Gamers love difficult video games, that isn’t something new. But something being satisfyingly difficult instead of unfairly punishing is hard to pull off, with many games being remembered for the wrong reasons. Some players still love to be punished like that, sure, but for general audiences, it can get to be too much.
As such, we have games in infamy instead of fame. These games might not be bad, but they are punishing enough that many players have stopped engaging with them. If you’re looking for a fun time when gaming, avoid these titles.
Pathologic
Pathologic constantly drains the player’s health, hunger, immunity, and sanity while time keeps moving forward no matter how badly things are going, creating a famously exhausting survival experience.
Dark Souls II
Every death permanently reduces your maximum health until you use a rare restorative item, making an already difficult game actively punish repeated failure even harder.
Driver
The opening parking-garage tutorial became infamous because many players could not even begin the actual game thanks to its brutally specific driving requirements.
XCOM 2
XCOM 2 routinely lets supposedly high-percentage shots miss at the worst possible moment, instantly turning carefully planned missions into catastrophic disasters through pure bad luck.
The Lion King
Disney developers intentionally made parts of The Lion King extremely difficult because rental stores were popular at the time and publishers wanted children unable to finish games quickly.
Ninja Gaiden
The reboot became notorious for relentlessly aggressive enemies and bosses capable of killing players within seconds, even after long stretches of difficult progress.
Fear & Hunger
The horror RPG seems specifically designed to emotionally destroy players through random mutilation, permanent injuries, brutal scarcity, and near constant psychological misery.
Battletoads
The infamous turbo tunnel level became legendary for requiring near-perfect reflexes so suddenly that countless multiplayer sessions ended in immediate frustration and arguments.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The survival systems force players to constantly manage food, camouflage, healing wounds, and stamina, turning basic movement through the jungle into logistical micromanagement.
Cuphead
Cuphead’s gorgeous animation hides brutally demanding boss fights requiring memorization and near-perfect timing, punishing mistakes with immediate restarts over and over again.
Escape from Tarkov
Players can lose all their equipment permanently after dying, making every firefight stressful enough that even successful extractions can feel emotionally draining.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
The game frequently ambushes players with instant-death attacks and devastating difficulty spikes, often wiping entire parties before anyone can realistically react.
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
One tiny mistake can erase massive amounts of progress instantly, while the narrator calmly discusses failure and frustration as players spiral into psychological collapse.
Minecraft
Dying without recovering your inventory in time can permanently erase hours of gathered resources, creating surprisingly devastating punishment inside an otherwise relaxing sandbox game.
