5 Hardest PS3 Games Ever

The PlayStation 3 might’ve struggled out of the gate due to Sony’s aggressive price point and relatively tone-deaf marketing; however, that didn’t last long. Despite the Xbox 360 getting a big lead out of the gate, the PS3 eventually caught back up, thanks in part to some of its great games. While developers weren’t as interested in pounding players’ heads into the ground with difficulty as they were in the ’90s, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few worthy challenges on the system.

Here are the five most difficult PlayStation 3 games ever.

5) Hard Corps: Uprising

Hard Corps: Uprising is the thirteenth game in the Contra series. It’s also a prequel to Contra: Hard Corps, which is generally seen as the hardest game in the long-running franchise. That’s impressive because Contra, as a series, is well-known for its punishing difficulty. The gameplay has a few fun twists, the stages are gorgeous, and you can easily hop into co-op gameplay with a buddy. Dying together is much more fun than dying on your own, after all.

Uprising takes that trademark difficulty and brings it to modern platforms. Developer Arc System Works knew Konami’s classic gameplay would be a challenge, so they included a second mode to make things a bit easier. Almost anyone can conquer Rising mode, thanks to its vast upgrade system. However, true Contra fans will want to try out Arcade mode, which strips all of those upgrades out to make something much more like the original Hard Corps.

4) Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a total shift away from what Metal Gear fans expect. Instead of a tactical simulation with a story featuring hundreds of proper nouns, developer PlatinumGames gave fans a stylish hack-and-slash game with a story featuring hundreds of proper nouns. You can get the Metal Gear out of a Hideo Kojima game, but you can’t get the Kojima out of a Metal Gear game. Despite the genre shift, Revengeance stars a familiar face in Raiden, who has become a master swordsman ready to take down any PMC that stands in his way.

Revengeance‘s boss fights, in particular, feel nearly impossible the first time you test your might. However, this is an offense-heavy game, which means you’ll need to master your parrying. You can make it a bit easier on Easy Mode, thanks to assists like auto-direction on parrying, but if you want to take down Revengeance in all its glory, you’ll need to do so on the hardest difficulty. That means faster, tougher enemies and nearly zero room for error. Good luck.

3) Vanquish

Vanquish is another gem from the team at PlatinumGames. This time, the team, which was led by Resident Evil legend Shinji Mikami for this project, decided to make a third-person shooter. They did it with their trademark style, giving shooter fans one of the slickest bits of gameplay they’ve ever seen. At most difficulties, Vanquish isn’t that bad. Sure, the moments of bullet hell can be tough to navigate, but most players can finish Vanquish at its base difficulty.

That all takes a turn when you jump into God Hard difficulty. Not only are the enemies more resilient, faster, and stronger, but also, your gear no longer levels up when you die. You’re going to die a lot, potentially hundreds of times. It almost feels like a joke from the developers to see who would be silly enough to try to beat something that is literally impossible. Of course, it’s not actually quite that hard, but when your face slams into the dirt for the hundredth time, you’ll feel like it’s true.

2) Demon’s Souls

Demon’s Souls is FromSoftware’s first true Souls game. Sure, the developer’s King’s Field series shares some similar DNA to its genre-defining series, but Demon’s Souls is where FromSoft finally started to figure out how to make this into a fan-favorite genre. Like any good Souls game, Demon’s Souls is punishingly difficult, requiring patience and near-perfect timing.

You will die countless times before you learn all of the lessons Demon’s Souls is trying to teach you. And it’s not just high-powered bosses that will ruin your day. Normal enemies can be challenging in their own right, and FromSoft loves to troll its players with diabolical traps. The series has come a long way from the roots of Demon’s Souls, but you can still trace many of the things fans love about FromSoft’s modern efforts to this 2009 classic.

1) Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Unfortunately, PlayStation 3 owners didn’t get to experience Ninja Gaiden or Ninja Gaiden 2 in their natural states. Instead, they had to wait for the Sigma editions, which are still difficult, but don’t quite top the originals. Part of that comes down to the changes made to improve the visual fidelity. This made the game look a little better, but sacrificed the number of on-screen enemies, lessening the difficulty in places.

Between Sigma and Sigma 2, the first game is much closer to the original vision. Sigma 2 is a fine game, but you’ll immediately notice how empty some of the stages feel compared to the original. Sigma also includes a few additions to make the gameplay more player-friendly, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a monster. That’s doubly true when you jump into the greater difficulties, where Ninja Gaiden truly shines.

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