RPGs Harder Than Any Soulslike Game

Games in the ‘Souls-like’ genre are known for being incredibly difficult. They feature tough enemies, relentless challenges, and don’t offer much forgiveness for mistakes, making them far more demanding than most other games.

While many RPGs follow familiar patterns, some stand out by offering a level of challenge that surpasses even notoriously difficult games like those in the ‘Souls-like’ genre. These games achieve this through incredibly demanding gameplay or choices with no easy answers, proving that difficulty isn’t limited to specific types of games.

UnderRail

Every Build Choice Matters

Combat is brutally unforgiving and borderline unfair.
Resource scarcity is almost a guarantee.

UnderRail is a challenging RPG where errors have serious, lasting consequences – even more so than in games like Dark Souls. A single misstep in combat or a poorly planned character can lead to failure, requiring careful strategy and optimization to succeed.

Unlike games like Souls, where skilled players can succeed even with weaker characters, UnderRail demands that players learn the game’s systems or they won’t progress. Furthermore, UnderRail never lets players feel completely secure – even powerful characters can be defeated quickly, and a single mistake can end a playthrough.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Lengthy Hunts That Can End In A Second

Extended boss hunts with strict stamina and item management.
A single mistake often snowballs into party wipes.

Although Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate seems similar to games like Dark Souls at first glance, it’s actually much more demanding. Each hunt can take between 30 and 50 minutes, and a single mistake can ruin things for the whole team, keeping you on edge from start to finish.

As a fan, I’ve really noticed that these monsters aren’t just about being long battles – they actually learn and change how they attack! It’s not enough to just roll around and hope for the best. You really have to figure out what works against each one, learn their patterns, and get better at your strategy over time. Button-mashing won’t get you far – you need to actually think to beat these bosses!

Darkest Dungeon

Managing More Than Just A Health Bar

Permadeath, combined with other systems like sanity and stress, causes constant strife.
RNG-dependent at the worst times.

Darkest Dungeon isn’t hard because it’s complicated; it’s challenging because it forces you to make tough decisions and really learn how the game works. Your characters can die for good, have mental breakdowns, or get lasting injuries and illnesses, so you have to carefully consider the consequences of every choice.

I love a good challenge, and Souls-like games are great, but Darkest Dungeon takes things to another level. In those games, dying just means you start over. Here, though, failure really hurts. You can lose a single hero, or even your whole party! And with the random elements thrown in, even if you’re really good, a bit of bad luck can ruin a run and wipe out some of your favorite characters. It’s brutal, but that’s part of what makes it so compelling!

Shin Megami Tensei 3

Turn-Based Ruthlessness

Enemies exploit weaknesses often.
Team composition can be the main deciding factor.

At first glance, Shin Megami Tensei 3 looks like a typical turn-based RPG, but it’s actually quite challenging. Its unique Press Turn system lets enemies take extra turns when they exploit your weaknesses, so a bad move can quickly lead to your entire party being defeated.

To succeed, players must fully understand how different elements interact and what weaknesses enemies have. Knowing all the game’s mechanics is essential to progress, and even seemingly easy battles can be unexpectedly dangerous, keeping players on edge no matter how prepared they feel.

Gothic

Unforgiving Even At The Start

Extremely harsh early power imbalance.
NPCs act independently of the player, ending quests and even leading to deaths.

Gothic is well-known for being very challenging, as almost any enemy can defeat you quickly. Getting stronger takes time and careful play, requiring skill and patience instead of simply defeating lots of enemies.

Adding to the difficulty, death often means losing a lot of progress, with few places to save. This encourages players to be careful and strategic instead of rushing in. The game world itself feels like a major obstacle – characters can die and quests can fail even if the player isn’t involved, making the environment a constant threat that demands respect.

Ys: The Oath In Felghana

Speed Is The Key

Every fight is a test of reflexes.
Bosses chain attacks with very little downtime.

Ys: The Oath in Felghana is a fast-paced action RPG where battles require intense focus. Enemies and bosses attack with incredibly quick and complex patterns, making even one mistake potentially fatal. Each fight feels like a demanding test of skill and reflexes.

Instead of memorizing enemy attacks, this game focuses on testing your ability to react quickly and endure lengthy battles. When you die, you don’t just restart nearby – you’ll be sent back much further in your progress, making each death a significant penalty.

Zelda 2: The Adventure Of Link

Well Before The Relaxing Open Worlds

Demands frame-perfect platforming.
Limited healing availability and severe punishments for mistakes.

Many fans consider Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link the hardest game in the series, and it’s easy to see why. Unlike other Zelda games, combat relies entirely on player skill. You need to carefully time attacks, block effectively, and move in specific directions, which can be very difficult and discouraging for new players.

Getting back to where you were after failing can take a long time, and even dying before finishing a level often means starting over from the very beginning. This game is now famous for being incredibly difficult – it’s still considered one of the most challenging games ever made, even today.

Wizardry 4: The Return Of Werdna

Designed To Break Players

Early-game enemies can instantly kill the player.
Progression requires deep system knowledge without much guidance.

Wizardry 4 is well-known for being incredibly challenging, even compared to other role-playing games from its era. It’s difficult not because of clever enemies, but because the game offers very little guidance. While many games let you learn from mistakes, deaths in Wizardry 4 often feel unfair. Success relies heavily on discovering hidden systems and interactions, rather than following a straightforward path.

Opportunities to save your progress and rest are rare. The game expects players to already be experts in all its complex systems, which makes it very difficult to learn and even challenging to play once you understand the fundamentals.

2025-12-13 14:38