We’ve grow to be used to Darkish Souls (and Soulsborne titles extra broadly) getting used as a synonym for issue. True sufficient, these games sport some of the meanest bosses within the enterprise (together with an outrageous variety of livid dragons), and if gamers aren’t deft with their parries and blocks, they could shortly develop annoyed with repeated deaths. This isn’t to say that the likes of Elden Ring have a monopoly on issue.
Hardest Final Bosses In Video Games, Ranked
A difficult remaining boss could make the method of beating a sport really feel both significant or painful, however will probably be a memorable combat both means.
From traditional, notorious platformers to the most recent super-challenging titles, this collection of titles is formally more durable than Elden Ring. After all, opinions on the toughest video games will differ wildly, so to take away a few of the subjectivity from proceedings, we’ll solely be together with titles which have a better common issue score than Elden Ring on How Difficult Is It and in GameFAQs’ consumer scores (Elden Ring scores 7.2 out of 10 within the former and 4.09 out of 5 within the latter).
Celeste
How Tough Is It: 7.6/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.1/5
This 2018 indie platformer is stuffed with coronary heart, tackling crucial themes of loneliness, motivation, and the human spirit by way of the easy lens of a lady climbing a mountain. It does an incredible job of giving the platforming and the story that underpins it equal weight, however essentially the most notable facet of Celeste for a lot of gamers is how fiendishly difficult it may be. It’s a sport that offers gamers all of the instruments they should succeed (leaping, climbing, wall-bouncing, and so on.) after which sends them off to experiment with these instruments till they do.
The 2D artwork is charming and detailed, and the environments are completely designed to check the participant’s mastery of every thing Madeline can do. Close to-instant respawns imply it’s extremely inspired to persevere, even when bottomless caverns, spike pits, and all method of traps will catch them out at each flip. Every chapter introduces its personal gimmick that impacts these items, and the best gamers will follow and follow till they will even dominate the B-sides (the more durable variations of every stage) and past.
Bloodborne
How Tough Is It: 8.2/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.13/5
In 2015, Bloodborne took FromSoft’s acquainted fight system in a really totally different route. Those that had been used to heavy armor and equally heavy use of a defend shortly discovered that Hunters don’t combat like that. A way more aggressive and reactive strategy was required, centered on dodging assaults, countering with swift strikes, and firing off well-timed pistol shot parries to permit for Visceral Assaults the place potential.
Opinions will differ loads as to which Soulsborne game is the most difficult, however there’s no denying that a few of Bloodborne’s DLC bosses, specifically, are completely brutal. The likes of Ludwig the Accursed and the Orphan of Kos await, and so they’re to not be taken calmly. Towards common foes, it’s straightforward to be mobbed in areas such because the Forbidden Woods, and gamers are often only some hits from returning to a checkpoint.
Darkest Dungeon
How Tough Is It: 8.3/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.6/5
Like Bloodborne, Darkest Dungeon was additionally launched in 2015. In one other parallel, each video games mix a darkish, gloomy aesthetic and themes with a brutal stage of issue. Crimson Hook Studios’ turn-based RPG sees the participant managing a roster of adventurers and warriors who’ve come to their inherited hamlet in pursuit of their fortunes. The gameplay loop revolves round forming groups from this roster of various hero lessons and sending them on quests into totally different areas of the property’s surrounding area.
Darkest Dungeon 2: 12 Best Heroes For The Kingdoms Mode
For these seeking to dominate in Darkest Dungeon 2’s Kingdoms mode, listed here are the most effective Heroes to absorb.
Celebration members will accrue Stress harm in addition to HP harm, they purchase detrimental persona Quirks in addition to optimistic ones, and RNG generally appears downright antagonistic. Working out of sure sorts of provides might be deadly, and a single crucial hit can begin a sequence of occasions that may be very troublesome to get better from. The variety of turns a boss can take to kill, and the harm they will deal, is extraordinary. Darkest Dungeon warns gamers proper from the beginning that there shall be occasions after they don’t have any alternative however to let a hero die or to retreat from a quest, and it is not kidding. There are such a lot of elements to contemplate, from how well-lit the social gathering’s torch is to a possible sickness a celebration member may need contracted, that all of it appears hopeless. That is the purpose, and it is also why success feels so rewarding
Cuphead
How Tough Is It: 8.6/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.26/5
Cuphead is, at the start, a boss rush affair. It’s grow to be beloved and notorious in equal measure for the inventiveness, elegant animation, and sheer issue of these bosses. As befits its retro styling, Cuphead is an old-school expertise that may usually see gamers practising, observing boss movesets and patterns, and regularly studying the move of every combat. As with different titles on this record, it teaches gamers the basics with early encounters corresponding to Goopy la Grande and Cagney Carnation, earlier than steadily making these patterns extra elaborate and more durable to foretell because the storyline progresses.
Endgame battles, corresponding to towards King Cube, have all types of various phases, and there’s a lot occurring on the display screen that it is arduous to course of suddenly. The Delicious Last Course expansion takes this a step further, introducing parts that confound even veterans earlier than they get used to it. The run and gun ranges aren’t an emphasis of the motion, however they’re deviously designed, putting obstacles, enemies, and a relentless barrage of projectiles in simply the appropriate spots to maximise the carnage.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
How Tough Is It: 8.7/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.49/5
In relation to Soulsborne video games, each fan can have their very own thought of the toughest video games and executives therein. So far as How Difficult Is It is worried, although, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the toughest of the video games general, rating in eighth place on the location’s Prime 100. Bloodborne is subsequent, in seventeenth place, and it’s fairly clear what the 2 have in widespread: mobility and agility are key in each titles, prioritized over protection, and timing is crucial to their fight techniques. In Sekiro, the protagonist has a variety of mobility instruments at his disposal, and he shall be shortly dispatched with a easy miscalculation or two.
Not solely is fight very quick, even in customary encounters, nevertheless it’s advanced too. The posture system is totally central to battles, and whereas panicked dodging might stop some harm, it will probably set Wolf again offensively, that means that each single motion gamers make must be calculated. In the event that they don’t get a agency grasp on this method, gamers will discover nothing however frustration in Sekiro, and the ever-evolving enemy movesets and techniques (with some formidable bosses) guarantee it stays simply as troublesome all through. There’s a whole lot of freedom of motion within the sport in comparison with the quite extra static Soulsborne video games, however this one comes with a whole lot of further challenges.
Tremendous Meat Boy
How Tough Is It: 8.9/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.55/5
Very like Celeste, Tremendous Meat Boy is a traditional platformer designed to check each iota of the participant’s talent with its mechanics. A gritty and really gory expertise, the affect of Edmund McMillen (of The Binding of Isaac fame) is evident all through. There are such a lot of spikes, whirring blades, and different lethal hazards within the sport’s many levels that it’s intimidating to even have a look at. It’s a trial-and-error sport of regular enchancment, one which follows one other comparable precept to Celeste: it’s not about puzzles as such, and it is easy to see the place to go, however having the timing and response pace to string collectively strikes to get there’s the difficulty.
There’s a wealth of properly diversified content material for these with the endurance to keep it up. The liberty to pick ranges from every chapter signifies that there’s some reduction if gamers actually can’t full a problem in the interim. The sense of reduction and elation after they lastly do, nonetheless, is correct up there with an Elden Ring boss.
God Hand
How Tough Is It: 9.1/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.12/5
On the time of writing, How Difficult Is It customers charge God Hand because the second most troublesome sport of all time at 9.1 out of a potential 10. This score offers it a rating of Hardcore! on the location, although it has a low variety of solely 17 scores which have pushed it to that standing. GameFAQs customers, in the meantime, have given it a comparatively low rating of 4.12 out of 5, which barely reduces its placement on this record. Nonetheless, each of those scores are greater than Elden Ring’s, and this Capcom-published brawler earns its place with some devious mechanics. Developed by Clover Studio, the inventive minds behind Viewtiful Joe, God Hand combines intense motion and a singular humorousness in a similar way.
16 Soulslike Games Easier Than Dark Souls
Darkish Souls is a traditional, however notoriously troublesome sport. For players who need one thing extra forgiving, these comparable titles are nice decisions.
The story tells of the titular God Hand weapons and an otherworldly race’s makes an attempt to retrieve them from our protagonist and their allies, as they is also the important thing to releasing the imprisoned Angara, a demonic deity. Other than its inimitable humorousness, the sport is greatest recognized for its massively diversified fight, which permits gamers to mix dozens of various strikes and strategies into combos of their very own design. From typical uppercuts and jabs to final strategies like Invincible Fist, there are all types of tips up Gene’s sleeve. He’ll want them, too, as a result of button-mashing gained’t get gamers anyplace in God Hand. Swift reactions are key. The problem stage adapts to the participant’s efficiency, that means the higher they’re, the extra unpredictable and highly effective their enemies shall be. That is another Capcom classic that’s well worthy of a remake.
Hole Knight: Silksong
How Tough Is It: 9.0/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.24/5
There have been undoubtedly many gamers who, whereas caught up within the Hole Knight: Silksong hype previous to its September 2025 launch, purchased the sport with out actually realizing what they had been getting themselves into. It’s a fantastic-looking, sublimely animated Metroidvania, and it turned the heads of many. Nobody must have been a Hole Knight devotee to have been excited by Silksong, nevertheless it most likely helped many persevere and never drop the sport like a sizzling potato.
Pharloom is a grim, unforgiving land, and lots of areas are the form of locations the place Elden Ring’s Tarnished can be seen doing numerous runs again to a boss gate. It’s not simply in regards to the bosses, although, notorious as a few of them are. Hornet is way extra agile than the earlier protagonist, The Knight, however this allowed Crew Cherry to go all out on fiendish pogo-based platforming challenges. Our heroine’s moveset is far broader, too, with all-new traps, instruments, and expertise to make use of, however the mastery of all of her abilities that’s required to succeed will dissuade numerous gamers from battling on.
Ghosts ‘N Goblins
How Tough Is It: 8.9/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.72/5
GameFAQs customers awarded Ghost ‘n Goblins the highest average difficulty rating on this list (although just barely), and anyone who’s pitted themselves towards this notorious platformer would most likely absolutely assist that collective resolution. On this Capcom platformer from 1985, the participant steps into the (generally) armored footwear of Sir Arthur the knight. As can be anticipated of his heroic creed, Arthur is on a quest to rescue a princess from the clutches of a demon.
It’s a traditional platformer with scrolling ladder-climbing and precision jumps, which can even see gamers always throwing their projectiles to maintain foes at bay. Famously, there’s little or no room to make any mistake right here, as taking successful removes Arthur’s armor and leaves him very susceptible. With a view to succeed, gamers need to steadily study stage layouts, enemy spawns, and assault patterns. In these phrases, Ghosts ‘n Goblins is akin to a Mega Man title, although with a fantastical and macabre twist.
Battletoads
How Tough Is It: 9.0/10, GameFAQs Problem Ranking: 4.68/5
There aren’t many video games which have attained the sheer notoriety of Battletoads. First launching on the NES in 1991, it’s a title that lots of gamers of the time will remember playing, although battling all the best way to the tip was (and stays) a special prospect fully. It’s, in fact, a product of a time when platformers had been presupposed to be totally brutal (we’ve already talked about the Mega Man titles), and with its automobile ranges and different variations on the usual system, this was definitely one of many hardest of the bunch.
On the time of writing, Battletoads ranks because the third-most troublesome sport on How Tough Is It. Beneath its enjoyable cartoon exterior is a devious concoction of each problem the platformers of the period may throw at gamers: difficult icy terrain (the Arctic Caverns stage isn’t for the faint-hearted), enemies that may take appreciable punishment, tight routes by way of spiky hazards, and numerous different horrors await.
FromSoftware: Hardest Beast Soulsborne Bosses, Ranked
FromSoftware’s Soulsborne video games are recognized for his or her troublesome boss fights. The next eight animalistic beasts are amongst their hardest.
