There are people who thrive under pressure. For gamers, sometimes this means a giant monster breathing down their neck with the potential of one-shotting them into oblivion. The PlayStation console has been home for a number of rather difficult and challenging titles over the years, and considering we are nearing the next generation, it is time to look at the hardest PlayStation 4 games of all time. If you are a fan of struggling, you need to play these before PlayStation 5 comes out.
Bloodborne
I believe it is incredibly fitting for us to kick off a list of the hardest PS4 games out there with a FromSoftware title. Bloodborne launched in 2015 as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, letting players explore Yharnam, a city filled with deadly monsters and ruled over by the shadowy Healing Church. Bloodborne is relentlessness from the get-go. The moment you open your eyes, a monster bursts out of the floor and you are confronted with your first challenge.
You are bound to enjoy a spectacular and unforgettable experience. Not just because of Bloodborne’s mesmerizing visuals and stunning world filled with lore in every corner, but because of its intriguing character design and engaging combat. Enemies are unique and oblige you to approach each differently. The title isn’t for the faint of heart, but you are bound to enjoy it once you defeat a boss after the 543th try.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
One of the most recent releases on the list, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a title that leaves you speechless once you are done with it, for two reasons. The first is the game’s beautiful visuals and rich world design. The second is because it took you ages to beat that you don’t actually believe you reached the end.
Similar to Bloodborne, Sekiro comes from legendary studio FromSoftware, known for their challenging Dark Souls franchise. This definitely contributed to the expectations fans set for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice prior to its release, and its safe to say the title met and perhaps even exceeded them. Either way, Sekiro is one of the hardest PlayStation 4 games to date.
Cuphead
Although on the surface it doesn’t look as serious and challenging as the previous two entries on this list, Cuphead definitely deserves a spot on this list and anyone who has tried it knows it. It takes players back to the 1930s cartoon style and teaches them a lesson in how video games are played. The side-scrolling run and gun video game developed by StudioMDHR released in 2017, and finally came to PS4 just earlier last month on July 28.
Cuphead puts you in continual boss fights, and they are seriously tough. The only merciful feature the title has is giving you infinite lives and letting you keep all the equipment you have between deaths. However, you probably guessed why they added that. It’s because it won’t be long till you lose count of how many times you died. Those among us not blessed with infinite patience might throw in the towel after getting slapped to death for the 400th time.
Remnant: From The Ashes
Indie developer Gunfire Games released their action role-playing third person title, Remnant: From the Ashes, back in August last year and it immediately took the world by storm. The title has many unique features and a memorable style, and there’s enough going on to keep you playing for hours on end.
Remnant: From the Ashes doesn’t punish you for every wrong move in its earlier stages. However, once you get going and the game is sure you are familiarized with all its mechanics, the nightmare starts.
What puts Remnant: From the Ashes on the list of hardest PlayStation 4 games is its randomly generated world, which guarantees every player gets a different experience and a new playthrough. That means you can’t just cheese your way through memorized encounters.
Darkest Dungeon
Red Hook Studios’ gothic role-playing dungeon crawler, Darkest Dungeon, lets you control a group of heroes and explore dungeons beneath a cursed mansion. The game puts you in difficult situations constantly, and its distinctive mix of real-time and turn-based combat forces you to make tactical decisions with every encounter. Otherwise you are doomed.
Part of the difficulty comes from managing your flawed, desperate characters. There are 28 heroes available for you to recruit, split across the 15 character classes, which gives enough room to assemble a team with a complementary skillset and abilities.
Darkest Dungeon definitely qualifies as one of the hardest PlayStation 4 games, and it is also the only dungeon crawler on the list.
Nioh 2
Nioh 2 acts as a prequel to 2017’s Team Ninja action role-playing game, but it takes everything the first one did right and builds upon it. Set in the late 1500s Japan, it lets you wield classic weapons from the era, like the odachi and kusarigama. This adds a historic flavor to combat, and a new dynamic to how you approach enemies and bosses.
Similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the world is mesmerizing, and the opposition is relentless. Nioh 2 actually tests your mental fortitude in how many times it can bring you down before you realize the small changes you need to make to your playstyle before everything works out.
There are definitely more challenging titles available on the market, but this is our own curated list of the hardest PlayStation 4 games to get you started. Considering we are nearing the next generation of consoles, it is inevitable we are going to get more extremely difficult games for the PlayStation 5, so prepare well and don’t rage quit when things get too tough.
Let us know what is the hardest PlayStation 4 game you have played so far in the comments below!
