A lot of players prefer their games to come with a hefty dose of power fantasy and overpowered gameplay, but there are others who easily get bored if things don't downright make them want to pluck their hair off. It could be obscure puzzles that take hours to solve, impossible platformers where timing is everything, or even a classic Soulsborne game where every odd is stacked against you while fighting against a gigantic boss that could one-shot you in a breath. Whatever it is, that's what appeals to hardcore gamers.
It's not just the general difficulty of the game that's important, but how players get initiated to it. A lot of relatively easy games can feel insurmountable if the tutorial just isn't there. On the other hand, you have incredibly tough games that, on top of having worlds where you're little more than an expendable speck of dust, also drop you in without explaining too much. Here are some of those gems of gaming, and why they're actually perfect just the way they are.
Green Hell
The Tutorial Section Barely Scratches The Surface
Green Hell is often cited as one of the hardest survival games out there. You're dropped into the Amazonian rainforest, and after a brief tutorial section with your girlfriend, you're stranded without supplies, alone and likely a bit afraid. You have no idea where to go, what to do, or how to get all the necessities you need to keep going.
The tutorial only explains the basics of certain plants, crafting a few must-have things like a campfire, and how to tend to your wounds. Beyond that, you kind of just have to go with trial and error, and this game is brutal for that. Simply sleeping on the ground if you fail to make a proper shelter ASAP can get you parasites, and that's without going into venomous wildlife, the local tribe, and the predators stalking the bushes. However, it all perfectly works for a game like Green Hell, by plunging the player into a similar unknown that the protagonist is going through.
Tunic
Cute, But Dangerous—And You're On Your Own
Tunic might look all cute and adorable on the surface, but this game is absolutely one that will frustrate you to no end if you don't know what you're getting yourself into. People praise it for being a throwback to old-school games that typically would also refuse to explain anything, forcing you to figure everything out on your own before giving up and buying a video game magazine with a guide in it.
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The puzzles in this game are fairly obscure, and it's an experience that really does push you to figure everything in the world out on your own. Check every location, interact with everything... Tunic doesn't give you any shortcuts, and we love it for the steep challenge that respects your intellect.
Rain World
Beautifully Confusing And Frustrating
Another incredibly frustrating experience with a deceptively charming art style is Rain World. It's another game where you're sort of plopped in without too much explanation, and you need to platform your way through a harsh environment where everything seemingly wants to kill you at every turn.
However, if you dedicate some time to getting used to the controls and thoroughly exploring the strange world as an adorable slugcat, you'll be rewarded with a touching story and some incredible lore, making all the suffering and learning 200% worth it. It's not for the faint of heart and will require a bit of platforming practice, for sure.
Don't Starve Together
Good Luck Playing Without A Wiki
Don't Starve Together is like the gothic, emo older brother of Minecraft. You're given barely any information as you're put into an open-world environment where your only mission is to survive. The world comes with its fair share of biomes and resources, but it also has dangers beyond belief and a darkness that will consume your sanity.
Surviving its grueling environment, let alone getting past winter, is a challenge that will probably force you to search for a few guides and wiki entries before you understand what everything does and what your priority should be. However, just like with Minecraft, that's kind of the charm with these types of games: discovery of the unknown, trial and error.
STALKER Series
You Learn To Survive The Zone as You Go
STALKER games are famous for being incredibly tough FPS experiences. Dropped into the Zone, where other stalkers like you wander among warring factions, mutants, and dangerous anomalies, every step you take can lead to death. The enemies feel overwhelmingly better prepared and more powerful than you, and there's very little guidance.
You kind of just have to survive and manage with extremely limited resources. It's a welcome change from many other FPS games where you're showered with powerful, shiny loot. Here, you don't have skill trees or power fantasies; just your wits, and honestly, the franchise is better for it. It lets you test your might and cunning in a way few other games do.
Outward
The Tutorial Is Just A Taste Of What's To Come
On to more fantasy stuff, Outward doesn't set you up with much, even with its tutorial section. It does go through a few important gameplay details that will at least get you started, but the game has a ton of unspoken rules and nuance that are only really learned "on the job." One of the biggest ones is how the game handles death, and what might happen if you die, and your body is transported far from where you left off.
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Since you tend to remove your backpack when you fight dangerous enemies, you might have to cross a huge terrain before you get back to your things. Sometimes, that's impossible. With survival gameplay thrown into the mix, too, it's a pretty unique and challenging fantasy experience where nobody holds your hand, and you're most definitely not the Last Dragonborn. That said, it's what makes this game so great and unique, and why Outward 2 is such an anticipated game for 2026.
Noita
You Die, You Learn, And You Start Again
Another game where I implore you not to be tricked by the charming art style, Noita is one of the most brutal video games out there. Nolla Games definitely delivered an experience unlike any other by choosing to just drop players in completely blind. No explanation. No big tutorial to get you acquainted with things, nothing.
Your greatest friends are your capacity to learn, observe, experiment, and stay curious as you interact with the world, probably die on cooldown, and then start over again with the knowledge you've gathered. That extends to the game's magic system, too, where you combine different spells in order to make brand-new ones. And of course, nothing tells you what those combos are, so you'd better get cooking. As hard as it might be, the sense of reward is unmatched when things finally click.
Project Zomboid
These Survival Mechanics Go Way Deeper Than Its Tutorial
Project Zomboid is another perfect example of a game that does have a tutorial, but that tutorial barely scratches the surface of the game. You learn how combat works, how to equip things, and move around, but that's it. The game's survival mechanics are extremely detailed, and there's no mention of that, which kind of adds to its charm. You just spawn in after picking your occupation, and you're alone in this massive world filled with zombies, with nothing to your name.
That said, simply using your common sense (like gathering rainwater, reading books, blocking out windows, etc) will get you surprisingly far. It goes against a lot of what we learn from games having their own easier-than-IRL mechanics, which is why it's tough in a simulation-y way. For players who love diving into detailed mechanics, especially in survival games, it's a formula that just works. After all, no one's born ready for an apocalypse.
FromSoftware Games
The Definition Of Showing Over Telling You How To Play The Game
FromSoftware has always been one company that doesn't tell you how to play its games. Well, not directly at least. Elden Ring actually contains a whole tutorial section, but it's very easy to skip it if you don't realize that it's there. Meanwhile, Bloodborne spits you out from Iosefka's clinic without a weapon, only for you to run into a beast five seconds later. You die, you respawn in the Hunter's Dream, where you get your gear, and it's all a silent message: death is part of the process.
This idea of resilience and dying to go again and to get better is consistent in the Dark Souls games, too, and will likely remain a cornerstone for any FromSoftware game forever. It's what has made their games so popular and revered, because they are subtle, mysterious, and respect your intellect while also silently believing you to be strong enough to conquer them.
Kenshi
Struggling Is A Part Of Its Core Tenet
Kenshi combines a bit of everything: RPG, simulation, and squad-based gameplay with some base building. It's the jack-of-all-games, but it's also one of the hardest ones to understand and really master. Even much later in the game, when you're able to build bases, you can easily face defeat. That's the core of Kenshi: the world doesn't care about you, and never will. It's a revolutionary stance to take in a day and age where a lot of games choose to lean into how special and powerful you are.
It makes you work for everything, including your basic survival. I think it says a lot that the first thing you have to develop in Kenshi is your toughness—not just for your character, but yourself, as well, because you'll be watching your characters writhe in misery after being beaten down for a long time. And yet, it has a strong community, and it's one of the most beloved games on Steam despite how niche it is and how little it explains. The freedom it gives is without parallel, but players need to prove themselves strong enough to take it.
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