Top 10 Hardest Video Games to 100%

#10: “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” (2023)

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With “Breath of the Wild,” Nintendo forced players looking for 100% to find 900 Koroks, 226 locations, and a whole lot more. But with “Tears of the Kingdom,” the task was even more daunting. Not only does the sequel include 1,000 Koroks and 700 locations across its three maps, but there are a lot more side activities to consider. Players will also need to uncover 194 caves, 58 wells, 35 entrances to the Depths, 43 merchants including Bargainer Statues…the list goes on. These are all shown on the map, but there are other things that don’t factor into that 100%. 509 compendium entries, 228 different recipes, and not to mention all the side quests.

#9: “The Stanley Parable” (2013)

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The brilliant “Stanley Parable” is designed to playfully mess with the player and their expectations. It isn’t just the humorous narration and level design that does this, but also the abundance of possible endings that require multiple playthroughs. Additionally, the game’s creators included meta achievements that added towards the 100%. ‘Go Outside’ requires not playing the game for 5 years, and ‘Unachievable’ requires knowing enough code in order to alter some of the game’s files. “The Ultra Deluxe” edition upped the ante, not just with a ton of new endings, but also some more achievements. One of these is ‘Super Go Outside,’ which raises your abstinence from the game from 5 years to 10.

#8: “Mortal Kombat” (2011)

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There are many fighting games that lock their 100% completion rate behind ridiculous, time-consuming challenges, though 2011’s “Mortal Kombat” may be the most frustrating. In order to earn that holy grail in this installment, players need to master all 28 characters on the roster. Unfortunately, the criteria for what the game deems as ‘mastering’ a fighter is a very high ask. You must land 150 X-Ray attacks, spill 10,000 pints of blood, perform 100 finishing moves like Fatalities or Babalities, and spend 24 real-world hours playing as them. For 28 characters! Sure, the game was fun and all, but that’s still a total of 672 hours dedicated to a single fighting game.

With its quick-paced, rhythm-based combat, “Crypt of the NecroDancer” can be a tricky game to get used to. But the developers also made it a nightmare to complete. Some of its achievements and trophies can only be described as mean. There are several characters to unlock, each of which must beat ‘All Zones Mode,’ which requires beating the whole crypt without dying. This is especially grueling with Coda, who dies when they pick up any item, including gold, or when they miss a single beat. You’ll also have to complete the game with every character without picking up any items at all, making “NecroDancer” one of the most difficult indie games to 100%.

#6: “Dead Rising” (2006)

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In the early days of Achievements and Trophies, we like to think that maybe developers didn’t know how much they were asking of players. Otherwise, it would make Capcom seem cruel with what was required for “Dead Rising.” To beat the game’s most intimidating challenge, ‘7 Day Survivor,’ players had to keep protagonist Frank West alive for 7 in-game days, or around 14 total hours, in Infinity Mode. Making this much harder was the fact that you couldn’t save during this mode, and therefore had to keep your console on the whole time. His health would also constantly drain, with healing items being less frequent and never respawning.

#5: “Super Meat Boy” (2010)

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“Super Meat Boy’s” reputation as an unforgiving platformer still can’t prepare you for what you’ll face trying to earn 100%. Most levels in this game overflow with traps and hazards; it's a game that celebrates how many lives you’ll lose trying to beat it. So, naturally, you’ll have to not die at all in order to earn your precious bragging rights. You’ll get an achievement or trophy for beating each world without dying once. Since there are around a dozen worlds, most of which consist of 20 levels each, that’ll take a whole lot of trial, error, and death. That’s not to mention having to unlock other characters by finding hidden bandages scattered about the levels.

The rhythm boom of the late 2000s may have had us all jamming out on plastic instruments. But it took a true rockstar to 100% “Rock Band 2.” There were the frustrations that were to be expected, like perfecting every song on the highest difficulty without making a single mistake. However, by far the most formidable task was beating the ‘Endless Setlist 2’ challenge. This compiled all 84 songs in the base game and dared you to play them all without ever pausing or failing once. While you were allowed to select your instrument, that’s still around 7 hours of non-stop perfection. Only then would you earn the accurately-named ‘Bladder of Steel’ award.

#3: “Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy” (2017)

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When it comes to earning 100% in this unique platformer, it’s a quality over quantity type of thing. With its focus on physics and absolutely no checkpoints, players have been raging at “Getting Over It” since it launched in 2017. One slip-up can make you lose a ton of progress, as well as question your commitment to reaching the top of the mountain. The game only has three achievements, which are given to you when you beat it once, twice, and fifty times. The first playthrough was plenty for most players; we can’t imagine reaching the goal another 49 times. Unsurprisingly, only 2.4% of players on Steam have managed to do so.

#2: “Final Fantasy X-2” (2003)

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The “Final Fantasy” franchise is almost required to feature some of the biggest challenges in gaming. Some entries feature characters that are hard to unlock, others have weapons that are almost impossible to find. So it should come as no surprise to find one on the list, and “Final Fantasy X-2” does more than enough to warrant its inclusion. Not only are there several possible endings, but there are a ton of quests, characters, and gear that’s easy to miss given the game’s non-linear nature. Additionally, if you skip cutscenes or conversations, that will take away from your total percentage, which is just cruel. These days, it’s a good call to just look up a guide so you don’t miss anything.

Some games only give you 100% after a laundry list of achievements. Others only offer a few, but make them extremely hard. When it comes to “Tales of Maj’eyal,” it’s the best of both worlds. Released in 2012, this indie roguelike has gotten many updates and features a ton of gameplay possibilities, which has led to an absurd number of checkboxes to tick off. As of writing, there are 1,782 achievements listed for the game on Steam. As if that wasn’t already a mountain to overcome, some of them require very specific criteria to clear, which isn’t exactly a good pairing when it comes to a genre that specializes in randomization. If you have even half of these cleared, you’ve definitely earned our respect. What’s the hardest game you’ve earned 100 percent in? Share your trials and tribulations in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe for more great gaming videos?