The 10 hardest challenges in video games

Challenges and achievements have become an integral part of everyday gaming. Whether you just get rare loot or kill a difficult boss: usually the whole thing is rewarded with an achievement. Sometimes, however, those very achievements drive you crazy and you really sink your teeth into them. Here are the 10 most difficult challenges in video games. Have fun!

10. Impossible Boy (Super Meat Boy)

Our list starts with the Impossible Boy challenge from the classic jump n run game Super Meat Boy. To complete this challenge, you’ll have to steer Bandage Girl through the difficult version of Cotton Alley, the Dark World. The highlight of the game is that you can’t die once in the process. Nerves of steel are required here, because Super Meat Boy itself is quite a challenging game, even for experienced gamers. Defying the numerous obstacles, jumps, lasers and chainsaws and getting through the stage consisting of 20 levels flawlessly requires an enormous amount of skill, timing and stamina. This challenge can drive even the best players to despair. If you die along the way, the hellish journey starts all over again.

9. Mile High Club (CoD Modern Warfare)

Probably the hardest challenge from the Call of Duty series comes from the title Modern Warfare from 2007. Playing through the game on the highest difficulty level “Veteran” demands a lot from first-person shooter fans. This is especially noticeable in the mission “Mile High Club”. In this scenario, you have to rescue a hostage from a flying plane in under a minute. Thus, you’ll have to run through narrow airplane corridors and check all the corners, at a breathtaking pace. Especially on the veteran difficulty, a few hits are usually enough to send you to kingdom come. Speed and attention in equal measure are the keys to success here.

8. Bubble of Steel (Rock Band 2)

The music video game Rock Band 2 is a must for gamers who like to swap the controller for an electric guitar. The following achievement in the game from 2008 really demands everything from you. Extreme skill, an incredible amount of stamina, and a day off when you really do nothing else are required. Because for the challenge “Bubble of Steel” you have to play all the songs from the game in a row. The whole thing has to be done without a break, and you can’t miss a beat on your controller guitar. This rock marathon can take up to 6 hours. It’s best to have some snacks ready and pray that your bladder can handle the whole thing.

7. Königshopser (Final Fantasy 9)

Our next Achievement takes us to the world of Final Fantasy 9. The role-playing game, released in 2000, has quite a few tricky challenges in store. The following one is probably the easiest in terms of understanding, but it requires the utmost concentration for almost 10 minutes. All you have to do is jump some rope. But that’s not all. You have to jump the rope 1000 times with your character without making a single mistake. If you don’t get the timing right, you’ll have to start all over again. It gets especially tricky after a while because the rope gets faster and faster and the distances in which you have to jump get narrower and thus more complicated. If you manage to jump the rope 1000 times in a row, the challenge “Königshopser” is waiting for you.

6. 90-Day Streak (World of Guns)

The next Achievement on our list comes from the puzzle game “World of Guns”. The goal of the game from 2013 is to disassemble weapons and later reassemble them in the correct order. A real memory challenge that can be mastered with a lot of practice. For the “90-Day Streak” challenge, however, you have to complete the whole thing 90 days in a row. For this you have to assemble a new weapon every day and must not make any mistakes, otherwise, the streak will start again from day 1. It’s not done with just a few steps. Every little screw, every bolt, and every attachment must be assembled in perfect order to complete the challenge. The weapons also vary from handguns to rifles to mortar rounds. A true challenge for real tinkerers.

5. Messiah (Outlast 2)

If you want to play through the survival horror classic Outlast 2 to 100%, this challenge is sure to drive you crazy in the truest sense of the word. The Messiah challenge requires you to play through the story on the Madness difficulty level. This means that enemies will become much faster and will be able to see you from a greater distance. Also, there are no checkpoints and you only have one life. As if all that wasn’t enough, you’ll have to manage the whole thing without changing the camera’s battery. To understand, the camera serves as a flashlight in some parts of the game, in order to manage dark passages. So you’ll have to rely almost exclusively on natural light, which is quite rare in Outlast 2. Several runs on an easier difficulty are therefore recommended to master this achievement.

4. I see many kilometers…per hour (Surgeon Simulator)

The next challenge can be relatively quick if the controls don’t throw a wrench in the works. In Surgeon Simulator you’ll take on the role of a surgeon and have to keep your patients alive by performing operations. For the trophy “I see many kilometers per hour” you’ll have to perform an eye transplant, and do it in under 2 minutes and 10 seconds. By the way, the whole thing doesn’t take place in a quiet operating room, but in a speeding and swaying ambulance. The controls turn out to be even more restless and chaotic than they already are due to the ride. So the challenge is only something for true master surgeons. A lot of patience and intuition is required to make the operation a success, and even then time can spoil it for you.

3. World Wanderer (WoW)

The World Wanderer achievement in World of Warcraft sends you on a journey through the entire world of Azeroth and beyond. To snag the title of “Explorer,” you’ll not only have to explore every region of the Eastern Kingdom, Kalimdor, Northrend, and so on, but you’ll also have to go through every region from the expansion packs to the last meter. And when the next WoW expansion comes, you can be sure that you will have to traverse those regions as well. So it gets harder and harder to complete the challenge the longer you wait.

2. My Life (Wolfenstein 2 New Colossus)

The following challenge from Wolfenstein 2 New Colossus is really only for the hardcore. You’ll have to complete the game on the hardest difficulty level, “My Life”. And as the name suggests, you’ll have to complete the game without dying. Once you’re dead, you’ll have to start over. You can’t save during this challenge either, so you’ll have to complete this long trip to hell on a day off. Long in this case means about 10 hours of average playtime. Why this is so hard, especially in Wolfenstein: While in Call of Duty you regenerate life over and over again, in Wolfenstein you can only do this if you find life energy and armor in the levels. Every firefight thus becomes a fight for life and death.

1. Mr. Perfect (Mega Man 10)

First place on our list goes to the “Mr. Perfect” challenge from Mega Man 10. How do you top the challenges of not dying once? Quite simply, by not allowing players to get hit at all. Anyone familiar with the Mega Man series knows that even the biggest fans have respect for the action platformer. While you can play the game on the easiest difficulty for achievement, a perfect run without getting hit is nothing short of miraculous. Jumps, projectiles, and tough boss fights don’t exactly make life easy for you. A playthrough of Mega Man 10 only takes about an hour. However, you can’t afford to make any mistakes in this hour, which is why the Mr. Perfect Achievement has deservedly landed at number 1 on our list.