Top 20 Most Stressful Moments in Video Games

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

While the WIND Temple itself was pretty standard fare, the journey to get there was one of the most daunting tasks Link has ever taken. In order to get to the temple, you must keep climbing in the sky between floating islands, turning the game into more of a platformer than an action adventure. This stressful section goes on and on for a very long time, and any minor mistake in going between islands, or getting knocked off by an enemy will lead to a lot of time lost, and having to start all over again. Just hope you don’t fall too far down!

“Dead Space 2” (2011)

The “Dead Space” franchise is no stranger to stressful moments, what with the never ending
Necromorph enemies that frequently attack you. But this moment stands above all else, and it’s not quite what you’d expect. After being led to the machina by a hallucination of Nicole Brennan, Issac must undergo surgery by inserting a needle into his eye. Making this moment even more stressful than it sounds is that Issac’s eye constantly moves as you’re slowly putting it in. If you fail the moment it’s game over, as our protagonist will find himself impaled by the machine.

“Drakengard 3” (2014)

Yoko Taro is known for his quirky antics in his amazing video games, but what he did with “Drakengard 3” takes the cake. The majority of this game is a hack-and-slash action JRPG, with dragon aerial combat here and there, but for the final boss all of this was thrown out of the window. Instead, players must battle their way through an 8 minute long rhythm game, where if you miss a single note it’s instant death. What makes this worse is that apart from the rings approaching you, there aren't really any prompts when exactly to hit the note, and the game's camera will do its absolute best to put you at an angle where you can’t see it coming. The worst part of it all is at the end, when the screen fades to black and the characters start talking, the rhythm game still continues! At least the music was amazing!

“Mega Man 2” (1988)

The original Mega Man games can be very intimidating to modern gamers - but for those who picked them up back in the NES days, they had to face some crazy challenges. One such challenge would be the Wily Castle Stage 4 Boss in Mega Man 2. We say boss… but this is more like a puzzle. Players had to navigate this room and take out each of the wall-mounted devices. Sounds simple enough right? No. These will fire at you at specific intervals and the only way you can destroy them or the walls blocking them is with the Crash Bomber special weapon which already has an extremely limited amount of shots. So if you mess up even once, you’re done for.

“GoldenEye 007” (1997)

Escort missions are the bane of gamer’s existence, but few are quite as frustrating as the ones featuring Natalya. While Bunker two can easily be worked around by leaving Natalya in her cell until the last minute, Control proves a much more stressful task. Here, there’s a segment where Natalya must reprogram the Goldeneye satellite in the main computer room. That’s when the enemy waves start to pop up. Trying to work around the dated aiming controls whilst trying to defend her often leads to Natalya eating lead be it from the enemy AI or even a misfire of your own. And they just keep coming! You’ll breathe a sigh of relief once she’s done - presuming you get that far.

“God of War” (2005)

The first “God of War” stands out amongst others in the series for its challenging difficulty and down right infuriating moments. The most stressful part however, is found right towards the end of the game, as Kratos battles his way through the path of hades. In order to progress Kratos must climb up a rotating pillar, all while avoiding its sharp blades. What makes this incredibly stressful is that the climb is ridiculously long, and if Kratos gets hit once by these hard to dodge blades, he’ll fall all the way down to the bottom. Just imagine making it almost to the top of the thing, only to waste all your progress in an instant, as well as whatever limited health you have left!

“Mario Kart” series (1992-)

We’ve all experienced this. You’ve finally managed to reach first place in a race in “Mario Kart” and it’s all taken away from you when another player launches a Blue Shell at you, immediately stopping you and allowing everyone else to race right past you. What makes the Blue Shell item so frustrating is its pinpoint accuracy, which is completely unavoidable if you don’t have a certain item to counter it. The most stressful time to be on the receiving end of one of these is right at the end of the race, when you’re so close to the finishing line.

“Resident Evil 2” (2019)

As if having to deal with hordes of zombies and other special type enemies wasn’t stressful enough with your limited health supply, Capcom decided to up the ante when the T-00 Tyrant entered the fray. After the first encounter, the unkillable Mr. X will relentlessly pursue you throughout the police station, getting in the way of any puzzles or zombie encounters you might have. Even when you find yourself in a safe area, your stress levels won’t lower as you’ll be able to hear his footsteps just outside.

“Metal Gear Solid” (1998)

After being ambushed and captured by Sniper Wolf, Solid Snake finds himself locked into a torture machine by Revolver Ocelot. For this sequence, the player must button mash the circle button to recover health through multiple rounds of torture. What makes this incredibly stressful is that the speed of button mashing you must do is absolutely insane. A lot of players had to resort to using a turbo controller or the good old fashioned “spoon method”. The cherry on top to this extremely stressful moment is that if you fail it, you’ll end up getting the bad ending.

“Mass Effect 2” (2010)

Considering the entire game has pretty much built up towards this mission, it’s no surprise that it’s the most stressful in the franchise. Anyone can die in this mission, including Shepard themselves if the rest of their crew has perished. The lives of your squad are all dependent on the choices you make throughout the game, including which tasks to bestow upon them during this mission. As you make your way through this dramatic finale, you’ll be stressed out wondering if you’ve made the right decisions or not.

“Sonic the Hedgehog” series (1991-)

In a game where you play as a cartoon hedgehog saving cartoon animals in a cartoon land, you would think any kind of terror would be absent. Au contraire! Anyone who has played a “Sonic” game knows that Sonic can’t swim. However, some of us had to learn the hard way. Hang around underwater for too long, and that infamous, terrifying music starts playing. Of course, the first time this happened, we were unaware. We can guarantee that the abrupt change from catchy chiptunes to a suspenseful crescendo put us in immediate Panic Mode.

“Left 4 Dead” series (2008-09)

Amidst the grunts of zombies and the belches of Boomers, only one sound terrifies us more than any other enemy in “Left 4 Dead 2”. The second you and your friends hear crying, you know the Witch is nearby. Even with the best set of gaming headphones, it can be difficult to pinpoint her location, as her wails echo throughout the area. Your only defense is to turn off your flashlight and proceed with EXTREME CAUTION!! Getting careless will cause her to attack, which can instantly incapacitate or kill any teammate. Needless to say, the Witch is a force to be reckoned with.

“Guitar Hero” series (2005-15)

If you and your friends played a lot of “Guitar Hero”, we have a feeling there was a ton of smack-talk going around. Then, someone makes the bold claim that they could make a perfect run on a particular song. We know because we’ve been there, too. When you’re going for a perfect run on your own, it’s frustrating. When you’re doing it in front of friends, it's easy to get stage fright. One tiny mistake could ruin that perfect score. It makes the songs feel like they’re five times longer than they really are. Seriously, who in the hell could play “Devil Went Down to Georgia” or “Through the Fire and the Flames” flawlessly?!

“Counter-Strike” series (2000-)

“Counter-Strike” is already a stressful game on its own. You never know when you’re going to turn a corner and run straight into the enemy! However, we sure as hell wouldn’t want to be the player that has to defuse the bomb. When the defusing process begins, you have no way of defending yourself unless you stop the process. You become such an easy target that you’re praying to God you don’t hear anyone heading your way! Hopefully, you’re not the last one alive on your team. Otherwise, good luck, bud! You’re going to need it…

“Celeste” (2018)

“Celeste” is one of the best platformers ever, but it can also be one of the most frustrating thanks to its trial and error based precise platforming. As if the standard game and B-side stages weren’t already difficult enough, wait until you unlock the Golden Strawberries. With these things, you have to carry each of them through an entire stage without … dying … once. The levels are really long too, so your nerves can easily get the better of you when you’re getting towards the closing moments knowing that one small slip means a full restart. And don’t even get us started on the B-side and C-side levels.

“Papers, Please!” (2014)

Ahhhh, bureaucracy…what with the unnecessarily specific details, strict procedures, and detaining anyone who looks remotely suspicious. Welcome to your life in “Papers, Please”, where you must review passport after passport to protect the great country of Arstotzka. You might not have much trouble spotting discrepancies, at first, but the details start piling on. Eventually, you’ll have a hard time keeping track of every little thing. You’ll start taking more time to double-check everything, which means less pay and greater difficulty in taking care of your family. Look, we already have this stress in our daily lives. We could do without it leaking into our video games.

“Alien: Isolation” (2014)

Once you’ve played this fantastic horror game, you’ll know what it’s like to be in an Alien movie, and one of the good ones too. As much as we love the Xenomorphs as a character, we would never step foot in the same room with one. And yet, that’s just what “Alien: Isolation” forces you to do. Just like in the movies, there’s practically nothing you can do to kill it, and if you wind up in the clutches of the Xenomorph, you’re done for. So, when you start seeing a blip on your radar, you better find a good place to hide, and hold your breath.

“Souls” series (2011-)

Any “Souls” fan knows EXACTLY what we’re talking about. You've explored too far, you've amassed a huge amount of Souls or Blood Echoes, but uhh can't find the next bonfire. In fact you can’t even remember how you got here and suddenly … oops “You Died”. So your souls have fallen in a hard to reach or impossible to reach spot, and you have no idea how to get back there. So not only is this frustrating but the stress has only just begun, now you gotta find your way back and be extra careful; because you have a lot to lose now.

Battle Royale Games

We have all been there at one point or another. No matter which game you prefer, we go through the same cycle of feelings. When a match starts, you’re determined that you’re going to win this match…or lose, if you’re pessimistic. As the match progresses, you’re constantly eye-balling that player count, your nerves tightening up as the number decreases. Once you’ve noticed you’re one of the last ten remaining players (or somewhere around that mark), tensions skyrocket. Any move you make could be your last. You’re under extreme pressure to think carefully and plan strategically. Even if we lose, we’re more than happy to do it all again. That’s part of the thrill, right?

“Outlast” (2013)

This game does NOT let you breathe! “Outlast” is a non-stop scare fest, with terror lurking around every corner. Armed with only a camcorder and no means to fight back, you’re constantly peaking around corners, hiding in lockers and behind desks, and playing as if your life was really in mortal danger. If that wasn’t bad enough, you can’t see a thing without the night vision on your camera, and the search for batteries can get stressful at times. There is no time to relax in “Outlast”, but honestly, we wouldn’t want it any other way.