for over 20 years without managing to complete it). They are simple 2D RPGs often on a CLI where the game is incredibly vast (far more enemies than any modern rpg) and an extreme difficulty curve. Also, you only get 1 life.

 

[Darth Angelo]

I remember Donkey Kong Country 2 being tough, at least a lot tougher than the first. That last boss has pretty much every cheap trick in the book, invisibility, teleportation, invisible teleportation, inverse control traps, slow mo traps, near impossible to avoid projectiles
It just gets so rediculous still great fun though.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Mega Man Legends 2.

I sh*t you not, the final boss is absolutely unbearable. ._. The rest of the game (sans the S license test, which I had to cheat on and STILL had trouble with) is fine. But Sera... Oh god Sera...

 

[Blitz]

Contra.

Really, my cousin and me couldn't pass the first boss! And we're both 24-hours a day players.

 

[wallE156]

Battletoads!

I've never played it but know its rep, I also heard the Ninja Gaidens on the snes are supposed to make your fingernails bleed with rage.

I've played both and honestly you'd think Battletoads would be easier playing with a friend...makes it ten times harder cause you can hit eachother lol But yeah the original Ninja Gaidens for the nes are pretty ridiculous. They're hard AND not fun lol

 

[Satsui no Hado]

For me,Killer 7 was pretty freaking challenging because you would have no idea what to expect from your enemies.

 

[wallenb]

Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, San Andreas, and 4
only because i find it hard to not just mess around in the cities and competely forget the story