Top 30 HARDEST Video Game Achievements of All Time

“Ori and the Will of the Wisps” (2020)

As far as platformers go – Ori’s sequel is one of the best to exist in the modern gaming scene. The polished upgrade from the Blind Forest is evident with every leap and dodge across this beautiful, intricate and dangerous landscape. That being said, being asked to go through the entire game without dying once is still quite the task. The short runtime might make it sound inviting, but the abundance of enemies, traps and platforming challenges can easily snuff out Ori at the drop of a hat. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

“Europa Universalis IV” (2013)

To conquer a strategy game on its hardest difficulty, especially one as complex as Europa Universalis, takes a special kind of mentality. But even the most battle-hardened and well-versed masters of this game’s mechanics may find themselves faltering when it comes to earning this achievement – where you have to own the entire world, playing as the tiny Japanese island of Ryukyu. Given their minuscule stature in the face of the nations of the Old and New World, this is the definition of an uphill battle that only the sharpest mind can conquer.

“The Evil Within” (2014)

Often overlooked yet delightfully demented, the Evil Within games ratcheted up the difficulty when it came to survival horror. And nowhere is this more evident than with this achievement that, if we’re being honest, is borderline sadistic. All you have to do to earn it is to complete the game on Akumu mode. What’s Akumu mode? It’s beyond nightmarish. One hit, from either enemies or environmental hazards, and Sebastian is instantly killed. Ammo is as rare as chicken’s teeth. And stronger enemies appear way sooner within the story. Unless you’re a master of stealth, then this mode is going to destroy you.

“The Golf Club 2” (2017)

How hard can it be to earn a net worth of one million? In Golf Club 2, apparently quite a bit. Given how the game leans towards realism instead of simplicity, scoring a hole in one is the furthest thing from easy, which makes its most trying achievement all the more vexing. Even if you’re an ace shot, the amount of games you’ll have to play in order to snag that net worth, is around the 12000 mark. Put another way, you’re going to have to play 216000 holes. Significantly more if your performance on the green is terrible.

“Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots” (2008)

Kojima lives to make us suffer. And while we’re usually all for it, this might have been a bit too much. If you truly want to prove yourself worthy of Snake’s title, then you’re going to have to tackle this unrelentingly demanding trophy. What goes into earning this particular platinum? Completing the game a minimum of eight times, one of which will have to be on the hardest difficulty, as well as - not kill anyone, not get spotted, not use any rations, and finish within five hours. Throw in all the emblems to complete, and you have one hell of a mission laid out for you.

“Sniper Elite 4” (2017)

There’s nothing quite like launching a bullet from a great distance, only to watch a slow-mo x-ray playback of it piercing the under regions of a dictator. The sniper elite series offers this in spades. It also has an absolutely grueling achievement for those that consider themselves a true sniper god. To earn it, you have to beat the whole game on Authentic Plus with zero manual saves. This setting just so happens to remove the radar and HUD, generally increases difficulty, and all enemies are on extra high alert. Better make every shot count.

“Outlast 2” (2017)

Do you like fumbling around in the dark with death around every corner? Then boy do we have an achievement for you! Outlast 2 was already infamous in its challenge, given that it more often than not would trip the player up while offering little in the way of guidance when it came to trekking across its wider world. If the base game didn’t give you enough turmoil, then you can try your luck via the elusive Messiah achievement. Beat the game on the hardest difficulty, don’t die, and with only one charge of battery. What could go wrong?

“Max Payne 3” (2012)

Despite the grief and rampant alcoholism, Max Payne is a beast, practically unkillable given the carnage he can unleash in bullet time. That being said, this particular challenge may be too much even for him. In what feels like an achievement bordering on the impossible – players must complete this intense threequel on Hardcore difficulty, with New York Minute Mode also activated. That means no dying, and battling against an unforgiving countdown. Trying to earn this will introduce you to the true meaning of pain.

“Halo: The Master Chief Collection” (2014)

Whether you’re tackling this solo or with a bunch of buddies, this is undoubtedly the most brutal undertaking available for Halo fans. It demands that you best the likes of Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4’s campaigns in a row, on legendary difficulty, with all skulls turned on, adding various yet equally hellish modifiers to each section. Best of luck Spartan, but you’re going to have to channel your inner Chief if you want to come out of the other end of this gauntlet.

Tree Simulator 2022

Play for 10, 000 hours. No seriously, that’s it. 10,000 hours. 10,000 hours of just looking at a tree. Yes, it’s one of those achievements, and if for some unholy reason you need it in your collection, you’re going to have to keep this game running idle for any hope of earning it. But even then, is it really worth it? While it’s down to you whether or not becoming a Bro Tree is a point of pride, rest assured everyone else will look upon you with shame.

“Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” (2007)

We hope you are quick on the draw, because this one is still considered by many the hardest achievement to obtain in any Call of Duty game. On paper it might sound simple enough; complete the Mile High Club mission on Veteran difficulty setting. However, this becomes a far more complex matter when you realize that it involves taking out waves of enemies, dealing with a hostage situation and then escaping a double decker aircraft carrier all within a single minute. Better hop to it.

“Rome II: Total War” (2013)

Have a knack for diplomacy and crafting out peace treaties? Well forget all that because to get this achievement you have to go full-on tyrannical. Given how it’s all too easy to automatically slip into negotiations, players will have to be extra cautious and launch an attack the moment they discover a new group. There’s also the annoying little feature, of there being so many factions for you to fight against, that taking them all on doesn’t only require a whole lot of bloodlust, but high-tier strategy to ensure you survive long enough to declare war on the next civilisation you encounter. Man, conflict is exhausting.

“Left 4 Dead 2” (2009)

Think you can shoot your way out of a zombie apocalypse? Well, only the best of the best will be able to survive and make their way to this achievement. Not only do you have to complete a campaign in Expert mode, which essentially increases enemy intellect and strength to absurd degrees as well as the frequency and size of the horde, but you also have to play it with Realism mode enabled. For those that aren’t in the know, this basically turns the Witch into a living insta-kill, further increasing durability of all other zombies, and generally tests you and your friends to their very limits. Good luck.

“Injustice: Gods Among Us” (2013)

You may well indeed dominate in online matches as your favourite DC superhero or villain, but in order to prove yourself as the greatest of them all then you will have to complete not one, not ten, not a hundred, by all two hundred and forty STAR Labs Missions. Not only do each of these missions put various constraints on the player as well as force them to play as a particular character, but each mission has three specific requirements that need to be completed. Add that all together and you essentially have seven hundred and twenty tasks to complete. Yep, this sounds like a job for Superman alright.

“Dead Space 2” (2011)

Isaac Clarke does not have it easy, what with being haunted by a murderous entity posing as his dead girlfriend all the while surrounded with bloodthirsty Necromorphs. If you’re a glutton for punishment and think you can handle anything the Marker can throw at you, then by all means give Hard Core mode a shot, we guarantee you’ll regret it. Not only are enemies extraordinarily tough, but you only get three chances to save throughout the entire game. One thing is for sure, Isaac is not going to have a good time.

“Star Ocean: The Last Hope” (2009)

Want to prove your mettle? All this game asks is that you unlock all of the Battle Trophies. All nine hundred of them. That’s a hundred for each of the nine playable characters in the game. To unlock just one Battle Trophy players are required to execute a very specific action, which can range from dealing a very specific amount of damage, attacking first several hundred times, gaining certain items, interacting with specific characters, the list goes on and on. And again, that’s just for one character. Truly your last hope for this achievement is to wade your way through an ocean of monotony…

“VVVVVV” (2010)

As Captain Viridian, it’s your mission to save your scattered crew and escape the titular dangerous dimension, with the only obstacle standing in your way is those accursed spikes often found on most indie platformers. However, there’s a catch. You can’t jump, all you can do is reverse gravity and direct yourself to avoid being impaled. What could be the most difficult achievement in a game where you’re constantly facing death? Complete the whole thing without dying of course! Want to be the Master of the Universe? You’re only hope is surviving No Death Mode by the skin of your teeth.

“Super Meat Boy” (2010)

The majority of unlockables to be found in this hit indie title can be completed just by ensuring that our favourite meaty hero manages to make it through levels without dying once. The problem is that some of these levels are hard as all hell! The most difficult of these, oddly enough, puts players in the role of Bandage Girl, where they are required to ace all of the Dark World levels in The Cotton Alley chapter, which happen to be fast paced and filled to the brim with deathtraps. And we thought Meat Boy had it bad.

“Diablo 3” (2012)

Abandon all hope ye who enter, because if you want to prove yourself as a master of this dark fantasy RPG, you have to slay Diablo in Hardcore Mode. A mode that gives your character one life and one life only, and should you fall in combat said character is gone forever. Given the amount of enemies and bosses let alone the strength of Diablo himself, in order to unlock this achievement players will have to navigate a literal gauntlet of death in order to slay the devil as nothing more than a true mortal. Talk about the highway to hell.

“Mortal Kombat” (2011)

Gain mastery of all fighters? Well that doesn’t sound so bad. So how does one go about gaining mastery? We need to earn one hundred victories, perform one hundred fatalities and their subsequent variables, land one hundred and fifty of X-Ray, spill ten thousand pints of blood and go through twenty four hours of gameplay. Sure, it would take a little while but after a little while it…wait…we have to do that for every single character?! Start a tally sheet, because only the most committed of kombatants are able to pull this one off.

“World of Warcraft” (2004-)

This achievement was formally known as “World Explorer” and for good reason, because this has you going on a trek across the entirety of Azeroth and beyond. In order to be granted the title of Explorer, players not only have to uncover and venture through every region within the Eastern Kingdoms, Outland, Kalimdor and Northrend, but also all the expansion regions too. That means Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria & Battle For Azeroth. And yes, you can bet that when the next WOW expansion comes, you’ll have to discover all of those regions too. This one just keeps getting harder, the longer you put it off.

“Dead Rising” (2006)

Frank West does not have it easy. Being stuck in a mall filled to the brim with the undead is bad enough, but having to slog it out for a full seven days certainly doesn’t help. In order to snag this time-consuming achievement, players first have to unlock Infinity Mode by managing to earn the game’s True Ending. From there, it’s a sandbox nightmare as seven days in-game equates to around fourteen hours for players, non-stop. You’re probably going to have to put a weekend aside in order to complete, here’s hoping that you’ve stocked up on Mega Busters.

“Gears of War 3” (2011)

If you can manage to land this one, then you might be just as determined as Marcus Fenix is. First of all you have to reach level one-hundred which is already an ordeal in itself, then it’s onto earning the Onyx Medals. All sixty-five of them. These include but are no way limited to; kill one thousand enemies with a captive, get six thousand executions, spot twelve thousand enemies, revive twelve hundred squad mates, get twenty-five thousand perfect active reloads, win three thousand matches, earn over seven million points in arcade mode, make six thousand kills with every single weapon and complete the campaign on insane difficulty. Wow.

“Rock Band 2” (2008)

This one is all about endurance. Sure, the difficulty settings can be lowered, but the fact you still have to play through eighty four songs back to back without pause and without failure. Whether you excel at vocals, guitar or drums, you had better get your music chops in order because between the long hours and lack of any kind of break, this achievement has been known to be too much for the most seasoned of Rock Band fans. Between having to play through the likes of Judas Priest’s Painkiller and accidentally pressing the pause button, snagging this achievement is the closest we’ll get to a Golden God Award.

"Surgeon Simulator" (2014)

Not too many achievements are this much harder when intentionally sloppy controls are a fundamental part of the game’s design. In order to obtain this achievement, players have to perform an eye transplant in under two minutes and ten seconds, all inside a speeding and bumpy ambulance. For PS4 players, this challenge is made even more tougher thanks to the inaccuracy while using a controller. This trophy's small focal points made the joystick twitching a painful exercise made even worse by the unorthodox methods you need to conceive just to constantly stay ahead of the stress-inducing time limit.

“Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus” (2017)

And here we have an achievement so tough, it has its own dedicated game mode. Mein Leben is the hardest difficulty setting in the game, and in order to obtain the achievement; you have to beat the mode. Sounds like a cakewalk for an experienced veteran right? Well hold your horses Rambo, you’ll want to hear what this involves first: The Mein Leben difficulty is a permadeath run, meaning die once and you have to start over. Oh and unlike hard playthrough achievements; you can’t save … at all. Meaning that you have to beat the entire game on the hardest difficulty in just one sitting, and save scumming won’t work. Think you’re metal enough to take this challenge on?

“The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unleashed” (2015)

Who wouldn’t want to rule over all citizens of the Empire, enamored with absolute power and hailed as the greatest in all of Tamriel? Well, good luck, because to do so means you have to outdo thousands of other players in order to earn your throne. Not only does your chosen alliance have to practically control every keep and outpost around Imperial City, but you have to be standing firmly at the top of the leaderboard, meaning you literally have to be the best of the best. Sure, the perks of leadership sound great but gaining that crown is the literal definition of an uphill battle.

“Mega Man 10” (2010)

We’ve seen challenges that involve beating the game on the hardest setting, not dying once, and not saving. So how could Mega Man 10 up that ante? By not having the player get hit even once of course. As either Mega Man or Proto Man, players will have to employ a whole lot of jumping and be damn fast with their shots in order to take out enemies. Sure, investing in the Bubble Shield may help, but that’s not going to help much when you go up against the likes of the Block Devil. They don’t call this achievement “Mr. Perfect” for nothing.

“World of Guns: Guns Disassembly” (2014)

Are you one of those gamers who happens to be a bit of gun-nut? Well, if that includes delving into the inner workings of firearms then this might be the title for you, and boy does it come with a hefty challenge. You have to fill in the silhouette of a particular gun, from its hilt, trigger all the way to the smallest of screws, and you have to do this for ninety consecutive days without making a mistake, otherwise all your progress gets sent back to zero. Given the various types of guns you might be presented and how much time you have to put into it, this is an achievement that requires the patience of a saint.

“Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter” (2006)

There can only be one. If you reckon that your skill is sharp enough and your trigger finger is on point then you might as well try your luck at the universal leaderboard, where your prize for becoming The number one player IN THE WORLD earns you this devastatingly difficult achievement. The only way you’ll ever hope to see it is to constantly win matches against stronger opponents to increase your rank, and given how many players stand in-between you and the most coveted rank one, you will need to be flawless in your ability to dispatch your opponents.

Which video game achievement do you think is beyond the pale? Let us know in the comments!