- 03/07/2025
10 Video Games That Secretly Get Harder Without You Realising
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00:00Video game difficulty can be a tricky thing. What's easy for one player can be soul-crushingly hard
00:05for another, and even when you pick your ideal difficulty at the start, that actually still
00:10might not be enough to save you. You see, a game can get harder for any number of reasons,
00:14which is exactly what we're here to talk about today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:19and these are 10 video games that secretly get harder without you realising.
00:2410. Not Going to the Church of Ella, Elden Ring
00:27Like any Souls game, how you start Elden Ring is vital to your chances of surviving to the end.
00:33But unlike previous Souls games, Elden Ring is a full card-carrying open-world title,
00:38and so it's very easy to miss a lot of very important things. And one of these things
00:43is visiting Merchant Kale at the Church of Ella. Almost every tips for first-time players' guide
00:48for this game will tell you to make this place one of your first stops upon starting the game.
00:53Not only does it have a site of grace to rest and save your progress,
00:56but Merchant Kale's inventory includes many items that are vital to any playthrough.
01:01This includes a crafting kit, a few recipes to get you started, and a torch. These three items
01:06are lifesavers for first-time players, and naturally, they're incredibly easy to miss.
01:11Like anywhere else in the game, there's nothing specific calling you to that church.
01:14You have to make the conscious decision to go there yourself. If you don't,
01:17then wherever you went instead just got a whole lot harder.
01:219. Not Playing the Previous Games
01:24Mass Effect 3 Mass Effect 3 is the culmination of
01:27an entire trilogy's worth of stories, so it's only natural that players who have been on the
01:31ride from minute one would have some distinct advantages. Like with Mass Effect 2, starting
01:36on a pre-made Shepard nets you extra points in either Paragon or Renegade, thus opening up more
01:41story options and giving you more opportunities to save everyone, especially when it comes to passing
01:46valuable reputation checks early on in the game. This is the only surefire way that you can stop the war
01:52between the Geth and the Quarians in a way that doesn't end with Tali or Legion dying. Depending
01:57on your choices in 1 and 2, this is also the only way to get the best ending to the Krogan storyline,
02:03as Rex, the hands-down best character in Mass Effect, and no, I'm not taking questions,
02:07is dead in the default world state. The best version of Mass Effect 3 from a story perspective is the
02:12one you play after putting in your time with the previous two, and it's also the best one from a
02:16gameplay standpoint because that experience from your save file means more options to get the best
02:20ending. Not that it's impossible without doing the extra labour, but man, it is way harder.
02:268. Burning Money on Incremental Upgrades – Dragon's Dogma 2
02:30What makes Dragon's Dogma 2 so fun for a certain kind of gamer is just how it will sit back and watch
02:35as you absolutely destroy your playthrough. Go on, run through a village full of story-important
02:40NPCs while suffering from a highly contagious deadly virus. I'm sure the neighbours won't mind.
02:45This mindset surfaces in super small ways as well, not just in accidentally genociding an entire
02:52village on your way to the doctor. For instance, early on in the game, you might feel tempted to
02:56spend your hard-earned money on as many incremental upgrades as you can get your hands on. I mean,
03:01it's the correct decision in other games such as Borderlands and Destiny, so why wouldn't it be
03:05the right move here? Well, unlike many other games, Dragon's Dogma 2 prioritises player skill
03:11over big numbers. So if you try to cheese your way to victory by making your numbers go big,
03:16instead of learning the game's mechanics inside out, well, you've just screwed yourself. Now
03:20you're getting your ass kicked and you have no money. Nice going.
03:247. Killing Andrei – Dark Souls
03:26While your decisions don't carry quite the same abysmal consequences as Dragon's Dogma 2,
03:31Dark Souls still gives you full reign to screw yourself over. Whether it's choosing a really
03:36crap starting item or killing somebody you shouldn't have, you can make your own Dark Souls
03:40playthrough as easy or as hard as you want. And on that note, killing blacksmith Andrei is
03:45considered by much of the fandom to be an ill-advised move. Andrei is a blacksmith that
03:50you meet in the Undead Parish, who can upgrade your weapons in exchange for Titanite. These
03:55upgrades can be truly remarkable, so while it is completely doable to finish the game without them,
03:59getting them can make this game so much easier. Needless to say, killing him is not something that
04:05most players consider wise. For one thing, you really don't get much out of it compared to what you lose,
04:09and secondly, doing so makes the game so much harder than it otherwise could have been.
04:13Only the clumsy or trigger-happy player ends up putting down Andrei, and they always regret it
04:19afterwards, as well they should. 6. Making CJ Fat
04:23GTA San Andreas
04:25GTA San Andreas earned acclaim upon its release for how dynamic its world was, and the way the
04:30various activities you could do in the game had impact on the player character CJ. But there's one
04:35hilarious instance of this can all but bring your entire playthrough to a screeching halt.
04:40You see, you can eat in the restaurants in San Andreas, and if you eat enough food in one sitting,
04:44like around 10 or so pizzas at WellStackedPizza, you can actually make CJ gain weight. However,
04:50this introduces a new problem. Since this is the mid-2000s where fat shaming was still seen as a
04:56prime example of comedy material, multiple missions become locked off when you're a Huskier
05:01gentleman. Some even play unique cutscenes where everyone laughs CJ out of the room.
05:05Fortunately, the fix is simple. Just wait 48 in-game hours without eating, and CJ will slim
05:11back down. But that's quite a lot of out-of-game time to faff about waiting for your waistline to reset.
05:185. Shooting the Legion at Nipton
05:21Fallout New Vegas
05:23While Fallout New Vegas retains Fallout 3's karma system, it's made rather redundant by the way more
05:28dynamic reputation system, where your actions affect how you're viewed by members of various
05:33communities throughout the wasteland, and this system can really screw you over if you're not
05:37careful. When you first meet the Legion in Nipton, having just wrapped up their magical murder tour of
05:42the city, your first instinct might very well be to just keep the party going. This is especially
05:47tempting if you're starting with all the DLC installed and thus have a handy grenade launcher
05:52to really clean house before they know what's hit them. However, get ready to have a bad time going
05:57forward because this is when the reputation system comes into play. You see, now the Legion knows
06:02about you, it knows that they have a psychotic mailman with a grenade launcher wandering around
06:06shooting at them, and they will respond in kind. Which would be fine if you were in any way levelled
06:12and equipped enough, which most likely you are not. So if you'd rather not be in constant danger of
06:18being jumped by random heavily armed cosplayers, best to just let this guy and his posse go on their
06:23merry way. 4. Trying to go for 104%
06:27Crash Bandicoot 4 It's About Time
06:30On its own, Crash 4 is a fun but challenging platformer, giving the player hard but infectiously
06:35kinetic levels for them to traverse. The game's central gimmick when it comes to progression
06:39is acquiring specific gems, and also gaining gems for completing tasks in a level, like breaking all
06:44of the boxes, or completing a level without dying. And you get a cool costume waiting for you as the prize.
06:50This system, however, makes trying to 100% Crash 4 an actual nightmare. Now most players accept that
06:55trying to 100% a game is going to be more challenging than the vanilla experience, but Crash 4's 100%
07:01run is an actual exercise in masochism. Getting 80% of the fruit in every level, an act that nets you
07:073 gems per level, isn't that hard. No, no, no, it's the other 3 gems that will really test your patience.
07:14Boxes are hidden in obscure or ludicrous places, which are the same as hidden gems in later levels,
07:18and then there's the bane of the bunch, the lives gem. You have to complete each level without dying
07:24more than 3 times, which doesn't sound bad on paper, but these levels are long, and they are unrelenting.
07:29But even after doing all of that, you still have to complete the time trials. The platinum relics,
07:34once simply bragging rights with no impact on progression, are now mandatory for getting the best ending.
07:40Playing casually, Crash 4 is the most fun game in the franchise, but trying to play it to the coveted
07:45104%, however, well, it is a real pain. 3. Not using the knife
07:51Ghosts'n Goblins Now, there's a lot of advice that you can
07:55follow to make the original Ghosts'n Goblins on the nears a little bit easier on yourself,
07:59but chief amongst them is this, get the knife. The Angry Video Game Nerd does not lie. The knife is the
08:06only thing that deals out the right amount of damage at the right speed to get you through the
08:09challenges ahead with any kind of reliability. The other weapons technically work as well,
08:14but they just do not compare. The flame weapon's travel arc is just too high to reliably hit
08:18anything on the ground, the lance's fire rate doesn't compare to the knife's, the shield weapon,
08:22due to an infamous trick on the final level, is the only one you should ever even consider
08:26swapping the knife out for. The knife is one of the best weapons in gaming history, if only because
08:32it is the only weapon that truly measures up to the obstacles the game puts in front of you.
08:36Playing this game without it is like playing on default hard mode.
08:402. Not recruiting Leliana and Sten Dragon Age Origins
08:45Dragon Age Origins, like all great RPGs, gives you the tools needed to make the best experience
08:50possible, then just sits back and lets you potentially screw it all up without stopping you.
08:54The way it's supposed to go when you first reach the opening area of the game is to go to the tavern,
08:58pick up Leliana, and she in turn manages to convince the lady in charge of the local Chantry chapter to
09:03let Sten go free. But if this is your first time and you go in completely blind, like your humble
09:09scribe did way back when, you may not really know the steps to that process. You may only notice Sten
09:14and try to free him without Leliana, inevitably becoming frustrated. You may not go to the tavern at
09:19all, certainly nothing is pointing you in that direction, you might just grab your other supplies and
09:23just be on your way. Thus Leliana and Sten will die horrible, brutal deaths at the hands of the
09:28Darkspawn as they move in to wipe this area off the map, costing you two pretty powerful party
09:33members. Dragon Age Origins will in no way stop you from doing this or chide you afterward. It will,
09:39however, make the game much harder going forward, free of charge. Cheers!
09:431. Equipping the Skinsuit – Stellar Blade
09:48Stellar Blade knows why you're playing it. Honestly, one of the best things about this game is
09:52its all-out honesty with its own sexuality. Like, if you're going to have fan service,
09:56don't be ashamed about it, because, ironically, that actually makes it worse. With that said,
10:00it doesn't mean that you can't have some fun with your horny, horny players. Stellar Blade,
10:05very early on, gives you the Skinsuit, one of the most revealing suits in the game, and
10:09that is quite the statement. Obviously, most pervy players will be quick to put the suit on,
10:14even if it is just out of sheer curiosity, and this is where the game plays its wonderfully cheeky hand.
10:20It won't take long to figure out the drawback of putting on this suit, as the Skinsuit immediately
10:25disables your shield upon equipping it. And how bad is that? Well, have you ever tried playing
10:29Borderlands 2 without your shield? Yeah, it's that bad. Stellar Blade hangs something obvious right
10:35in front of players' eyes, and then immediately, and hilariously,
10:38punishes them for taking it by making the game a million times harder. Amazing.
Recommended
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