From brutal Soulslikes to mind-bending puzzlers, these 2025 titles will test your skills and patience. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down the most challenging video games released this year, so far.
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00:00Oh, may all the saints be praised. I was afraid you'd never wake up again.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we are counting down our picks for the most
00:12challenging games released so far this year.
00:15You're happy. We must have it.
00:26Number 10. Post-Trauma
00:36Inspired by older survival horror games, particularly those of the PS2 era,
00:41Post-Trauma is designed to make you think. It follows a train conductor trapped in a strange
00:46dimension full of deadly creatures. Newcomers may be thrown off by some of the more retro-inspired
00:52choices like the fixed camera angle, but there are also some really obtuse puzzles that will
00:57leave you wandering around in the darkness. While long-time players may know what to look for,
01:09there are still moments where how to progress will be completely lost on you. That's not to mention
01:15the monstrous enemies lying in wait to tear you apart. The blend of resource scavenging,
01:20brain teasers, and narrowly avoiding demise makes Post-Trauma a worthy successor to its inspiration.
01:27Number 9. Atomfall
01:45To be fair, this post-apocalyptic survival game comes with several difficulty options, and even ways to
01:51adjust certain aspects of the gameplay within those. That's why we're placing it low, since you can
01:57tailor the game to whatever kind of experience you want. However, the game labels Survivor as the
02:03recommended difficulty, the fourth out of five options. Survivor keeps combat, survival, and
02:15exploration elements at the challenging level. So if you play Atomfall the way the developers intended,
02:22it can be a pretty tough game. Enemies will appear in fairly intimidating numbers and behave more
02:27aggressively. Resources will be scarce and you'll be at a disadvantage when exploring without any waypoint
02:33markers. It definitely doesn't hold your hand.
02:36The original Crypt of the Necrodancer was a pretty challenging roguelike rhythm game,
02:59and although this spin-off is a fair bit easier, that's not to say it isn't hard. At its simplest,
03:05players are required to push certain buttons at the proper moments to defeat enemies that march towards
03:10them. However, some enemies are a bit trickier, like taking more than one button pressed to go down,
03:16or jumping back and forth across the three lanes to trip you up.
03:28Boss fights are where things really heat up. The structure is switched up, adding directional inputs
03:33to dodge incoming attacks. And overall, everything comes much faster at you here. You might find
03:40yourself dropping the difficulty during a few of these encounters.
03:51Number 7 Ender Magnolia – Bloom in the Mist
03:55The Metroidvania genre is always a good place to look if you want to challenge yourself. A sequel to
04:082021's Ender Lilies Quietus of the Nights, Bloom in the Mist follows Lilac, a girl who sets out to save
04:15her kingdom from corrupted homunculi. While it has a lot in common with other Metroidvanias, Lilac doesn't
04:22tend to fight enemies herself. Instead, she summons the cleansed homunculi to her side.
04:37Naturally, this type of combat can take some getting used to. The game is certainly easier
04:41than its predecessor, since the developers included adjustable difficulty settings this time around.
04:46Still, on normal, you might find yourself overwhelmed unless you're a seasoned player. And that's
04:52particularly true during boss encounters.
05:04Number 6 Tales of Iron 2 – Whiskers of Winter
05:16While this is another case of a game being easier than its predecessor, players shouldn't go into
05:24it thinking they're in for a stress-free time. Sure, like others, there are difficulty settings to
05:29choose from, but since it's a follow-up to a game inspired by Hollow Knight and Dark Souls,
05:34you can imagine that the combat can be fairly challenging.
05:38The Blaze destroyed the last of the nest, but Arlo had no time to rest. The Slitherscale had returned.
05:47As Arlo the White Rat, you set out to bring peace to a land ravaged by the Darkwings,
05:52a clan of vicious bats. However, there are plenty of other deadly creatures to hunt down in order to
05:58gain resources for different upgrades. Elemental effects to weaponry makes each fight more varied, but
06:04don't be surprised when enemy forces swarm you.
06:17Number 5 – Blue Prince
06:29Inspired by old-school puzzle books and tabletop games,
06:33Blue Prince tasks you with navigating a mansion in search of its 46th room. It isn't as simple as
06:39just exploring, though. Most rooms are filled with puzzles, some of which connect to other rooms,
06:45requiring you to backtrack. There's also a roguelike twist. Each time you play,
06:50the rooms will be in a different order, and each time you enter a new one, you're given the option of
06:55three different blueprints. Some rooms have dead ends, and entering a room uses one of your 50 steps,
07:06with you forced to start over when you run out. Note-taking is essential to keep all the puzzles in
07:12order, making for quite the head-scratcher.
07:15Until the dawn of the following day, I will have nothing more to say.
07:23Number 4 – Beyond the Ice Palace 2
07:27The original Beyond the Ice Palace was released way back in 1988, and got a lot of comparisons
07:41to Capcom's ultra-brutal Ghosts and Goblins series. While the sequel comes with several
07:46quality-of-life advancements from across the decades to make its difficulty feel less cheap,
07:51it will still bring frustration to even the most hardened platform players.
08:03Following a cursed king who rises from the dead to reclaim his throne,
08:07the game is generally hard throughout thanks to tough enemies and tricky platforming mechanics.
08:12This is increased ten-fold during the game's final stretch, as checkpoints become scarce,
08:18forcing you to replace sizable sections each time you die. And because the game is hard, that'll happen often.
08:32Number 3 – Commandos Origins
08:35I'll be right over. I admit, not the most common tool.
08:43Like the Metroidvania, games that highlight tactics and stealth are also those that usually
08:48highlight high difficulty. The first new entry in the series in nearly 20 years,
08:53Commandos Origins is a return to form. Even with some modern tweaks to make things smoother and
08:59more manageable, you'll still be punished if you aren't careful.
09:08With six different classes of soldiers to utilize, you must infiltrate enemy encampments for different
09:14missions. Since your team is small, doing so without planning and stealth will make for a bad time.
09:20The maps are huge, too, with sprawling designs filled with dangerous foes with intelligent AI.
09:26Each situation demands you approach with the utmost care, and every mistake risks disaster.
09:32Guess you were there, too.
09:36This guy is way too stucco.
09:38Number 2 – Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
09:41Just like the first game, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 seeks to provide players with the most realistic
09:56medieval experience a video game can offer. And because it immerses you so heavily into that life,
10:02every aspect, from design to mechanics, can be tough to wrap your head around.
10:15The game follows Henry, a soldier who helps lead a resistance against the forces of a usurper king.
10:21It's an incredibly well-crafted experience, and the realism on display is impressive.
10:26But it's a game that requires you to devote a ton of time to it. It's not something you can simply pick
10:32up and play for short bursts. If you try, you'll likely find yourself overwhelmed and frustrated.
10:42Number 1 – The First Berserker, Kazan
10:55It likely comes as no surprise to find a Souls-like game at the top of our list.
11:00The First Berserker, Kazan, puts players in the role of a general,
11:03framed as a traitor and imprisoned before he escapes to seek vengeance.
11:07Unlike FromSoftware's games, players do have the option of an easy mode.
11:11However, while that will make dealing with enemies easier,
11:14the game's boss encounters will be challenging no matter what.
11:18Just like the games that influenced it, boss fights require you to study,
11:31learn, and adapt to immensely overpowering patterns, with almost no grace period at the
11:37beginning of the game. Even the most seasoned Souls-like fans will find themselves exasperated
11:42as the deaths rack up, even on the easiest difficulty.
11:53What 2025 game left you enraged by its difficulty? Share your pain in the comments.
12:00Can't recommend that. Not unless you're keen to get yourself shot, or burned to a crisp.
12:12Do it typically!
12:17See you, guys!
12:22Go to the end!
12:24Slip!
12:31Selim back!