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It Really Is That Hard, Embrace Frustration

Some games hold your hand and lead you forward with respect for your time and ability. This is lovely. There are some other games, though, that intentionally make the going tough.

These tough masters aren't afraid to let us lose progress, waste our time, or feel frustrated. In fact, they revel in their ability to take us to the very edge of throwing something.

This list includes 35 games from the last 21 years, with 380 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to deal with frustration.

List Details

PEGI Ratings: PEGI 3 to PEGI 16
ESRB Ratings: ESRB EVERYONE to ESRB MATURE 17+
Australian Ratings: G to MA 15+
Genres: Action, Adventure, Battle, Brain Game, Collecting, Communication, Creative, Dexterity, Fighting, Narrative, Physically Active, Platform, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Rhythm, Role-Play, Shooting, Simulation, Sports, Stealth, Strategy, Traversal and World Building
Total Likes: 380

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Release Date: 06/08/2020

Out Now: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

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Elden Ring

Release Date: 25/02/2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Day and Night, Open World and Weather

Elden Ring is a role-play game set in a fictional world created by fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin, with a focus on combat similar to Demon's Souls and an open world with real time and weather like Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Chariot

Release Date: 30/09/2014, updated in 2018

Out Now: PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Chariot is a co-op platform game where you haul around a wheeled Chariot, to the end of each level. Pushing, pulling or dragging with ropes, you need to use the real physics of the game to solve puzzles and time jumps to get the heavy object to the...

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy

Release Date: 06/11/2017

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy is a strange game about movement and momentum. You are tasked with climbing a mountain. However, your only means of locomotion is a hammer that can stick to objects and drag you forwards.

There Is No Game

Release Date: 06/10/2020

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension is a comedic adventure with a strange twist. From the outset the game’s narrator insists that there is no game to play. As you inevitably ignore his instruction you go on a journey through silly and unexpected video...

The Professional

Release Date: 31/12/2022

Out Now: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

The Professional is a traversal game where you attempt to steal a diamond from the museum with a wacky twist: you control each of your character's limbs individually. This makes even the simple goal of moving forward a challenging (and hilarious) task....

Octodad: Dadliest Catch

Release Date: 30/01/2014, updated in 2017

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Most games design their controls to be easy and accessible. Octodad: Dadliest Catch takes a different approach. Using a combination of sticks and buttons, it creates an awkward, stomach-churning feeling of having too many limbs that you can’t directly...

Jump King

Release Date: 03/05/2019

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Jump King is a high-stakes jumping game, where you control a character ascending a series of increasingly spread-out platforms. You can control how high each jump is by the length of your button press. This enables you to judge difficult and long jumps...

Silly Walks

Release Date: 07/08/2017

Out Now: Android and iOS

Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon and Hand-Made

Silly Walks is an adventure where you control household-objects by tapping the screen to get them to walk. Each tap switches legs so you can control their direction as well as their speed. It sounds simple but takes some considerable skill. The...

Demon's Souls

Demon's Souls (Series)

Release Date: 04/10/2011

Out Now: PS3 and PS5

Components: 3D Third-Person

Demons Souls is first a series of fighting and exploration games recently re-released on PlayStation 5. From third-person perspective you navigate interconnected locations while fighting enemies with weapons and magic. Larger boss enemy encounters...

Biped

Release Date: 01/07/2020

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Biped is an adventure game where two players closely collaboration to walk through levels, solve problems. It has unusual controls and friendly cute characters that make it great to share in the family.

Phogs

Release Date: 01/06/2020

Out Now: PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch and Xbox One

Coming Soon: Mac

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Cartoon

Phogs is a game where you control a stretchy dog that has a head at both ends of its body. It sounds a little strange but is actually an endearing adventure where, on your own or with another person, you control each end of the dog separately to explore...

QWOP

Release Date: 21/12/2010

Out Now: Mac, PC and Web

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

QWOP is a sports game with a difference. You have to control each limb of your virtual athlete. This changes it from a challenge of hitting buttons to using the touch screen or keyboard to deftly coordinate movement to gain forward motion. It's really...

Exhausted Man

Release Date: Coming soon

Coming Soon: PC

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Blocks

Exhausted Man is a puzzle game where you play an ordinary, but clinically exhausted, person who must complete everyday challenges, and earn a better life. The twist is that you have to do all this with your character lying down.

Pony Island

Release Date: 04/01/2016

Out Now: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Side-On

Pony Island is an adventure game where you are trapped in a computer by the Devil. You need to crash the computer to escape and stumble upon the Pony Island game that appears unstable. As you hack away at the game you uncover its corrupted code and your...

Spooky Chase

Release Date: 23/10/2020, updated in 2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Spooky Chase is a running, jumping game where you play a ghost collecting a series of flags. However, each route you take to a flag is then followed by enemies when you go after the next one. You play each level multiple times to collect each flag, but...

Tied Together

Release Date: 19/10/2018

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Tied Together is a platform game for two to four players tied together. Like a three-legged-race you have to co-ordinate how you move. But here you are negotiating jumps and enemies too. Any player can grab the ground and act as a fixed point for...

Hacknet

Release Date: 12/08/2015, updated in 2015

Out Now: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 16+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Hacknet is a simulation where you play a hacker completing missions and hacking into systems just by typing. Designed to be as close to real hacking as possible, you use actual commands and hacking tools to explore servers, chat rooms, and gain access...

Innocence Island

Release Date: 10/12/2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5 and Switch

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Open World

Innocence Island is an adventure game where find yourself in a strange land without even the memory of how to walk. You explore the world by observing and learning skills from the creatures around you. It stands out as a journey through a world where...

Salt and Sacrifice

Salt and Sacrifice (Series)

Release Date: 10/05/2022

Out Now: PC, PS Vita, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Hand-Made

Salt and Sacrifice (and its prequel Salt and Sanctuary) is an fighting adventure game that's intentionally difficult and dark. You play by exploring the side-on world, fighting enemies with swords and other weapons. It's a strange combination of cartoon...

Trombone Champ

Release Date: 16/09/2022

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Grid

Trombone Champ is a rhythm-action game where you play a trombone in time to on-screen directions. Play is unlike other music games, because you can play a trombone note at any time and the focus is on fun musicality rather than accuracy. It stands out...

Goop Loop

Release Date: 21/07/2021

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

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Bayonetta 3

Bayonetta 3 (Series)

Release Date: 29/10/2009, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Bayonetta 3 is the latest fighting game in the Bayonetta franchise, where you use fantastical guns and outlandish attacks to defeat monsters and hordes of enemies in fast-paced combat. As you move through the stages, you attack enemies with your wide...

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Release Date: 11/04/2017, updated in 2017

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

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Robotry

Release Date: 26/10/2022

Out Now: PC, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

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Tharsis

Release Date: 12/01/2016, updated in 2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4 and Switch

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Dice and Grid

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I Am Fish

Release Date: 16/09/2021

Out Now: PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

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Risk of Rain

Risk of Rain (Series)

Release Date: 08/11/2014, updated in 2018

Out Now: Mac, PC and PS Vita

Coming Soon: PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Risk of Rain is a running, jumping and fighting game where you defeat hordes of monsters and the difficulty steadily increases the longer you survive as you try to scavenge the parts to make a way back home. When you die, you start over but do keep some...

Soundodger 2

Soundodger 2 (Series)

Release Date: 11/10/2013, updated in 2021

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Soundodger 2 is a rhythm game where you move a small circle to avoid obstacles to the rhythm of the music. While it's a simple concept, the variety of deadly obstacles, the speed, and the precision needed (not to mention the extra game modes and...

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter

Release Date: 19/11/2002, updated in 2015

Out Now: GameCube, PS2, PS3 and PS4

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a running, jumping and shooting game where you play a ruthless bounty hunter on a galaxy-spanning mission to track down and capture a rogue force-wielder. As you infiltrate secret bases, factories, and prisons you must fight...

Super Pole Riders

Release Date: 11/06/2013

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS3 and PS4

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

A cross between the high jump, jousting and basketball, Super Pole Riders is a simple game where four players must get a ball hanging from a wire to the opponent’s goal using long poles. It’s the controls that make this game so much of a giggle to...

The Gardener and the Wild Vines

Release Date: 09/09/2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

The Gardener and the Wild Vines is a running, jumping and climbing game where you use flowers growing and vines to propel yourself to the top of a tower. It's a tough game with a focus on skill, but keeps things visually light and breezy. A game that...

Battle Princess Madelyn

Release Date: 05/12/2018, updated in 2020

Out Now: PC, PS Vita, PS4, Switch, Wii U and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Battle Princess Madelyn is a running and jumping game where you defeat hordes of enemies like the classic arcade game Ghosts 'n' Goblins. It's similarly fast-paced and difficult, here though you have to pick your way through labyrinthine levels, and use...

360 Degrees

Release Date: 13/03/2022

Out Now: PC and Web

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

360 Degrees is a sports game where you play a skateboarding bunny. Using only the mouse, you perform tricks, grinds, and jumps as you knock over bins to cause havoc and score points in the streets of Melbourne. It combines these unique controls with...

Ecstatic

Release Date: 14/06/2022

Coming Soon: PC

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Ecstatic is a fast and hard retro shooting game where you control a mechanical Spider that freezes time and shoots rockets. You need to both keep moving and keep shooting to stay alive. It's like what are sometimes described as bullet-hell games,...

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User-generated content:	No
Accessibility features:	Yes

Controls
Gamepad:
Mouse And Keyboard:
Touchscreen:
Motion:	Motion Aiming Motion Pointing Motion Tilting Motion Gesture Motion Camera
Remap Controls:
Button Combinations:	Holding Down Buttons Optional Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional No Simultaneous Buttons
Controller Vibration:
Sensitivity:

Getting Started
Onboarding Before Play:
Assistance Getting Starting:	Tutorials Practice Area View Control Mapping Assistance With Controls Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Adjust Speed No Jump Scares
Assistance For Progressing:	Guaranteed Progress With God Mode Bank Progress With Frequent Checkpoints Assisted Progress With Boosts Assisted Progress With Hints Assisted Recall for Characters Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue Save Progress Anytime

Reading
Reading Level:
Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text High Contrast Text
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Visual
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	Motion Sickness Friendly
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Violence:

Audio
	Balance Audio Levels
Audio Events:
	Play Without Hearing

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Difficulty
Difficulty Options:	Simple and Full Version No Memorisation Advantage No Hidden Information No Deceit Advantage No Colour Advantage No Mathematics Advantage No Weighing Decisions

Getting Started
Assistance Getting Started:	Clear Manual Electronic Version of Manual Electronic Version of Manual for Screen Readers Getting Started Video Digital Version Reference Aid
Assistance Progressing:	Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change) Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Low Impact Catch Up Rule

Reading
Reading Level:
Necessary Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required) Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required) High Contrast Text (Or no text required) QR Code For Text (Or no text required) Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required) Information Orientation Clear Icons

Physical
Pieces:	Components are Distinguishable by Touch Components are Replaceable No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice) No Tiny Pieces No Paper Money No Sprawl
Cards:	Large Card Size Standard Card Shape Limited Hand Management No Excessive Card Shuffling No Right-Handed Advantage
Placement:	No Unbound Placement Player Components Not Shared No Fiddly Placement Easily Verbalised Actions

Visual
Printed Visibility:	Colour Blind Friendly Design Double-Coding Colour High Contrast Colours
Component Identifiability:	Outline Key Elements No Busy Backgrounds Easily Verbalised Game State No Close Inspection Disadvantage Playable Without Sight

Audio
Communication:	Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) No Pressured Reveals No Pressured Communication Playable Without Hearing

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It Really Is That Hard, Embrace Frustration

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