Top 10 Hardest Video Games of the 2000s

To be fair, the 2004 version is also pretty brutal. And the sequel. Well, pretty much any “Ninja Gaiden” game. But what makes “Black” so noteworthy is how it just made everything from the 2004 original harder. It’s a tough, quick-paced hack-and-slash game with fantastic controls and waves of unforgiving enemies. “Black” is like an ultimate edition, adding the game’s two DLC packs and new enemies like doppelgangers. It also added an extremely hard Master Ninja mode while increasing each difficulty from the original game. True, it also added an easy mode. But that one made fun of players for even picking it.

If you’ve never played “Dwarf Fortress,” you’re probably wondering what in the world you’re looking at right now. The freeware game uses text-based graphics. And while it can be tough to understand what’s going on simply because of how it looks, there are a whole host of other aspects that make it difficult. Players are tasked with maintaining a fortress and its dwarves while dealing with roguelike elements. But because of these elements, and because there’s no way to win, your fortress will fall to one threat or another. It can range from a goblin invasion to cabin fever that leads to violence if you don’t maintain the dwarves’ mental health. Sooner or later, something will get you.

An early BioWare gem, “MDK2” sees the return of Kurt Hectic, janitor turned reluctant hero against dimension-invading aliens. It improved on the original with even sillier humor and more varied gameplay thanks to the three playable characters. But it was also insanely tough. Its platforming sections could be particularly tedious, even for Kurt who can glide. Its fixed checkpoints didn’t help matters as players would have to redo annoying sections if they failed to reach another one. In fact, the difficulty of the original Dreamcast version was such a common criticism that for the PC release, BioWare added four difficulty settings as well as the ability to manually save.

“Ninja Gaiden” wasn’t the only tough ninja game to release in the 2000s. And at least Ryu didn’t have to deal with a self-damaging weapon. “Shinobi” follows Hotsuma, a master ninja out to stop demonic forces and avenge his clan. The game’s main mechanic revolves around Hotsuma’s sword stealing Yin from opponents. But if you don’t kill fast enough, it will begin to steal Hotsuma’s Yin instead, and eventually his Yang to kill him. But don’t worry: tough and varied enemies will be able to deal damage to you anyway. Tricky platforming sections in later levels mean you’ll have to fight enemies while avoiding the many pits around you. With no time to sit idle, “Shinobi” will definitely stress you out.

The game that arguably began FromSoftware’s reign as the king of difficult games is naturally pretty grueling. Much like the developer’s other titles, “Demon’s Souls” will attempt to pummel the player with intimidating enemies and absolutely vicious boss fights that would make any knight shake in their armor. Complimenting the game’s natural toughness was a Tendency system that increased difficulty if you acted like a villain in your world or online in another. Although, another facet that could increase the difficulty through the Tendency System is dying repeatedly. Which of course is going to happen. It’s pretty rare for a game to get harder the more you die. But “Demon’s Souls” is another breed.

Bullet hells are one of the hardest genres of the classic Arcade era. But developer Treasure added a whole new layer when it created “Ikaruga.” Not only do you have to blast packs of enemies out of the sky, but you also have your ship’s shield to worry about. Switching between a dark and light barrier so as not to take damage from the corresponding bullets is the game’s key mechanic. Avoiding the gunfire is absolutely out of the question. Nearly every second of combat is accompanied by a screen littered with different colored bullets. The game itself isn’t very long. But it’s high difficulty will surely make it feel like it is.

Many diehard fans lament the fact that this was the last console release of the series. But for anyone unaware of its ridiculously high difficulty, we’d recommend staying out of the driver’s seat. It doesn’t change much from previous entries, which is exactly why it earns a spot on this list. The futuristic setting and fast-paced gameplay may look sleek as hell, but playing through it is something else entirely. Lightning-quick reflexes are not only encouraged if you want to do well, but are actually necessary if you don’t want to explode over and over again. Regardless, it will likely take some course memorization and a lot of trial and error before you come out on top.

Fans of Capcom’s “Devil May Cry” series have come to expect outlandish combos against devilish baddies pulled off with the utmost style. But good lord, did the third entry make those combos hard to pull off. “Dante’s Awakening” focused more heavily on combat, giving players four stances to switch between and grading them based on how varied their methods were for slaying their enemies. But those enemies did NOT go down easily, which makes sense when players found out the North American version’s Normal difficulty was the Hard difficulty in Europe and Japan. Many players were blindsided by how challenging the game was, and Capcom had to fix it when it released the Special Edition the following year.

“Mega Man” became one of the biggest franchises on the NES thanks to its clever boss design and tough platforming. When Capcom revisited the Blue Bomber’s roots in 2008, it kept the series’ signature difficulty well intact. And it felt like we were playing a long lost NES game. Clever trap placement made our palms sweat as we narrowly escaped platforming sections. And the robot bosses are some of the best the entire series has ever seen. As a blend of modern day and classic difficulty, “Mega Man 9” also featured bonkers hard achievements. One required you to beat the game without dying while another required you to beat it 5 times in 1 day. Thanks, but no thanks.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Refuses You an Easy Mode by Scaling Difficulty to How Well You’re Doing

Procedurally Generated Caves With Lots of Ways to Die

Based On “Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins” is Really All You Need to Know

Non-traditional in every sense, “I Wanna Be The Guy” is a tribute to old video games but also a parody of their difficulty. Unbelievably difficult itself, traps can literally come out of nowhere to demolish you. We’d actually find it pretty rude if it wasn’t so hilarious in its execution. No pun intended. Maybe you’ll simply mistime your jump over one of the many spike pits. Or maybe an apple will defy gravity, shooting upwards to blast you to bits. Or maybe the kaiju-sized Mike Tyson will take you out. Regardless of how you die, which will happen frequently, “I Wanna Be The Guy” is sure to test your memorization and reaction time in the most absurdly tough ways.