Video games are ultimately about overcoming challenges, which is a massive part of the appeal. Overcoming intensely difficult challenges is another aspect that appeals to a percentage of gamers. However, there is a line where games become so intensely difficult, all enjoyment is lost. The challenge is so mind-numbing that any satisfaction that could be gained is replaced with relief. These games and difficulties are so brutal, it's nearly impossible to play the game on these difficulties. The achievement of completing these games on their hardest is reserved for those who are probably a little off.

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10 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a hard game to start with. Even the base difficulties are much harder than many first-person-shooters by a large margin. The game's unlockable difficulty, "mein leben" takes the games hardest difficulty and removes saving and respawns. The game is also not short, taking roughly 10 and 1/2 hours on normal difficulty, and takes much longer when you have to take every precaution to not die. This mode also features unskippable cut scenes, which is just overkill. Everything about this mode is designed to make the player suffer.

9 Halo 2

Games getting easier as time goes on is true for Haloas the more recent entries feature pretty laughable legendary difficulties, but the same isn't true for Halo 2. On legendary, Halo 2 is a brutal campaign to get through, with or without a friend in co-op. On legendary the campaign has a forced respawn whenever either person dies, taking away the benefit of respawning without going back a checkpoint. Not to mention the one-shot snipers that are just the worst.

8 Call Of Duty: World At War

There are a couple of ways in which games get harder on higher difficulties. Sometimes you have less health, you do less damage, or the enemies have more health. In the case of Call of Duty: World at War, the game gets harder by spawning grenades in your pockets as you play. The enemies take more bullets and hit harder, but the kicker is having grenades dropped behind you if you stay in cover too long, or for any amount of time really. This is easily one of the hardest Call of Duty games to play on veteran and is definitely the most frustrating.

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7 Doom (2016)

There must be some sort of running theme with Bethesda published shooters because the recent Doom reboot features a difficulty similar to Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. There are no respawns, so dying forces a restart at the very beginning of the game. This one is frustrating for different reasons though, because Doom is not designed in a way that really allows for using cover and sneaking around. The game encourages and nearly forces you to be head deep in combat, which is counterproductive for not dying on the hardest difficulty. Doom guy might be this good but that doesn't mean you are.

6 Bioshock Infinite

Aptly named 1999 mode, Bioshock Infinite's hardest difficulty forces some smart scavenging and item usage. The game tries to emulate the difficulty of older games through tougher enemies and a scarcity of bullets, food and upgrades. The fights force some smart combinations with your vigors and even then there will be a good amount of respawning trying to get through this. The only thing that would make this harder is if Elizabeth could actually take damage.

5 Alien Isolation

If watching the movie Alien scares you, then playing Alien Isolation on the hardest difficulty should terrify you. The xenomorph is more than a nuisance on normal playthroughs and an absolute force to be reckoned with on the hardest. The game needs to be played in near-perfect stealth to avoid death and even that might not be enough. While the other enemies are a bit tougher, they don't receive as large a boost in danger as the xenomorph does.

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4 Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

Mario Kart has made everyone soft because CTR Nitro-Fueled gives no mercy on hard. This game is an incredibly brutal kart racer, a sentence that shouldn't even be said. The AI is better than you in every way imaginable and beating them is only achievable with a near-perfect race, and even that might not be good enough to win. Flawless knowledge of the maps is needed for every single time trial and every boss fight race feels unwinnable. Mario races for fun, Crash does it for sport.

3 Civilization V

Playing against AI's on the highest difficulty setting is equivalent to playing chess against chess masters. If you are bad at chess, they will obliterate you. If you are good at chess, they will obliterate you. You are the runt civilization no matter what you do. There is no single method of victory that you will have the advantage if you pursue. The game is rigged against you and winning is near impossible.

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2 FTL: Faster Than Light

FTL is a rogue-like, so losing is a part of the game and expected to happen. That said, the game is brutal on even it's "easy" difficulty, so playing on hard is an exercise in futility. This game will beat you senseless and kick you while your down. Reaching the rebel lead ship is impossible to do without sustaining a ton of damage and beating the final boss probably won't happen if you manage to get there. Every possible mishap and accident will plague your ship as you trudge through the galaxy.

1 Shovel Knight

Shovel Knight platforming gameplay

Shovel Knight does not have traditional difficulty options, but it does have a new game plus. Normally new game plus is easier because you keep tools and upgrades. Shovel Knight does not follow this exactly. Upgrades and powers are carried over, but the game also gets way harder than it was the first time around. There are fewer checkpoints, the enemies deal more damage and the game gives fewer health items. The first playthrough feels like training for this extra hard mode. The reward for beating Shovel Knight is more Shovel Knight but harder.

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