Summary
- RPGs like Kingdom Come: Deliverance can be punishing, starting players off with limited skills and saving opportunities.
- Bloodborne’s fast-paced combat is challenging but fair, requiring players to master aggressive strategies.
- Games like Divinity: Original Sin 2 feature tough battles with smart enemy AI, punishing mistakes severely.
Role-playing games are all the rage in modern times. The amazing sense of progression attained from these games makes it a blast to acquire experience and eventually invest in the player-characters’ skills to make them stronger than ever.
Some of the best RPGs that players can get their hands on are also very punishing, especially when people have barely begun. A single mistake can have dire consequences for players as they’re beaten to a pulp by their enemies, forcing them to try again in the hopes of succeeding this time around.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
The Beginning Of This Game Is Brutal
Kingdom Come: Deliverance can be very rough on people early on. Henry is just the son of a blacksmith, and it’s only natural that he wouldn’t have the skills needed to survive in such a savage medieval world.
This makes early encounters against basic bandits a nightmare to deal with, with the limited saves making players tear their hair out whenever they lose progress. While Henry will eventually become competent enough to tackle tougher challenges, the early hours are rough and will force players to play it safe if they don’t want to be brutally murdered by a group of lowly ruffians who overpower Henry with sheer numbers.
Bloodborne
The Fast-Paced Combat Is Unforgiving And Takes A While To Get Used To
As punishing as Bloodborne is, it’s also a very fair game where every death is the player’s fault. The aggressiveness of the game’s combat system is something that takes a while to get used to, especially for players who were used to playing it safe in Dark Souls.
Instead, players must get up close and personal with bosses, peppering them with attacks while dodging and countershotting at opportune intervals. It takes a while to master this game’s mechanics, with some of the bosses being especially hard to take on in battle.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
The Addition Of Physical And Magical Armour Makes Every Battle A Nerve-Wracking Encounter
Old-school CRPGs were pretty challenging, and this is something that can be felt in Divinity: Original Sin 2. The first game was hard in its own right but still afforded some ways for players to game the system and make things easier.
However, the addition of Physical and Magical Armor means that players can’t rely on RNG anymore. They must deplete this resource on enemies while ensuring that their party members are wearing the best equipment, with a single mistake in combat being punished by the smart enemy AI that knows how to target a player’s weak link and make them pay.
UnderRail
An Old-School CRPG That’s Extremely Tough
Players who loved the CRPG Fallout games and want to check out a modern role-playing game in the same vein will find UnderRail to be right up their alley. As one would expect, the combat in this game is tough and punishes players who don’t understand how the game systems work.
UnderRail is also a game where straying from the beaten path can be absolutely deadly for players who aren’t strong enough. Players must min-max their skills and figure out the optimal way to get past challenging combat encounters if they don’t want to be torn to shreds.
Pathologic 2
A Challenging Survival Horror Game Where Death Leads To Debuffs That Can Accumulate And Make Things Harder
Pathologic 2 is one of the most unique open-world games players can check out. The eerie atmosphere, bizarre characters, and surreal narrative will stick with players as long as they don’t get frustrated by the game’s punishing difficulty.
One of the hardest things to deal with in Pathologic 2 is how death incurs a permanent debuff, making another run even harder to deal with. While players have the option of removing these debuffs after eight deaths, it comes at the cost of them being locked out of a game’s ending, which is extremely punishing and may not sit right with most players.
Darkest Dungeon
The Poster Child Of Punishing RPGs
Players love Darkest Dungeon for its crushing difficulty, which also happens to be one of its most divisive elements. As long as players don’t mind repeating areas and adopting a conservative strategy when exploring dungeons, they should be able to deal with the game’s brutal difficulty curve.
However, it can’t be stressed enough just how punishing Darkest Dungeon can be if players make a single mistake. Their best mercenaries either die or get crippling mental conditions and they end up taking two steps back in their progress as they have to build up a reliable party again, which can become rather irritating to deal with after a point.
Fear & Hunger
Players Must Get Used To Dying In This Hardcore Experience That Takes No Prisoners
Fear & Hunger is a game that players must approach with the right mindset. Death is a guarantee in this game and is something players must prepare for, no matter how excellent their run is.
It’s heartbreaking for players to lose out on a promising run when the Crow Mauler arrives out of nowhere, but this punishment is what fuels players to power through the Fear & Hunger experience. Eventually, players will love the feeling of satisfaction they get from conquering a hurdle they were struggling in, slowly learning how the game works as they get past its numerous daunting challenges.
