10 Video Games Only The Most Skilled Players Can Handle
Unless you're going to put the time in, just give up.
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00:00Go back 30-odd years and analyse the gaming landscape, and you'll find home consoles
00:04trying to find their place amongst a consumer base unsure of whether a night's entertainment
00:08could be anything other than TV and film, arcades chock-full of experiences that bring
00:13social circles together, and a general sentiment that video games took practice, effort and
00:18dedication to play, understand and appreciate.
00:22This mentality is still felt today, but the industry itself has demonstrably changed.
00:26That said, while there's plenty of games that have gotten a lot easier, that doesn't
00:29mean that there aren't challenges out there for extraordinarily skilled players.
00:33I'm Jess from WhatCulture, and here are 10 video games only the most skilled players
00:38can handle.
00:3910.
00:40Kerbal Space Program
00:41You know all those people that end any discussion on a faux-complex topic with, it's not rocket
00:46science?
00:47Well, Kerbal Space Program is rocket science, and it's absolutely phenomenal.
00:52An unabashedly complex, unforgiving toolbox of ship components, physics interactions and
00:57rocket propellant, you're tasked with everything from achieving spaceflight, to maintaining
01:01velocity, landing on a number of planets, to even just not imploding in midair.
01:069.
01:07Steel Battalion
01:08The game that shipped with an entire mech cockpit to go alongside, Steel Battalion is
01:13damn fun and an all-round immersive experience like nothing else, provided you can get your
01:18head around literally driving a robot.
01:21Nintendo Labo's robot kit This Ain't has everything from ignition switches to joysticks,
01:26from multiple accelerator and brake pedals to levers all play a part in manoeuvrability.
01:32Add combat and quick reactions to the mix when the game's later levels kick in, and
01:36unless you've become one with your mech and can pivot, return fire and dodge accordingly,
01:41you are toast.
01:42It's really something when even getting your head around a game's controller is the opening
01:46slog.
01:478.
01:48Dark Souls and Bloodborne
01:49The obvious choice for anything like this, for as much as there's always an army of people
01:53who'll spring out either to proclaim that the Soulsborne games aren't really hard,
01:57let's just say they're wrong and move on.
01:59What FromSoftware perfected with their mix of restricted player movement, agile enemies
02:04and animation-prioritizing attacks, was an ethos behind gameplay that demands you re-approach
02:09everything you think you know about action games.
02:11It's absolutely the case that you can become one with this unique ebb and flow, whether
02:16you're playing Dark Souls, Bloodborne or Elden Ring.
02:19Such a sense of synergy is why millions of people proclaim Soulsborne titles as the best
02:23of the best, but overcoming that wall of progress really does take time, patience and
02:28perseverance.
02:297.
02:30Nioh
02:31Carrying on from where Dark Souls and Bloodborne left off, Team Ninja's Nioh was actually in
02:36development for a decade, yet emerged as a spiritual successor to everything FromSoftware
02:41pioneered.
02:42Where once we had belabored movements and a focus on positioning as you approached each
02:46encounter like a chess match, now a faster game engine means you can leap into a number
02:51of frays in quick succession, swapping stances, using items, drinking the game in at a far
02:57steadier pace than anything that came before.
02:59Team Ninja knew that speeding up Souls-like combat could make gameplay excruciatingly
03:03hard if they got it wrong, and it took two separate public alpha and beta demos to refine
03:08everything just right.
03:10These earlier looks into Nioh were only surmountable by gaming's most diehard masochists, feeding
03:15into a final product whose difficulty is as razor-sharp as its visuals are gorgeous to
03:20take in.
03:216.
03:22Super Meat Boy
03:23A game whose reputation tends to precede it, only 0.15% of all gamers on Sony systems have
03:29managed to unlock every last trophy in the game, not to mention how PC and Xbox players
03:34are getting on.
03:35Still, Team Meat's pixel-perfect platformer is one of the most initially accessible, charming
03:40and lovable games of them all.
03:41It invites a sense of playability that belies just how meticulously schooled in its physics
03:46you'll have to be to survive the later levels.
03:49Even the opening stages will best the majority of players, combining skin-of-your-teeth leaps
03:53over buzz-saws and reverse-momentum jumps in mid-air to clear some very intimidating
03:58runs.
03:59Super Meat Boy is very much for the elite old-school gamer, they who shall not smash
04:03the pad no matter how unfair the action on screen can get or feel.
04:075.
04:08Arma 3
04:09There are military-precision shooters, and then there's Arma 3.
04:13Initially born from the desire to make a 3D shooter that carried with it as many aspects
04:17of realism as possible, the franchise quickly developed a hardcore community that reveled
04:22in guns, attachments, bullet drop, camouflage and everything else you can think of that
04:27replicates a real-world combat scenario.
04:29By the time Arma 3 rolled around, developers Bohemia Interactive were completely entrenched
04:34in creating AI scripts and missions that'd challenge a fanbase already hungry to have
04:39their abilities pushed to the brink.
04:41The result was a game that, to this day, is mired by, is it too hard or is it just right?
04:47But no matter which way you slice it, getting comfortable with Arma 3 means putting a lot
04:51of time in.
04:524.
04:53Cuphead
04:54A gorgeous, stupidly beautiful game that was perhaps just a smidge too hard for its own
04:58good.
04:59You need only look at the achievement data to see just how far the average player progressed.
05:03It turns out, to the surprise of no one, only 15% of all players actually finished the game
05:08on normal.
05:10A slightly bigger 20% made it to the final aisle where the game's toughest bosses reside,
05:15but even the first and second aisle completions were 65% and 32% respectively.
05:21Back to the game itself, and Cuphead prides itself on having a brutally old-school mentality.
05:26Checkpoints are rationed out to the extreme, and overcoming any boss requires a solid half-hour
05:31of memorizing every attack that'll come your way before you can ultimately turn the tables
05:36at every last second.
05:383.
05:39Dota 2
05:40King of the MOBAs, Ruiner of Lives, and Lord Master of Reducing Everyday Working Individuals
05:46to Sundodging Husks, Dota is the perfect example of a game whose most interesting aspects get
05:50teased up front, but its learning curve will dominate your life thereafter.
05:55Picking the perfect combination of characters, abilities, and group strategies is arguably
06:00impossible, with each setup being balanced and workable in what feels like an infinite
06:04amount of ways.
06:05Though gameplay boils down to overcoming enemy forces and taking over checkpoints, the minute-to-minute
06:10gameplay of Dota is so enthralling and complex, it was one of the first games of its kind
06:15to become an eSport, attracting millions of viewers to this day.
06:19Getting into Dota is less a hobby or casual pursuit as it is a career, something you can
06:24seldom say about the vast majority of titles on the market.
06:272.
06:28Rainbow Six Siege
06:30It might have launched in a state more befitting an alpha test, but Rainbow Six Siege has blossomed
06:35into quite possibly the most tactile FPS on the market, where Call of Duty focuses on
06:40reaction times and battlefield playing the long game, Siege's mix of ability-equipped
06:45operators and maps riddled with scores of insertion methods is in a league all of its
06:49own.
06:50Destructible scenery means grabbing hostages or taking out opponents can be done from literally
06:54any angle, encouraging fortification and stealth takedowns as much as exploring or map learning.
07:00The result is simply a shooter that exceeds in pure tactics, something that will have
07:04your expectations for breakfast first time around, but slowly lets you become the master
07:09over a considerable amount of time.
07:111.
07:12Any Call of Duty Multiplayer
07:14Speaking of Call of Duty being the game to test your reaction times, if you're not
07:18in that top percentile of those who can draw a gun or move within fractions of a second
07:23of seeing an opponent, good luck.
07:25Notably, COD has become so popular for those exchanges where you've just missed out on
07:29firing a shot, ensuring that to gain the upper hand you'll have to be forever wide-eyed,
07:34putting as much time as possible into returning fire, and having a few contingency strategies
07:39if you make it out alive.
07:41Dropped grenades that can kill from beyond the grave, quick-fire aiming attachments and
07:45drawing your sidearm to finish a foe before they do you, Call of Duty is the pristine,
07:50billion-dollar equivalent of physical athletic competition made digital.
07:54That's the end of our list, but let me know down in the comments what you think are the
07:58best video games only the most skilled players will be able to handle.
08:03As always, I've been Jess from War Culture, thanks so much for hanging out with me.
08:06If you like you can come say hi to me on my Twitter account where I'm at JessMcDonald,
08:11but make sure you stay tuned to us here for plenty more gaming goodness.