Random Most Punishing Video Games (22 items)

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  (#1) Ninja Gaiden

  • Mar 02 2004

  Ninja Gaiden is just a jerk, plain and simple. When your character Ryu dies, he never dies well. What's more, while other games would let you change attacks in mid-strike, Team Ninja forces you to commit to a plan of attack -- even when you see it already not working, making you watch your failure in totality. Feel the failure, because you have no one to blame but yourself. 
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  (#2) Battletoads

  • Jan 01 1991

  Before modern platformers like Super Meat Boy and Cloudberry Kingdom, there was Battletoads. This game is infamously known as one of the hardest games to beat, and retains that difficulty curve today. If you own an Xbox One you can replay Battletoads on the Rare Replay game that came out earlier this year.
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  (#3) Castlevania

  • Sep 26 1986

  The original Castlevania doesn't like you very much. It's going to send, from the get-go, as many enemies as the NES can possibly handle. When you die, you don't get to continue from where you left off: no, you've got to go back to the beginning of the block of levels you were at, forcing you to shame rerun your way back to where you died. And that Holy Water you found at long last? You're going to have to find it all over again, because you can't take it with you when you die. 
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  (#4) Mega Man

  Often the standard bearer of difficultly, Mega Man didn't give you much of a cushion. Die too much? There're no save points. You have to run through entire levels over again. Safe zones? Forget about it -- never relax or you'll find yourself dead. Maybe, just maybe, you'll be lucky enough to get away with only one broken controller. 
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  (#5) Dark Souls II

  • 2014

  From Software remakes one game over and over, but they remake it well. Dark Souls II made for a social media darling. Why? Because the game hates you personally. No handholding, no real direction, no UI interface telling you what you need to be doing. It's just you against enormous enemies that can take you out in a couple of hits. And then you have to suffer the indignity of returning to where you died, lest you give up all of your stuff. 
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  (#6) Punch-Out!!

  • 1987

  After battling multiple opponents, fighting your way to the top -- you get there, finally, and who are you up against but Iron Mike himself. And after all that, you get one shot at beating him. If you miss it, you're kicked all the way back down to starting over with Glass Joe. Having to look at that weakling's face after getting your face pummeled is probably the worst punishment. 
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  (#7) Super Meat Boy

  • Oct 20 2010

  This indie gem will provide you with hours of the most challenging platforming you've ever experienced in your life, so be prepared to pull most of your hair out before completing the game 100%.
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  (#8) Silent Hill 2

  • 2001

  Silent Hill 2 does a few things well, but chief among them is the ability to make the player regret past decisions, even if it doesn't necessarily hurt their game. Sure, you can still beat Silent Hill 2 no matter what you do -- but depending on choices, you can go from your character being forgiven for what he's done, to having an ending where both the wife you need forgiveness from and her lookalike are clearly going to die because you're an awful person. 
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  (#9) Resident Evil

  • Mar 22 1996

  One of the original survivor horror games, Resident Evil doesn't back down when it comes to shattering your nerves. Right off the bat -- dogs through the window. Okay, yeah, great. Zombies hiding in closets after you read a guy's diaries into the slow transition from human to undead. The game absolutely punishes you for playing it longer, leaving you anxious in the darkness. 
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  (#10) XCOM: Enemy Unknown

  • 2012

  Even though your soldiers start without personalities, it's human nature to give them one as you build up their skills, give them nicknames, etc. And then they will die, no doubt about it. This game plays on your mind, mourning soldier after soldier that you've spent so much time relying on falling to what seems to be an impossible alien invasion. And even after all that, you may be sacrificing characters not realizing that you've probably already failed to keep the world on board. 
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  (#11) FTL: Faster Than Light

  • 2012

  A rebel fleet always in pursuit, and the damage to your ship just keeps mounting. Fix one thing and another breaks. Recruit new crew and you're probably going to have to seal others inside a damaged airlock, leaving them to die. And if your ship gets destroyed, you're starting over, no matter what. FTL: Faster Than Light has no sympathy for you, no compassion. You beat it or you die, and your crew dies with you. 
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  (#12) Hotline Miami

  • Oct 23 2012

  Hotline Miami is all about being bold -- in fact, it actually scores you in how bold you are. And one hit from any enemy means you are dead. Being seen by enemies sends everyone collapsing on you, so you have to be bold, quick and stealthy all at once as you mow down enemy after enemy. And when you aren't -- bad for you. And it will go bad for you, again and again. 
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  (#13) Five Nights at Freddy's

  • 2014

  The thing about Five Nights At Freddy's isn't the jump scares. It's the dread. it's the feeling that these animatronic characters are out to kill you and there's nothing you can do to stop them but time the closing of a door. You can't fight them, you can't reason with them, you just have to sit in the dark and wait. 
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  (#14) Dead Rising

  • 2006

  The original Dead Rising refuses to let you have a breath. Rescuing survivors, battling zombies, figuring out the conspiracy behind the breakout, and dealing with crazed psychopaths is bad enough. On top of that, you're on a clock, and you have one save game. So if you've taken up too much time to finish what you need to, you likely can't go back to before you went wrong and have to start all over. Brutal. 
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  (#15) S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

  • Mar 20 2007

  Here's thing about S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl: You will be afraid of a bush. That's right. Your Geiger counter's going off and you know if you walk in the wrong direction, you're going to get more irradiated than ever, and you probably have to walk toward a bush where a bandit is definitely ready to pump you full of holes. Oh! And you have maybe ten bullets in a realistic (read: inaccurate) shooting system. You're going to die, but you can't stay where you are. Enjoy! 
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  (#16) Eve Online

  • May 06 2003

  EVE Online doesn't let up. No matter what you're doing or where you're going, there is going to be a bigger, better player, and they are definitely trying to kill you. If you're planning to be a miner, to basically chalk up one expensive destroyed ship a day minimum as acceptable loss, you know you're in the jungle and everyone's a tiger. Even when you're with a solid group of players, the possibility for everyone dying in a fire is guaranteed. 
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  (#17) DayZ

  • 2012

  There is nothing in the world of DayZ that doesn't hate you. The zombies want to eat you and will chase on sight or even sound. The other players want to kill you and take your stuff -- and it's not even great stuff that took you hours to get. After all that, and what do you have to do? Deal with hypothermia. Thirst. Hunger. Even when you survive the ravenous hordes, your own inability to get food will have you dead by yourself. And then you have to start all over again with none of your gear. 
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  (#18) Batman: Arkham Knight

  • 2015

  The game itself overall isn't the most punishing, but the Riddler side-game with all of those Batmobile races? The splashy handling of the Bat's favorite car made for incredibly frustrating moments. All the while, what do you have but the Riddler himself in your ear, making fun of your every move? It's enough to crack open a controller or two. The only reason why you didn't is so you'd have the opportunity to crack open Nigma's head. 
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  (#19) System Shock 2

  • Aug 11 1999

  The notes left behind by the dead space crew, mixed with terrifying sound design, will haunt you for ages in System Shock 2. Dealing with mutated crew members charging you with a lead pipe and begging you to kill them? Monkeys that you hear well before you see them trying to kill you? Good luck sleeping. 
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  (#20) PlanetSide 2

  • 2012

  The world of Planetside 2 is a harsh one. You'll traverse across kilometers of open space just to get to the front lines, and then you fall over, wondering where in the world that sniper was. It's a long, harsh climb to upgrade your gear to where you are capable of protecting yourself. And it will always be hard. You will die a million deaths. 
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  (#21) Bully

  • Oct 17 2006

  Bully found what might possibly be the worst punishment of all: boredom. If you get yourself caught doing something the school doesn't like, you get detention. And you have to stay there until you complete a number of menial tasks. Don't do the tasks? You stay there. It's an ingenious and absolutely mean way to punish the player for not getting it done. 
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  (#22) The Walking Dead

  • 2012

  This Telltale zombie game based off the TV series is punishing in one very important way: your emotions. Unexpected outcomes, no-win situations, and the feeling that the worst things to happen to you are inevitable all play on that sense of despair you have while playing the game. 

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