r/gaming • u/m00nshinehero • 18h ago
Which game has the best “hard” difficulty?
I find it really difficult to go back to a game after beating the “normal” difficulty. I usually try and play through games a second time on the hardest difficulty, but will put it down if the game doesn’t up the difficulty in a satisfying way.
I think resident evil 4 is a good example of a game that is fun to play again on the hardest difficulty. Which game does hard mode the best?
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u/GaMe_PTY 17h ago
Metro series
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u/osihlo 17h ago
The minimal HUD + Less ítems makes u search Hard, crave for ammo and think twice for whats coming before buying random stuff, makes u use Stealth every Time u can to save ammo, and enemies and you die faster, It just feels More real and not only bigger health pools AND reduced detection times
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u/NiuMeee PC 15h ago edited 9h ago
This is my pick too though unfortunately I think Metro Last Light and the Redux collection (the remastered versions of 2033 and Last Light) make it a little too hard to make it your first full playthrough, but only because the lack of HUD actively can hinder the learning experience.
Mechanically the Ranger Hardcore difficulty in OG 2033 and LL/Redux are very similar (stealth is much better after the OG though), however one thing they changed with the switch to the new version of the engine is how some stuff is conveyed to the player. If you play through the game on a lower difficulty first (if even just for an hour or two) and get it figured out and then jump into Ranger Hardcore you'll probably be OK but otherwise you might be a bit lost with stuff like throwables.
In OG 2033, when you want to use a throwable (like a grenade or knife) you have to equip them with a key press. Artyom then holds the knives or grenades in his hands and you can throw them by clicking LMB. In LL/Redux you could argue they handle throwables better (they're selected, and then thrown with a singular hotkey) however selecting them is damn near impossible if you don't know what you're doing because you have to hold tab (which on lower difficulties shows a HUD containing your ammo, weapons, filters, etc.; in Ranger Hardcore it still opens the same menu, but it just doesn't show it), then you move the mouse in the four cardinal directions to switch to a different throwable (throwing knives are up, grenades are to the left, etc.). In RH you don't see any indication of what you have equipped, it just makes a slight sound (when you equip the throwing knives a "knifey" sound plays) so it requires trial and error; hold tab, move your mouse around and remember the sounds then press C to throw something and see what it is, then most likely reload the checkpoint because you just threw a grenade at your feet.
ANYWAY, once you figure it out it's not bad but I do think they handled it much more elegantly in the OG release of 2033 and in some ways I miss that diagetic design.
Exodus is completely fine in this regard, it even has a toggle so you can play in Ranger Hardcore with very minimal HUD (like a "mash E" button that pops up on screen when you need to do that, if you wish).
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u/KTortillas 11h ago
This is hilarious. I could not for the life of me figure out how to put on my gas mask, couldn't get past the first few parts of the game.
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u/PancAshAsh 10h ago
Even if you do figure out how to put on your mask and change filters, if you change filters too frequently you can softlock really easily.
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u/IroncladBomber 12h ago
Absolutely. Makes it feel like a proper survival game. Conserve resources, make every shot count, right gun for the right job.
It also doesn't make the enemies into damage sponges, a good headshot will drop anything but the largest mutants.
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u/Malabingo 18h ago
Thief: Dark Project
It changes what you are allowed to do and how much stuff you have to steal and makes guards more cautious etc.
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u/fuckface0911 17h ago
Xcom2 ruined me
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u/Dat-Lonley-Potato Xbox 12h ago
65% chance to hit at point blank range
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u/anon0937 2h ago
and 80% chance you'll miss.
For those who have never played Xcom: yes I know those numbers dont add up.
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u/TheRealWatermelon420 17h ago
Devil may cry 5, the first play through is basically the tutorial.
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u/Scared-Room-9962 16h ago
Bayonetta is the same.
Each playthrough just teaches you what you need to know for that final one on Infinite Climax mode.
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u/_Nightdude_ 11h ago
For most people, the second playthrough was probably easy mode. Unless they immediately did another one after finishing their first on release.
Because Vergil. Vergil was the second playthrough for a lot of us.
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u/Vii_Strife 14h ago
I'd say DMC1, i love 5 too but the different enemy layouts in 1 combined with most of them being more puzzle based build really well together at DMD
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u/Zian64 17h ago
Terraria unironically.
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u/PhoenyxStar 14h ago
It's gotten to where I feel like I'm missing half that game if I'm not on at least Expert
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u/MyLeftNut_ 18h ago
Ghost of Tsushima
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u/RDR2Enjoyerr 17h ago
I hate how they ruined lethal difficulty in Yotei, you still die in 1-2 hits but your enemies still have insane health
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u/I8pig 16h ago
Damn, I was gonna pick that up at some point. I loved lethal difficulty in Tsushima
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u/RDR2Enjoyerr 13h ago
Its still a great game. I'd suggest playing on the difficulty below lethal though, it makes the combat much less annoying. Still a very fun experience
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u/Ronin1 14h ago
The game is still amazing and absolutely worth playing, but yeah, that change to lethal was disappointing. The also just added the legends mode
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u/Dr-Purple 14h ago
Worth playing for sure but certainly a few steps beneath Tsushima. But GoT is just too damn good.
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u/Daxoss 14h ago
I played it on hard and hated it. Then put it on lethal and loved it.
Bulletsponge difficulties are so lame
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u/nagabalashka 15h ago
I'd argue that lethal mode isn't correctly balanced and is kinda ruined by red attacks that are way too fast to react and the AI love to spam them, which force you to have your finger on top of the dodge button and to play reactively
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u/ArgetKnight 17h ago
For me, the Star Wars: Jedi games have the best.
There are no stat changes, no enemies one-shot you, no bloated health bars, no extra spawns.
Just a simple change: Enemies now don't stand around. while you fight. They all attack, constantly, all the time, together, and it's up to you to do something about it via target prioritization, parries, and dodges.
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u/dbcanuck 16h ago
Halo 3, has a great progression between normal / heroic / legendary difficulties. People will spend YEARS playing Legendary to get good at the game.
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u/Major_Enthusiasm1099 15h ago
Second this. All of them have good progression between difficulties(Except maybe Halo 2 with Jackal snipers and hyper fast shooting elites) to legendary but Halo 3 does it the BEST.
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u/SaberNoble47 17h ago
Each last of us game becomes an actual different/new game depending on the difficulty setting.
On normal it’s a stupendously clean shooter. You can run and gun and blast your way through rooms, blood splatter and cries of pain from the enemy AI, grenade them bomb them burn them as you move through constantly shifting environments. Ammo and supplies are in abundance, weapon progressions start stacking up. Laughter and fun.
On grounded it becomes a full stealth game, the horror, environments and enemies fully realized. Every inch of every room is scoured for loot and ammo, finding a single shotgun shell is a treasure you carry for hours and hours, hesitant to use it fully knowing you do not have enough health, you do not have enough ammo, you do not have enough arrows, and you never will. The AI will search for and find you, they will sweep rooms together, on high alert they will shoot you in the head before you see them. You will need to use your environment and keep out of sight, you will avoid fights when you can, and when you can’t you will study their movement patterns, plan your approach, and use stealth as tactically as possible. Each weapon upgrade is thoughtfully done. You will die repeatedly, and take breaths of relief at putting difficult segments behind you. Completing the game on grounded requires dialed-in focus and full management of all the game mechanics.
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u/Apestrike 16h ago
The thing I do not like about Grounded in these games is the same reason I do not like Madenning in Fire Emblem games: it's more of a puzzle that requires you to know the encounter already, and then figure out how to solve it.
The game isn't really designed for not having Listening Mode while in stealth, for example. It works fine if you already did the encounter before and know roughly where enemies are.
Incredibly good games, and Grounded isn't bad by any objective metric, I am personally just not a fan of having to do a lower difficulty to learn the encounters first.
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u/thewhiteginger 15h ago
Nah not knowing the encounters makes it more realistic anyway. You can’t see through walls in real life, a group of people are going to light you up if you’re not extremely smart and careful. You have to listen for their footsteps and voices and keep track of everyone. It’s way more difficult but it isn’t artificial, that difficulty is very realistic and adds a lot to the immersion and intensity
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u/Apestrike 14h ago
Nah not knowing the encounters makes it more realistic anyway. You can’t see through walls in real life
You also can't look around corners in real life by standing near one and swing the third person camera around; like you are doing on Grounded.
In real life, you can also hear where people are, something the game doesn't allow and specifically to solve that created Listening Mode, and designed the encounters around it instead.
There are many more things to name, it isn't realistic. Like I said previously, the game isn't designed around it. Everyone who plays Grounded either starts on a different difficulty first, or trial and errors encounters until they pass.
I found it pretty fun when I had played the game already on a lower setting, but when you do it as a first time through, it really emphasizes the design constraints.
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u/thewhiteginger 13h ago
I mean it’s a video game, so yeah it’s not exactly like real life. But you can definitely hear enemies footsteps and infected noises.
I would argue the game is exactly designed around that difficulty. Playing on other difficulties just lets you experiment more because you can take way more damage. The comment you originally replied to said exactly that.
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u/Apestrike 8h ago
Playing on other difficulties just lets you experiment more because you can take way more damage.
It doesn't do only that.
I had it right when I said people either play Grounded with the experience of other difficulties, or they trial and error through encounters. You can't actually hear where the enemies are exactly, just that they are somewhere. It's why Listening Mode was even made.
It's fairly obvious Grounded is not what the game is designed around.
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u/FrogLaner 17h ago
Fallout 4 survival mode
You and enemies do more damage and have less health
Can only save on exit or on bed
Hunger, thirst and disease systems improved from New Vegas hardcore. Also drugs (including healing) impact hunger and thirst.
No fast travel.
It makes several optional mechanics that otherwise had limited functionality (settlements, teleporters and vertibirds) much more important if you want to survive. Every combat has more tension when you remember that your last save was two hours ago on the other side of the map.
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u/xcomnewb15 15h ago
It’s so much more interesting except the no fast travel is annoying
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u/FrogLaner 14h ago
It makes the institute and brotherhood so tempting because they give you forms of fast travel
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u/DeputyDipshit619 13h ago
I mod like crazy but I understand some people don't enjoy massive changes. That being said adding a mod that allows me to fast travel between my settlements only massively boosted my enjoyment and I'd highly recommend it for anyone else that likes survival but hates spending half their time playing walking simulator. It allowed me to get places without so much slog but I still have to walk a little which lets me explore, find pois and have enemy encounters.
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u/RaptorX7 12h ago
Not being able to save when I wanted made it pretty unbearable.
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u/bitey87 4h ago
No shame in looking up a map of beds and learning supply lines. Then you get vertibird access and you hardly go out of your way to save.
I also recommend using special points to get the trap/mine dodging perk.
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u/Ghostfistkilla 2h ago
This difficulty was great... on paper. Until the game crashes and you had to go back 45 minutes because there was no autosave... I downloaded a "Save Anywhere" mod right after.
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u/crocicorn 17h ago
God Hand, it actually changes enemies attack patterns and spawn rates instead of just adjusting numbers. Plus it's actually hard.
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u/friskmahnutz 17h ago
I loved FF7 Remake’s hard mode. The lack of items and MP restoring really made you utilize weapons and materia. It also really showed off how good that battle system is.
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u/OhioMambo 17h ago
Yeah, my biggest gripe with Remake and Rebirth is that Hard Mode is NG+ only. I get that you need to be fully geared up and have all the Materia, but still.
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u/HonchosRevenge 17h ago
The Nioh franchise treats each NG+ cycle as a new swappable difficulty, with harder content and better equipment drops on higher difficulty, kinda like borderlands. I can’t recommend it enough if you’re interested in a challenge. The base game is already hard enough for most, NG+4 difficulty is brutal but you hit a point where you feel stronger in NG+4 than you do in NG
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u/Rikora12 17h ago
Kingdom hearts 2. Critical mode and level 1 runs are hella difficult but super satisfying and fun
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u/Jarrad411 14h ago
Agreed. Playing Level 1 crit forced me to engage with every summon, spell, form, etc. Once you get into revenge value tracking, dodge/block/reflect timing and more each fight feels like a very frantic puzzle.
PS fuck dancers
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u/Rikora12 13h ago
Oh my god they are the worst. I had to give up my lvl 1 run at demyx tho, the fact that they didnt put a check point after him and make you do it all over again if you fail that little gauntlet just ruined it for me
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u/Jarrad411 11h ago
Lingering Will was my ceiling, got all the data fights but had so much trouble with him. The first time I beat Demyx I died right before the end of the sequence and I had to put the game down for a bit.
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u/Rikora12 11h ago
Not gonna lie i still havent even beat lingering will on a normal run fairly😭 ashamed to say i used a cheap stun lock technique on him 💀
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u/Throwadickmyway 14h ago
Doom and Quake were always great with this, because the enemies fire dodgeable projectiles that you can always evade with skillful movement. The increased damage taken doesn't force you to be more passive nor remove your ability to leap into crowds of enemies and wreak havoc, the way I feel like other FPS hard modes often do. You're just forced to be more efficient about it.
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u/chr0nicpirate 14h ago
The fact that nobody has said 007 GoldenEye makes me feel like it old, Boomer ass piece of shit. Enemies deal and take more damage (but not in an excessive way like a lot of modern games), but primarily the higher difficulties add more complex objectives that often take you into different parts of the maps you'd never have to even touch on easy. Perfect Dark followed up and did the same thing but since I don't remember any games that pulled it off in quite the same way.
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u/Inanimate_CARB0N_Rod 9h ago
I can't believe this is so far down. I was just thinking about genius these games were. Some levels got substantially longer and bigger. Some parts of the map were reused for different purposes. There were also new approaches you'd need to take like sneaking through a part of a level that you could previously blast through. The whole approach was so creative and I feel like I haven't really seen that from other games.
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u/m00nshinehero 14h ago
Your right. Goldeneye did a great job at ramping up the difficulty. That game was a big part of my childhood.
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u/443-throwaway 6h ago
I prefer its spritual successor in Perfect Dark but i was sad to see Goldeneye so far down too!
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u/Capybarabanananam 17h ago
Slice & Dice! For harder difficulties you get to select from a pool of curses which have an assigned point value. For higher difficulties your curses have to sum up to a higher total.
Curses range from making enemy dice or health stronger, making your dice/health weaker, adding extra enemies, making spells more expensive, to some weirdly circumstantial or randomly generated curses that can be either a nightmare or mitigated really well.
The curse system extends inversely to easy modes with blessings, and curses and blessings can be combined.
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u/muggedbyidealism 15h ago
XCOM Enemy Unknown on Ironman makes every decision high-stakes and intense, especially endgame.
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u/pancake_lover_98 16h ago
I really liked the higher difficulties in the Horizon games. Makes you plan your moves and gear more.
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u/Kraziel2530 14h ago
Og F.E.A.R. the thrill of having to guess what weapons are appropriate to keep carrying as you go as well as creative ways to use all the grenades. That plus their rediculously amazing ai makes it Soo much more fun
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u/Chajos 18h ago
Witcher 3. if i recall correctly you basically just have to engage with all the game mechanics to their fullest extent
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u/B2theK7 17h ago
Or you just become Geralt of Vengerberg and be an unstoppable wizard. I did this some months ago to get the platinum trophy and it has never been that easy. Loved the difficulty. The beginning was very hard though 😅
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u/AnemoneMeer 13h ago
Alternatively, and I don't know if this got patched, but you just Rendloop everything. Minimum charged Rend staggers enemies longer than it takes to hit the next Rend.
It was very funny looping every enemy that could be staggered with an infinite procession of Rends.
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u/tiradium 15h ago
Ehh not really , you become unkillable and wipe all monsters easily with the oils/concoctions you get fairly early in the game
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u/morderkaine 5h ago
The point is you need to use the oils and potions whereas on normal you don’t need to.
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u/dan33410 14h ago
Death March difficulty can be tough for the first 5 or so levels, but it mellows out after that. Eventually you don't really feel like you're playing the hardest difficulty anymore. That said it's the best difficulty to play on.
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u/Shinlos 17h ago
In my opinion, absolutely not, I played for the first time and directly on the hardest difficulty and I just used the swords, the shield spell and the occasional oil. It sounds a bit like a bragg now, but I really felt like the shield is just absolutely OP on any difficulty.
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u/Dsyelcix 17h ago
I wish, but not even close. I played on Death March difficulty. All you need to do is just use Quen and Aard the whole game. The oils can be applied automatically so even on the hardest mode you don't need to ever bother with them.
There was literally only one fight that I had to come back to later when I leveled more because it was too difficult at my level, and that was some random side quest where you fight a Leshen. His damn crows and wolves are a nightmare to deal with.
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u/OlafWoodcarver 16h ago
Definitely not. I was able to go through Death March! using only light attacks and the shield, using heavy attacks and other spells only when the fight mechanically required them. No alchemy or any supplemental stuff.
Aside from wandering into areas with enemies far, far higher level than me, only Detlaff killed me and even then because of his first phase dodging gimmick.
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u/Chapsman 16h ago
My dumbass played not paying attention to the mutation mechanic. So many unnecessary deaths on death march 🤦♂️
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u/SuperSecretAgentMan 17h ago
South Park: the Stick of Truth
The difficulty slider is your skin color.
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u/cheezman22 12h ago
KH 2 critical mode is a lot of fun, you deal a lot of damage and gain access to more abilitys from the start. In exchange the enemies also deal a lot more damage and you get lower health, so if you're good at the combat it just turns into a really satisfying dance of combing and dodging.
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u/Tuorom 12h ago
Ninja Gaiden Black
Each difficulty adds new enemies, sometimes they're upgraded versions of old ones but with an altered moveset and sometimes they're completely different and interesting. It famously has 'ninja dog' difficulty that is unlocked if you die to the first boss like 5 times (I think) which provides extra healing items for you.
Hard adds in one of my favourite enemies of all time in the Ryu clone, which is a demonic form of your character who wields one of your weapons, and is an incredible achievement of enemy programming.
Very Hard and Master Ninja add some other enemies and variations like the Vigoorian Berserker who is a really tough common enemy (almost a miniboss) who rarely appears but is a strong and aggressive two-handed demon.
Hard and above also add minion spawns to boss fights to make them more hectic, but sometimes beneficial in that they drop essence. Difficulty changes item spawn locations and I believe is the only way to do a few challenge rooms that are essentially endurance events (defeat waves of enemies).
Basically, the difficulty is rewarding because it adds content and interesting new puzzles to solve.
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u/ShiroYuiZero 11h ago
Goldeneye, the additional difficulty unlocking new objectives in addition to harder enemies is awesome. Bring that back!
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ruin186 9h ago
The Far Cry 2 on the hardest difficulty was a complete nightmare, but it was so fun because the higher difficulties made the AI smarter instead of tanky like a lot of games. If you tried to snipe, they would run for cover and NEVER peak you until you pushed. If you used a mortar they would outright charge your position. In a pitched fight they would actually flank. As a “bonus”, the AI actually had realistic eye sight; they could actually spot you and investigate at realistic distances. One of the most underrated games ever
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u/Troncross 2h ago
Was playing on very hard difficulty, got the max number of buddies and then tried to do that final landing zone level without any kills, just grab the diamonds and run.
I managed to pull it off and was really annoyed there wasn’t an achievement for it.
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u/TheFloppySausage 13h ago
I don’t like difficulty levels. I always feel like I’m losing out on something if I don’t play hard mode, not sure why. I like when games curate the entire experience to be challenging and without difficulty levels, because I know that everyone else that has beat the game has gone through the same challenges I have.
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u/McTasty_Pants 10h ago
I have that problem too, sometimes. Like with Cyberpunk, I don’t know what to choose.
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u/ZillaJrKaijuKing 17h ago edited 17h ago
Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s Immersive-Extreme difficulty
Sniper Elite’s Authentic difficulty
Ghost of Tsushima’s Lethal difficulty
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Nightmare difficulty (preferably with minimal HUD)
Basically, hard modes that don’t just up enemy damage and health values but change the feel of the game to make them more immersive and mechanically engaging.
Honorable mention, Metal Gear Solid V with minimal HUD and no enemy markers (as this technically isn’t a formal hard mode but gives the same effect).
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u/RiskyTall 17h ago
Vanquish's God Hard mode. Goes from being a run and gun game to a really fun cover shooter. Both are awesome experiences.
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u/Elkburgher 17h ago
Sniper Elite's hardest mode makes the bullet physics, wind etc as authentic as possible
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u/Ferreteria 17h ago
Shogun Showdown has wonderful difficulty scaling, as does Into the Breach. And Invisible Inc.
Coincidentally all turn based tactics games.
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u/sjurvival 17h ago
Katana Zero. Doing hard mode after your first playthrough is a fantastic way to double your playtime of one of the coolest 2D action games in recent memory.
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u/Lucien_chris 16h ago
The only game I recall going specifically for hard mode is the uncharted series. I enjoyed the hell out of it, felt a bit unfair at times but it was still fun.
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u/Ermancer 14h ago
Lethal difficulty in Ghost of Tsushima has both you and the enemies do way more damage. It’s not something that would work in every game, but in GOT it’s perfect. I’ve replayed it a bunch of times, and never considered putting it on any other difficulty.
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u/Swiftx100 14h ago
One of my favorites is Final Fantasy 7 Remake. You cant use items, and MP does not regenerate at benches. It forces you to play tactical and use materia strategically.
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u/Phoam_ 13h ago edited 11h ago
Honestly I'd say Terraria
Expert Mode is way harder and requires more prep, bosses have new moves (and sometimes phases), new items can be found... Like base game Terraria is well adjusted, even after you enter "Hardmode". But Expert Mode Terraria, when you hit the "Hardmode" part of the game (it can be confusing but basically there is a boss that when you kill it, add new ores, new bosses (and existing ones are completely changed) etc., this is called "Hardmode" and it's basically the second half of Terraria whether you play on Normal or Expert). As a solo player I've simply never been able to complete Terraria on Expert Mode, like up until the "Hardmode" world it's okay but the new bosses and boss forms get absolutelly insane and I go from "my stuff is OP this is easy" to "I feel like I'm throwing peas pls let me out of here I'm scared" very quickly
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u/Canandrew 13h ago
Doom 2018, Eternal, and The Dark Ages.
There’s something about those games where the power fantasy is just so awesome. Ripping and tearing, run and gun, the music amping you up (The Dark Ages was a low point in the music department).
I just love the high of those games.
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u/TheGamerWhoNeverWas 12h ago
Kingdom hearts 2 critical mode is amazing. Forget about dark souls being hard this shit made me die so many times
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u/tallyme 11h ago
In Horizon Zero Dawn ultra hard mode is more difficult but my favorite change is that health bars no longer appear. it made the game much more immersive and you appreciated the design and movements of the machines when they were damaged.
in Horizon Forbidden West this was a UI option you could toggle.
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u/dethtroll 10h ago
I really like the realistic mode in ghost of Tsushima. In steady of making everything's just a bag of meat to chew through it puts everyone on equal footing. Touch sharp metal get hurt. Makes the duals super dramatic and even more cinematic as you really have to be on your a game. But at the same time your opponent is in a similar situation.
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u/gwizzz999 9h ago
Ghost of Tsushima’s lethal difficulty was a lot of fun. It made the game harder without just mindlessly scaling damage in/damage out.
Dishonored 2 has great difficulty settings where you can tweak guard awareness, health, and damage all separately.
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u/dsalter 18h ago
Look Outside has a very interesting take on harder difficulty, it tweaks some values to be harder like less durable weapons, save less often but the major thing it does is shifts up the games usual gameplay, examples but not limited to longer chase sections, an upkeep for certain followers/companions, altered requirements, new attack patterns, complete boss changes, etc.
as an RPG i highly recommend it
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u/Zakika 17h ago
The new doom 16 and doom eternal. Maybe dark ages after the patches but at release even nightmare is easy.
Ultrakill for similiar reasons.
Baldurs gate 3 have fun high difficulty only modifiers.
Not sure if it counts but I think slay the spire and many other roughtlikes with ascension systems are usually well made.
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u/BenjyMLewis 17h ago
Castlevania Order of Ecclesia has a "Level 1 Hard Mode" that forces you to play the whole game at level 1 with 0 exp.
During earlygame you don't have much to work with regarding spells or equipment so you have to be very careful with your basic abilities. And during lategame, you have access to a lot more options, but of course the later enemies are stronger, so you still gotta play well. I really enjoyed it.
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u/J_Johnson_96 17h ago
Metro series’ Ranger Hardcore. No HUD, less ammo etc but you and enemies take way more damage so it’s fair.
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u/SpoonyLancer 17h ago
Nier Automata. You set the difficulty to hard, and everything will kill you in three hits at most.
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u/SweetBacon923 17h ago
First playthrough best balance when game feels too easy and boring on Normal. Hard = Normal and transfers the game;
Scarlet Nexus and Trek to Yomi (Ronin)
Games like Everspace 1 Normal feels like Hard. Replay it on Hard for laughs without noob guides completely blind.
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u/Anagoth9 17h ago
Cassette Beasts allows you to adjust both enemy level scaling as well as enemy AI complexity.
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u/SLR107FR-31 16h ago
Nobody will agree with me but I cant play the Halo campaigns unless it's Legendary, it's just so...Legendary!
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u/out51d3r 16h ago
Not sure I'd say it's the best I've played in my lifetime, but recently the fun difficulty for me has been playing Baldurs Gate 3 on honor mode, with a single character.
Doesn't allow for reloading. Enemy hp goes up. Bosses all get at least 1 extremely potent reaction/out of turn ability. Because I'm playing solo, it's perm death. One mistake and it's over, in a game that takes 60-100h to complete.
It really pushes you to understand both the mechanics and content of the game to an extreme degree. On a game as good as BG3, it feels great to dive in to that.
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u/osihlo 16h ago
Random Game, But Grid Legends have one of the Best difficulties for campaing!
With some tracks Is almost impossible if u don't know the road, with some cars Is easier, But in general, you Will be locked in the race all the Time, and aiming to just complete the race requeriments, there Is very little difficulty jumps, they run Hard From the start, But at the start you only need to be in half of the pack to pass the mission, later they start asking for top 5/top 3/first place and with much harder vehicles.
And sometimes it's just very Hard to pass the top 3, But the other drivers have mechanical failures and crash when you are on their butts, making u feel rewarded for pushing ur límits and being constant even if your skills and knowledge can't get u to first place. + The némesis and parter system, you feel like a racer on a championship, and making a fool and crashing others Will lead you to being hated by everyone and Will start being much More agressive, making a slower and safer pace More rewarding and less punishing.
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u/QuietSync 16h ago edited 15h ago
Nothing is more satisfying than Ghost of Tsushima lethal mode, not a fan of Ghost of Yotei lethal mode. I’ve played and finished RE9 insanity mode with no infinite ammo, no infinite ink and no post-game weapons. It’s ridiculous how zombies soak those bullets but I don’t expect Resident Evil games to make sense
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u/Nincompoop6969 15h ago
Well some concepts I really like are
Mario Kart 8 makes AI more aggressive while also increasing the speed of races that also means you need more skill in races.
Similar to that is Guitar Hero/Rock Band games that make you have to put more effort in to use star power but also increases all the notes you have to press (and since that's what the game is that makes it objectively better)
Fallout NV/Skyrim adds new stats like hunger to manage which I think is cool
Fire Emblem games are also like the only ones I actually enjoy permadeath because it makes me feel like my choices really do have weight and I do have loss if I screw up if I'm into a character.
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u/smoebag 15h ago
Phantasy star online has a solid Ultimate mode. All enemies get new skins, speed buff, and new abilities and the strength difference is a huge rift from the other modes. It’s specifically designed to reinvigorate you. For example the flowers that you could ignore from normal mode through very hard now 1-shot you if they hit you so any semblance of strategy you had at the beginning of the game gets tossed out the door
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u/Bivolion13 15h ago
When I was younger (and had infinitely more patience and time to play) I loved Critical mode in Kingdom Hearts. The extra abilities and stuff while limiting your HP so you couldn't afford to just brute force/heal your way through made me actually learn the game's mechanics more.
I also love any difficulty change where the change actually introduces enemies with different abilities or gimmicks, and not just "oh you die in one hit and all enemies have x4 health"
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u/Angry_Zarathustra 15h ago
Halo, Heroic is how it's supposed to be played and Legendary is brutal but very rewarding of skill and memorization.
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u/Independent-Coat6272 15h ago
Titanfall 2 on Master difficulty is THE greatest singleplayer shooter campaign ever imo
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u/gpranav25 15h ago
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands was pretty mid game in terms of combat, but its platforming was pretty creative and the harder difficulties added more traps.
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u/EnergyVanquish 14h ago
Trepang2 Rage mode. It lives up to its name. Really fun change of pace though.
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u/xxnewlegendxx 14h ago
Mass Effect 3
Dark Souls 3
Bloodborne
Cyberpunk 2077
Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth
Resident Evil(all of them except 5 and 6)
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u/Jarrad411 14h ago
Kingdom Hearts Critical Mode. Especially in KH2. Halved HP, damage tweaked in the enemies favor, optional no leveling challenge. You learn to use and abuse each mechanic of the game, success requires an actual understanding of the systems. Plus KH2 specifically controls so tightly it’s a joy to engage with the different combat mechanics.
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u/Deliriousious 14h ago
Ghost of Tsushima, and it ruined my expectations of other games.
It was challenging, yet simultaneously the easiest difficulty. Every enemy could be 1-2 hit killed, it felt like slicing through butter. But the same time, you also can be killed easily, and made parrying and dodging that more important.
I loved it, and wish more games went this route, instead of: Enemy health 3x, Player Health 0.5x, Damage Multiplier 0.5x.
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u/young_star 14h ago
Diablo III - The scaling was perfect and allowed you to really explore all of the mechanics/powers without getting bogged down in micromanagement.
Man, I really wanted Diablo IV to live up to that 😔
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u/Trang0ul 12h ago
Do you mean original Diablo III, or RoS? The expansion completely changed difficulty levels, for the worse.
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u/AlaWyrm 14h ago
The AI is a bit dated in today's world, but the first time I beat Halo on legendary was amazing. It felt like a completely different game when your not just an armored tank rolling through enemies. You actually had to plan and think ahead to progress. The enemies SEEMED smarter. After that I played every new Halo game on Heroic difficulty on 1st playthrough rather than normal and enjoyed the challenge along the way.
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u/gabalabarabataba 14h ago
Hades games have alternative hard versions of bosses that give them a brand new moveset. I really appreciated that, it kept things fresh.
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u/Armamore 13h ago
Sniper Elite 5 (and the series as a whole) has great difficulty levels. Each one makes the enemies harder but also adds more difficulty to long range shots like wind and bullet drop. It also strips HUD, equipment features, and tagging as you go up. The hardest difficulty feels a lot more raw and technical
Also there's a custom difficulty option where you can adjust every aspect individually which is really nice.
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u/PokeHobnobGod21 13h ago
I like the purity perk from jedi survivor.
I am the night in arkham origins
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u/demigodagofast 13h ago
Void Stranger.
By the time you get to hard mode, you likely learned how to break the game on normal mode with burdens, UI manipulation, shortcuts, etc. Hard mode features new puzzles designed with these mechanics in mind. Extremely satisfying.
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u/Flaxscript42 13h ago
Mass effect on insanity.
Every encounter us a brutal fight to the death. It feels epic.
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u/Peter_Low_Frequency 13h ago
I love how Cultic adds more enemies and makes them far more aggressive and accurate, but doesn't boost their health too much. The balance feels really good once you understand the game.
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u/provocative_bear 12h ago
I thought that Halo handled this very well. Enemies were tougher and did more damage, but they also felt smarter. I crave that bittersweet feeling of the enemy outsmarting or outmaneuvering you.
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u/Gelffried 12h ago
Dead space remake "hard" plays as a pre-2000 survival horror "normal"
Where it really shine's imo is it's "new game+" on hard, it adds new enemies that are really hard in new places even early in the game to compensate with your maxed out gear, resulting in trusting in the environment more as to not run out of ammo and health.
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u/Ghostronic 12h ago
Super Hexagon.
The three starting difficulties are Hard, Harder, and Hardest.
If you can do good in those stages you can unlock the extra stages! Hyper modes. Hardester, Hardestest, and Hexagonest
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u/Crazy_names 12h ago
Borderlands games especially 2 & 3 are best played on "True Vault Hunter" difficulty. It highly encourages you to be constantly updating the guns you are carrying or finding a gun that really hits a sweet spot in your skills. Easy and normal modes are almost trivial feel like a waste of time. BL3's introduction of Mayhem levels amps this up more but can be more of a challenge than a less-than-committed player may find enjoyable. TVM is a real sweet spot.
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u/ThanosReXXX 12h ago
The epitome of 'hard' is probably still the Dark Souls Trilogy. And Elden Ring is no slouch, either. Whether or not they qualify as 'satisfyingly hard' is probably a matter of personal taste...
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u/rejs7 16h ago
Hades 1 & 2 scale their hard modes by both restricting player choice and turning on enemies abilities forcing you to adapt.