Video games can help us unwind after a long day of work, school, or both. We play games
because they allow us to escape reality — even for only a moment. Sometimes, however, a game's
version of "reality" is packed with impossible puzzles, oppressive physics, and giant beasts.
Let's take a look at some of the most infamous titles known for pushing gamers to their breaking
points.
"I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
"I'M MAD AS HELL, I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
Bloodborne is a bloodbath
It's hard to tell which aspect of FromSoftware's Bloodborne is more stressful — the horrific
atmosphere, the terrifying monsters, or the infamous, tough-as-nails difficulty the Souls
games are known for. And while Demon Souls, or any of the Dark Souls games which followed,
can easily stress out even the most thick-skinned gamers, Bloodborne's horrifying environments
might just bump your blood pressure up to a whole new level.
In Bloodborne, all the familiar stresses are there. Tempting fate by pushing yourself to
the limits, only to lose your tens of thousands of blood echos — Basically Bloodborne's
currency — after a vile beast takes you out in three hits. Gigantic bosses who make
your character look like more like a D&D miniature than a fearsome hunter. The fear of creeping
through an empty corridor only for the game to remind you why you'd thrown your controller
against the wall seven times today. All of this is fairly standard fare in Souls games.
In Bloodborne, however, there's always an extra bit of menace simply because the world
is just too decrepit, dank, and dismal.
You can run but you can't hide in Alien: Isolation
Hiding from your friends in a block-wide game of hide and seek? Not so scary. Hiding from
an alien hell-bent on ripping your body to shreds, in a derelict space station floating
in the vast beyond? Yep, that would be the most terrifying game of hide and seek ever.
Lucky for those of you who squealed in excitement at that possibility, that's exactly what you
get with Creative Assembly's first-person horror game Alien: Isolation. It's pretty
much hide and seek with the titular character from the classic Alien science-fiction franchise.
Your hiding places are really comfortable, too. They include super spacious areas like
ventilation shafts and lockers. And for all the real masochists out there, the PS4 and
Xbox One versions of the game feature an optional noise detection setting, meaning your favorite
space freak will be able to hear every sound you make via your mic. Remember: Don't be
ashamed if you pee your pants playing Alien: Isolation. It's kind of like a rite of passage.
Tetris: from relaxation to ruin
Originally designed by Russian computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov, Tetris is one of the most
famous, most beloved, and most recognizable puzzle games in history. It's also one of
the most stressful.
Of course, the game always starts out easy. The blocks just lazily float their way down,
as if gravity is but a minor inconvenience. Nothing we can't handle, right? But then the
blocks start falling faster. And faster. And all of a sudden, we're pulling out our hair
when we accidentally place a block where we didn't mean to put it. Tetris is serious business.
Just look at some of these pros — they're intense!
Interestingly enough, the mental stress of playing Tetris has been shown to help combat
actual stress-related issues, like posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. It can even help
curb addiction.
"Recently we learned that playing Tetris could help alleviate PTSD, now a new study out shows
that it could also block cravings for addictions like smoking, drinking, and overeating."
Why? The short answer is: because video games are awesome, that's why. Yes — even ones
that make us want to smash our GameBoy into bite-size pieces.
Trials Fusion tries your patience
The premise of Trials Fusion is simple. Your goal is to drive a motocross bike from point
A to point B, in a linear fashion, skillfully traversing various inclines, declines, jumps,
and obstacles. Sounds easy, right? Well … the first levels are pretty straightforward. The
game lulls you into a false sense of security. Then comes the rear wheel-only bunny hops
on platforms barely wide enough for a single tire. And the precision accelerating up 90-degree
vertical inclines. And the need to master the very laws of physics governing time and
space, simply to arrive at the next checkpoint. This game is so insane that players will often
find themselves hitting "restart from checkpoint," even when they don't mean to — just purely
out of habit.
Only 127 registered accounts on stat-tracking third-party website PSNprofiles have achieved
100 percent completion in Trials Fusion's base game, with an average completion percentage
of 5 percent, out of over 88,860 game owners. That's a lot of tortured trophy-hunters!
Bite the big one in Battletoads
It is safe to say that few games have ruined more friendships and caused more broken controllers
than Rare's classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip-off Battletoads.
[Ominous 8-bit music]
The entire game is tough—and we mean real tough. But there's one level, in particular,
that's probably responsible for most of the mutilated NES consoles out there: The Turbo
Tunnel. In this level, the player is tasked with maneuvering a constantly accelerating
hoverbike around walls, over hurdles, under hurdles, over jumps, and around some mobile
bad guys. It requires both near-pixel-perfect reaction time and a memory akin to a supercomputer,
so good luck playing it on a device with even a shred of lag. Assuming you somehow can pass
this nearly impossible trial — you golden gaming god, you — you probably won't have
any lives left to beat the rest of the game.
Battletoads may be a cult classic, and may have a special place in some gamer's hearts
— but it also occupies a very special place in hell.
Silent Hill 2 turns trauma into terror
Silent Hill 2 is a well-documented masterpiece of a video game. Aside from all the other
things it does well — including a plot twist that'll make you feel mentally unstable for
more than a few days — Konami's unsettling survival horror title excels at just plain
traumatizing players.
While most horror games rely on jump scares, gratuitous violence, and other cheap terror
tactics, Silent Hill 2 pulls you along a surreal and disturbing story through a bleak town
shaped by protagonist James Sunderland's personal demons. It's slow, it's joyless, and it's
brutal as all hell. In place of stereotypical, B-movie zombies, the game's designers came
up with some truly creative — and horrific — monsters. Like faceless people wearing
straitjackets made of their own ﬂesh. And let's not forget Pyramid Head, who's easily
one of the freakiest creations in any horror game, ever. In short, Silent Hill 2 is the
pinnacle of interactive psychological torment — and we can't get enough of it.
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