Difficult video games are just great.
It’s almost masochistic. We want these games to test us, to cause us pain, to make us question how we’re managing to sit here for so long in absolute agony and why we continue to love it so much.
Some video games are difficult by design, containing an extensive list of patterns and counters that will need to be learned in order to progress, whilst others are simply a test of patience, of how many times you can get knocked back and keep on trudging hopelessly ahead.
Then there are those that are excruciatingly painful combinations of both.
The past decade has brought us more than enough stellar examples of video games that require a special kind of persistence to beat, and thus the ancient art of video game difficulty lives on in these titles.
Before we begin, it is fitting to prefix this with an honourable mention: Super Mario Maker 2. With some user submitted levels being absolutely soul-destroying, this could potentially be the most difficult game ever created, due to player creation input. The only limits are the potential scope of your malevolent imaginations.
