I get it – gaming is all about having fun and unwinding after a long day. Playing hard games might seem like the opposite of that. But hold on, there’s another side to the story. Many of us, myself included, find challenging games more enjoyable because they push us to engage with our favorite hobby in fresh and exciting ways. Hard modes introduce new challenges that force us to think quickly and adapt our strategies, making the experience far more rewarding than simply coasting through a game we’ve beaten a hundred times. So, let’s dive in – here are 8 games you absolutely should be playing on hard.
8. Hitman 3
Let’s start with an unconventional choice, but trust me – Hitman 3 on its hardest difficulty, “Professional,” offers countless reasons to give it a shot. Hitman is already a complex puzzle game (and much more than just a stealth game), but the challenge escalates significantly when you step out of your comfort zone.
On lower difficulties, Hitman can feel like a tutorial with its forgiving AI, on-screen hints, and plenty of objective markers. But on Professional, all those safety nets vanish. You lose the ability to save mid-game, the AI sharpens its skills, and there’s no more hand-holding from hints or camera-in-camera views.
Turning up the difficulty to Professional transforms Hitman from a fun murder-simulator into a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse with relentless AI and ever-changing challenges. If you want to experience what it’s truly like to be the world’s most stylish assassin, this is the difficulty you need. This is as it was meant to be played.
7. God of War
A game about a man on a relentless quest to murder gods always shines on higher difficulty levels, and God of War (2018) is no exception. The game’s hardest difficulty doesn’t just warn you—it practically dares you with its foreboding message of “abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” While this might scare off casual players, for those of us who crave a challenge, it’s an irresistible invitation.
On this brutal difficulty, the game turns some enemies into “elite” versions after just a few hits. These tougher foes demand more than button-mashing—you’ll need to bring your A-game, combining everything you’ve learned into precise, deadly attacks. This isn’t just a test of might; it’s a test of skill that will remind you why they call Kratos the God of War.
6. Call of Duty
Call of Duty has earned its place among gaming’s elite, blending blockbuster visuals with intuitive gameplay to deliver a yearly dose of chaos and military action. While the game offers various difficulty levels, from “Rookie” to “Veteran,” true fans know that Call of Duty truly shines on Veteran difficulty.
On Veteran, there’s no time for sightseeing—one wrong move, and you’ll be staring down the barrel of a 7.62 round. Enemies become lethal, and they’re not messing around. Unlike the easier difficulties, where enemies often seem clueless and line up for their inevitable demise, Veteran mode offers a much more intense experience. The AI relentlessly hunts you down and blows you to pieces if you’re not careful. Success on this level requires patience, precision, and a tactical approach. Running and gunning on Veteran will only lead to one outcome, and it won’t be a good one.
5. Fallout 4
Fallout 4 is all about survival—fighting off death at every turn to find your son. So why settle for anything less than the most challenging experience? The game’s hardest difficulty, “Survival,” is where Fallout 4 truly comes to life.
Survival mode turns the game into a relentless “kill-or-be-killed” adventure, where even fatigue, exhaustion, and injury can spell the end for your lone survivor. Forget about fast travel and quick saves—if you want to get somewhere, you’d better be ready to hoof it. And if you think you can skip out on basic needs like eating, sleeping, and drinking, think again.
On Survival, your character must eat, sleep, and drink to stay alive—it’s like playing Tamagotchi set in the apocalypse. The environment becomes your enemy, and just existing is a challenge. Enemies hit harder, show up more often, and even your ammo has weight.
If you’ve beaten Fallout 4 on any other difficulty, try it on Survival. By the end, you’ll either wonder why you didn’t play this way from the start or end up shopping for a new controller after the old one ends up in the drywall.
Disclaimer: Power Up Gaming and its affiliates aren’t responsible for any damage to gaming equipment caused by choosing to play Fallout 4 on Survival—that’s on you.
4. Doom
The legendary forerunner of the FPS genre got a well-deserved and wildly successful remake in 2016, setting the gaming world right again. DoomGuy made his triumphant return in a shower of blood and gore, delivering one of the best FPS games ever created. While Doom has never been known for extreme difficulty, it occasionally lacked the intense thrill that matches the context of being a space marine tasked with saving Earth by cleansing reality of demons. Doom (2016) addressed this by introducing the “Ultra-Nightmare” difficulty.
Ultra-Nightmare cranks the enemy AI to kamikaze levels and adds a permadeath mode. While permadeath isn’t absolute—you can still save between sections—nothing is more infuriating than battling through hundreds of high-powered enemies only to be sucker-punched by a grunt, sending you back to the start screen with your tail between your legs.
For those who’ve already conquered Doom, Ultra-Nightmare offers a fresh, blood-soaked gauntlet of beasties to destroy, all while keeping a nervous eye on your health bar. This mode is definitely not for the faint-hearted.
3. Alien Isolation
Xenomorphs are terrifying, acid-spitting monsters that want nothing more than to turn your chest cavity into a nursery for their offspring. Alien: Isolation understands this perfectly. Instead of letting you fight back against the titular creature with conventional weapons, the game forces you to hide—behind, beneath, and among the surroundings—or risk becoming its next meal.
As horror games go, Alien: Isolation is chillingly effective. Even on lower difficulties, the game delivers a terrifying experience. But crank up the difficulty, and you truly feel like one of the doomed characters from the Alien series. The Xenomorph becomes even more relentless, seemingly predicting your movements before you make them. Add to this the lack of a Heads-Up Display, fewer supplies, and a severely reduced health bar, and you’re left with a horrifying experience that even Ridley Scott might find extreme.
Oh, and one more thing: that trusty tracker you used to rely on to keep tabs on the Xeno? It’s broken. And if you’re playing with a Kinect or PS Camera, you’d better hold your breath and stay silent—any noise you make in real life will be heard by the in-game monster. Good luck!
2. Ghost Recon
It may be unbelievable that some people play a military sim like Ghost Recon on anything less than ‘realistic’, but that’s the inconvenient truth. Playing any of the Ghost Recon games on anything less than ‘realistic’ completely misses the point of the games. Ghost Recon games are supposed to advance military sims in the gaming space with an emphasis on planning, strategy, and having an escape plan. Although recent games may have become more similar to other Ubisoft ‘collect-athons’, the earlier games aimed for maximum realism.
Tom Clancy’s games have always had a specific focus: Rainbow Six showcased policing units in progressively tougher situations, Splinter Cell detailed the clandestine activities of top-tier US special forces, and Ghost Recon aimed to present a realistic view of open combat. Choosing a difficulty lower than ‘realistic’ that allows you to survive multiple shots, withstand explosions, and fast-travel everywhere diminishes the experience and turns it into just another shooter. Opting for ‘realistic’ difficulty challenges you to manage ammo, control damage, and plan ahead to ensure your survival – it’s the way the game was meant to be played.
1. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The aptly named ‘Deathmarch’ difficulty is nightmarish if you’ve never played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt before, but if you’ve already experienced the story on lower difficulties, Deathmarch should be your next stop. Deathmarch increases the damage you take to a realistic degree, debuffs your attacks to ensure you use the potions and tools specific to the beasts you fight, and removes the possibility of resting on your laurels by nerfing the counter system to allow less time to rebuff your opponents’ attacks. On Deathmarch, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt feels like the life of a witcher, ensuring an unforgettable experience – whether for better or worse.