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What's the Hardest Game You've Ever Finished?

COMMUNITY QUESTION | Everyone is stressed over Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, so let's look back on the other tough games we've fought through.

This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.

Everyone's having fun at PAX East 2019, except for Matt and Caty who are holding it down back home (and the U.K. team, who are peacefully resting for the weekend already). It's been a hectic week already, but in the background of all the news, everyone still seemingly has one game on their mind: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

It feels like everyone's playing Sekiro, and everyone is also equally frustrated and in love with it. We've heard stories of "long-armed centipede giraffe" bosses; of apes that guard things. Sekiro, some say, is way harder than FromSoftware's Soulsborne games. Others say it's actually easier.

But it doesn't really matter, because no matter what, a lot of people do find it brutally difficult. In honor of Sekiro sapping away our souls in the form of boss fights, this week's community question will be about our favorite hard games. So tell us in the comments: What's the hardest game you've ever finished?

Cover image for YouTube videoSekiro Shadows Die Twice Gameplay: Battling Through a Japanese Fortress

Matt Kim, News Editor

I've played a lot of hard games, and I've given up on finishing many of them. But I think beating Demon's Souls might be my most memorable accomplishment. I don't know if Demon's Souls is objectively harder than later FromSoftware RPGs, but I definitely remember it as being on the tougher side.

Now that I think about it, beating Demon's Souls gave me the foundations and skills to beat later Souls games. So in a way, I wouldn't even be able to beat Dark Souls 1-3 if it weren't for my initial run through Demon's Souls' gauntlet.

Caty McCarthy, Features Editor

I have a short temper when it comes to games. I remember one time dying in Bloodborne, respawning, and realizing I had to run through the same narrow alley full of tough tall dudes all over again. I shut off the game and deleted it from my hard drive.

I wasn't always this way though. Maybe adulthood has got me more precious with my time, but when I was younger, I didn't care. The hardest game I can recall beating was Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, coincidentally also the second best Shin Megami Tensei game (as Persona 3, for me, still wins). Nocturne is a punishing JRPG, but it's also very rewarding. Plus, it has some of my favorite art direction in any game, so it's worth pushing through! I don't think we'll ever get a remake or rerelease of any sort—if anything at all, maybe it'd pop up on the PS4's PS2 games library for $15—but I cherish the long, grueling hours I spent battling through post-apocalyptic Tokyo back in the PS2 glory days.

Oh yeah, and lately I've been playing the mindnumbingly hard indie puzzle game Baba Is You, which I'll try to write about next week. Baba Is Caty.

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In this article

Demon's Souls

PS5, PS3

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

PS4, Xbox One, PC

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Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Video Game

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