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00:03Welcome to Mojo Plays and today we're taking a look at the most challenging video games from
00:09every year from 2000 to 2025. As always, we'll be going off of North American release dates.
00:16You call that a duel? The glare up here is dazzling. Fight me in the woods if you have the
00:23guts.
00:24But before we dive in, we publish new content all week long,
00:27so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:342000 MDK 2
00:40The third game Bioware ever developed didn't quite reach the popularity of its RPGs, but it's still
00:46noteworthy for being the hardest game released in 2000. The sequel has players once again going up
00:53against an invasive alien force as reluctant hero Kurt Hectic. Where the original was a straightforward
00:59run and gunner, MDK 2 featured three playable characters with more diverse gameplay, including
01:06platforming and puzzle solving. That's why it was hard though. Platforming sections could be tedious
01:11and frustrating, and checkpoints were few and far between. We're mainly talking about the original
01:17Dreamcast version, since four difficulty settings and the option to manually save were added for the
01:24PC port after too many complaints.
01:27Yes, it's all over.
01:302001 Oni
01:33Here!
01:34A mostly forgotten action game from the creators of Halo and Destiny, Bungie's Oni failed to break through the
01:44noise in 2001. Inspired by anime like Ghost in the Shell, it follows an agent of a totalitarian
01:50government turning against it after discovering its secrets. While it looked cool and combat shined,
01:56that combat could still get incredibly challenging. And once again, a game's difficulty was heightened by
02:03a lack of enough save points. Not only was the game tough, but once you died, you'd have to replay
02:09lengthy sections of the game.
02:182002 Shinobi
02:24For players who like to take their time, best stay away from this one. Shinobi is a story of vengeance,
02:30following the ninja Hatsuma who seeks justice for his murdered clan. However, the sword he uses to do so
02:37feeds on souls. That's great to use on your enemies, but if you don't work quickly enough,
02:43it'll begin to drain your health. Fights are tough enough without having to worry about an unseen time
02:48limit. Not only that, but later sections include tricky platforming elements, forcing you to contend
02:54with enemies while you avoid falling into piss. This one's not for the faint of heart.
03:052003 F-Zero GX
03:13The North American release of the brutal shoot-'em-up Ikaruga nearly claimed this spot. But
03:19Captain Falcon's GameCube outing can make you rage almost as quickly as his high-speed races.
03:25The series has always been considered challenging. It's just that everything is a bit harder here.
03:30It's an impressive visual display at 60 frames per second, though that can be hard to appreciate when
03:36you're constantly careening into walls or other racers. Track design is complex, and controlling your
03:42vehicles requires the fastest of reflexes. This is true no matter what difficulty setting you're playing
03:48on. Even the story mode gives you no time to get used to things before you're thrown into the deep
03:54end.
04:002004 Ninja Gaiden
04:07There are plenty of franchise revivals that fail to capture the essence of the original games.
04:142004's Ninja Gaiden is not one of them, though, as it is just as grueling as its predecessors.
04:20Similar to Shinobi, it follows a master ninja on a quest to avenge his clan. While he doesn't have a
04:27life-draining sword, Ryu still undeniably has the cards stacked against him. Right from the get-go,
04:33you'll find yourself swarmed by enemies, so you can imagine how ruthless they become as you try to push
04:39forward. Combat is quick and vicious, but with every mistake you make, there will always be an enemy
04:45to take advantage of it. 2005 Devil May Cry 3 Dante's Awakening
05:02For the third game in the Devil May Cry series, Capcom famously made the hard mode of European and
05:08Japanese versions the normal mode in the North American one. Needless to say, there were a lot
05:14of players here who were surprised at how often they died. The first two were hard, but this was
05:20ridiculous. Dante's Awakening placed a heavier focus on combat, featuring four styles to switch between.
05:27And while fights could be incredible, the multiple stances just served to be overwhelming since enemies
05:33would never let up. It was such an issue that, when Capcom released the special edition,
05:39it adjusted the difficulty levels. 2006 God Hand
05:58The final game to be released by Clover Studio is undoubtedly the hardest game it put out in its
06:04short time. God Hand has a unique way in how it deals with difficulty. Instead of choosing a mode in
06:10the settings, it adapts to you. If you're doing poorly, it goes a bit easier on you. And if you're
06:16wiping the floor with enemies, it kicks it up a notch, increasing their power and skill. That may
06:22sound balanced, but the game already starts out tough. Once you start doing better, it pushes back
06:28and does so with a lot of force. That's on top of several unforgiving bosses and an aged camera that
06:35works against you in group encounters.
06:422007
06:43I Wanna Be The Guy, The Movie, The Game
06:46Die, monster! You don't belong in this world!
06:51It was not by my hand that I'm once again given flesh.
06:55If you're familiar with this game, you know exactly why it deserves to be here. A Flash game created by
07:02Michael Cayen O'Reilly, I Wanna Be The Guy borrows elements from many old school games. But where
07:08beating those games is difficult, beating this one is a Herculean task. The only way to get through it
07:14is to die over and over, possibly more than you've ever died in any video game before. There are traps
07:21hidden on every screen, some of which you'll never see coming, and others that simply defy all video
07:27game logic. Your memorization and reflexes will be tested to the utmost degree.
07:372008
07:38Mega Man 9
07:44Mega Man's classic adventures are some of the hardest retro games in existence. When Capcom chose to
07:50revisit that style, the team knew just what to do. Mega Man 9 sees the Blue Bomber once again setting
07:57out to stop a group of rogue robots. In addition to those providing hellishly hard boss fights,
08:03regular enemies are unquestionably built to demolish. Level design also amps up the difficulty,
08:09featuring clever trap placement and tricky platforming sections. That's just the base game.
08:14If you really wanted to challenge yourself, the achievements more than cover it. One requires you to
08:19beat it without using an E-Tank, and another requires you to beat it without dying once.
08:292009
08:29Demon Souls
08:36And here we see the beginning of the modern reign of From Software as the challenging champ. While Demon
08:43Souls isn't the hardest game from the studio, it's certainly the hardest game released in 2009.
08:49Every enemy, from the most basic to the fiercest boss, threatened to decimate in a formula that
08:55popularized the phrase, get good. As if fighting foes wasn't demanding enough, the game also features
09:02a unique tendency system. If you kill NPCs or act like a jerk towards another player, the game grows
09:08more difficult. Unfortunately, the difficulty also increases if you die repeatedly. And trust us,
09:15that's going to happen.
09:212010
09:22Super Meat Boy
09:30With his girlfriend kidnapped by a diabolical villain, the strange mascot Meat Boy heads out on a
09:37thrilling adventure to save her. The only problem is that every level on this adventure overflows with the
09:42most diabolical traps ever seen in a platformer. Buzz saws, laser beams, rockets, salt, which,
09:50yes, is deadly to a hunk of meat like you, all await to make you go splat. Super Meat Boy
09:56gained a
09:56reputation on release for its high level of challenge, a reputation it has maintained over the years.
10:02While its simple mechanics are incredibly smooth, it has racked up an ungodly amount of player deaths.
10:132011 Dark Souls
10:22Even bigger and more unforgiving than the demon souls that preceded it, From Software's Dark Souls ensured
10:29that the studio's ultra-hard subgenre was here to stay. While the environment was more open,
10:35that only meant a bit more non-linearity when choosing which direction you wanted to die in.
10:40Certain areas are easy to get lost in, adding to the stress of being inches from death at any given
10:46turn.
10:46Enemies are even more merciless, and bosses are now iconic in their cruelty. Dark Souls was a crucial
10:53release in modern gaming, pushing demanding gameplay to the forefront and making us question whether we
11:00had what it took to reach the end. 2012 FTL Faster Than Light
11:12From the outside looking in, you may not think FTL is all that hard. It's a strategy game, meaning you
11:18can
11:18take your time with combat. However, since it's also a roguelike, there's no way to plan for what the game
11:24will throw at you. And since any mistake can't be fixed, you might end up on a path to failure
11:30without
11:31even realizing it. It follows a group during war trying to make it to their allies through eight
11:36sectors of space, while being chased by the opposing side. Complicating things are the threats of ship
11:42destruction, or total crew annihilation, either of which will force you to start all the way over.
11:542013 Geometry Dash
12:01Rhythm games usually require quick reflexes, but Geometry Dash is on another level. While the premise
12:07is simple, consisting of 26 musical levels to hop through, making it through them definitely isn't.
12:14Each one moves at a ridiculously fast speed and is packed with obstacles and hazards. By the end,
12:21you'll be in disbelief at how badly it punishes you. Perpetuating its difficulty is the ability for
12:26players to create their own levels. Geometry Dash has developed a thriving fan community who always
12:33seems to want to one-up everyone else in how absurdly hard their levels can be.
12:442014 Dark Souls 2
12:50Here we are again with From Software, and certainly not for the last time. Dark Souls 2 features every
12:57obstacle in your way of success that the first does. Aggravating enemies that know how to swarm you,
13:02check. Colossal bosses that can pummel you into the dirt, check. Punishing level design that makes
13:08you question your purpose, check, check, and check. However, one new mechanic called hollowing also
13:15brings the pain. Every time you die, your max health decreases until you reach 50%. The only way to get
13:22it
13:23back is to give up a rare item, which is naturally not so easily earned.
13:332015 Bloodborne
13:39When exploring Yharnam for the first time, two thoughts ring out clearly in your mind. Man,
13:46that gothic aesthetic is awesome, and holy hell, what a steep learning curve. Bloodborne encourages you to be
13:53aggressive rather than practice caution like previous From Software games. It does so by giving you
13:59firearms and rewarding you for dodging and countering at the right moments, which is nice because it
14:05isn't as if these enemies are any less aggressive than those found in the studio's other releases.
14:10This game is a bit more forgiving than the Dark Souls series, but that in no way makes it easy.
14:16It's still more than deserving of its inclusion.
14:272016
14:28XCOM 2
14:33We'll take a break from the From Software train, passing over Dark Souls 3 for XCOM 2.
14:40Again, as a strategy game, you may think it's more than manageable, but you would be mistaken.
14:45With alien forces bearing down on Earth, you'll surely have your resilience tested against some
14:51of the most intimidating space invaders in gaming. Developer Fireaxis created a phenomenal enemy
14:58AI, which is to say that they know how to overwhelm and defeat you. No matter what difficulty setting
15:04you choose, encounters are designed for victory to be almost out of reach, making it all the more
15:10satisfying when you clutch it. 2017
15:17Cuphead looks so charming, it's almost easy to forget how punishing it can be. In debt with the
15:24Devil, you must track down souls owed to him. Unfortunately, those souls belong to some of the
15:30toughest bosses of the 2010s. Each fight comes in multiple phases, all of which are tests of endurance.
15:37All of them dwarf you in size, and most of them can easily smash you with a wallop or swarm
15:42you with
15:43projectiles. With only a few power-ups to choose from before entering an encounter, it's more than likely
15:48you'll suffer numerous deaths before you narrowly squeeze out a victory.
15:572018
15:59Celeste
16:06Celeste is an incredibly rewarding platformer on several levels. Witnessing Madeline's journey
16:12of self-acceptance through depression and anxiety is wonderful. So too is conquering the titular mountain,
16:19which does everything in its power to knock you back down. Levels require precise execution,
16:25lest you fall into a pit of spikes, get crushed by crumbling scenery, or die by one of many other
16:31hazards blocking your path. It feels incredible to finally make it out of any section because you'll
16:36undoubtedly rack up numerous deaths before you can. That's not to mention extra hard versions of
16:42levels, the B-sides and C-sides, as well as the DLC chapter Farewell, one of the most brutal
16:49platforming levels ever created. 2019
16:59Shadows Die Twice
17:08With Sekiro, From Software tried something new with its tried and true combat. It introduced a posture
17:15meter for each enemy, which you had to fill through multiple attacks in order to open them up for a
17:20fatal blow. But because you had to keep attacking to fill this meter, gone were the days of patiently
17:25waiting and dodging until you could chip off some health. Sekiro just may be the studio's hardest game
17:32for this very reason. But then you add on its tendency to include savage bosses that can drain your
17:37health bar in just a couple of hits, and that becomes apparent. It's a remarkable game for sure,
17:42but it is also adept at making players fume.
18:03As From Software's style has grown more and more popular, it has inspired other studios to follow in
18:10those footsteps. Nioh 2 builds off of its predecessor in providing players with an experience that will
18:15annihilate them time and time again. We can't deny, it does this very, very well. As a human-yokai hybrid,
18:24you're given much more to do in combat than in the first game. But that just gives you a lot
18:29of things
18:29to balance, though, increasing the challenge. And it isn't as if these enemies are going to give you an
18:35easier time. They'll still intimidate you in every area. In particular, bosses are sure to bring you
18:41at least a few hours of frustration.
18:482021. Returnal
18:56Like many other roguelikes, Returnal sends you right back to the beginning each time you die. And that's
19:03only the start of what makes it so hard. After landing on a strange planet, Astronon Selene
19:07Vassos is forced to fight her way out of a time loop. You have to really care about her survival,
19:14though, since every section of the game is packed with horrific aliens that'll make you wish you
19:19never set foot on the planet's surface. Whether they appear in hordes or are so powerful, they can
19:25put you into the ground alone. Fights are absolutely vicious. And while the gameplay is magnificent,
19:32the enemies are at a level that can crush your spirit.
19:422022. Elden Ring
19:49Compared to the other games of From Software, Elden Ring is the studio's easiest. With its open-ended
19:55structure, you can simply go elsewhere to grow stronger when met by an impassable boss. Still,
20:01don't go in thinking you're in for a walk in the park, because you absolutely are not. There's a
20:07distinct lack of hand-holding that can make it easy to miss important details required to progress
20:12or reach certain areas. Although a strong character build will help in combat, that won't make your
20:18foes any more forgiving. Enemies and bosses alike will still easily destroy you if you aren't careful.
20:24Let's not forget about the likes of Millennia, Malekith, or, in the case of the DLC, Radan.
20:352023. Woe Long, Fallen Dynasty
20:44Like we said, the From Software formula has gotten very popular. There were a couple of good imitators
20:51to choose from in 2023, including Lies of P. In the end though, Woe Long, Fallen Dynasty just beat it
20:57out. Right from the jump, the game's high difficulty will be made abundantly clear. There is no gradual
21:04introduction to what the game offers. Instead, you're hit with waves of powerful fighters that
21:09will demolish you in mere seconds. Truly, there hasn't been a difficulty curve this steep in quite some
21:16time. To get over this hump, you'll need the patience of a saint, though you won't find that the game
21:21grows easy by any means. 2024. Black Myth, Wukong
21:39Black Myth, Wukong, pleased a lot of players on release through its focus on Chinese mythology.
21:45It's also like a blend of the newer God of War games and From Software's releases, which means
21:50it can get pretty tough. While it isn't as punishing as something like Dark Souls or Sekiro,
21:56you'll definitely feel challenged. You won't lose precious resources upon death,
22:01but that's a good thing since some of its bosses are surely going to kill you a few times.
22:06From the early Wandering White to the late-game Erlang, you're bound to feel some frustration bubble up.
22:13It's not because the combat is hard to get a hang of, it's just that some of the bosses are
22:17intent
22:18on destroying you. 2025. Hollow Knight Silksong
22:36The original Hollow Knight may have been beaten by Cuphead in terms of sheer difficulty,
22:41but we're happy to report that Team Cherry's follow-up is more than deserving of a spot.
22:46Hornet's faster, more agile movement might make things seem more manageable, but with an environment
22:52packed with plenty of troublesome enemies and hazards such as the infamous Bile Water Biome,
22:57it's easy to feel anything but graceful as you stumble through. Of course, then you have the
23:02staggering boss fights that rival the already intense ones from the first game. This makes for a fine
23:08mixture of awe and frustration, being both extremely demanding and utterly breathtaking.
23:25Is there a game we left off that brutally challenged you? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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