Summary
Hideo Kojimahas become known for being one of the most innovative developers in the industry, playing a big role in developing some of the mostunique games ever made. While he became a household name after the enormous success ofMetal Gear Solidon the PlayStation, Kojima has been developing games ever since he first joined Konami back in 1987, so it’s fair to say that he has a pretty substantial catalog of amazing games under his belt.
Because Kojima often likes to take risks with his games both in terms of story and gameplay, it does mean that many of his titles prioritize uniqueness as opposed to accessibility, resulting in them posing quite an intense challenge. Although none of Kojima’s games are considered too difficult or unfair by his fans, there are definitely a few that feel especially unforgiving in how they play.
Policenautsis a point-and-click adventure game that actually only features ahandful of combat sectionssince the game is much more story-driven. Instead, players will be spending most of their playthrough examining rooms and speaking to NPCs to progress between areas, and although the game’s overall difficulty is pretty manageable, there are some formidable puzzles and riddles thrown into the mix that can still be pretty hard to crack.
Because a lot of key items and tools are hidden in extremely obscure parts of the environment, it means players will need to explore every inch of each room to gather the intel they need before moving on. Luckily, the characters will point out when something has been missed, which does make things easier, but an average playthrough ofPolicenautsstill contains more than enough challenge to keep its unique visual novel-style gameplay interesting from beginning to end.
Metal Gear Solid 5grants players an enormous amount of freedom to take on missions in any way they want, and while this does make the core gameplay incredibly fun and creative, it also means that encounters can go wrong incredibly easily. Once a soldier catches wind of Big Boss, they’ll immediately call for their allies to rush over or will even request reinforcements to aid them, which will make navigating through an area much more difficult.
Although players are able to get their hands on some absurdly powerful weapons and upgrades, these can only be acquired by seeking out skilled workers to take backto Mother Base, which can result in a lot of grinding. Unlike previousMetal Geargames,Phantom Paindoes include a last-resort reflex mode where Boss can take out an enemy the instant they see him, but even this can take quite a bit of skill to use effectively.
Although the controls inMetal Gear Solid 4are a little more forgiving than previous entries in the series, the game is still just as challenging, with Snake always being greatly outnumbered by the enemy forces, which encourages players to use stealth to avoid gunfights as much as possible. Although combat encounters can already be quite tricky,Metal Gear Solid 4also features a pretty brutal lineup of boss enemies who are capable of melting Snake’s health bar with their devastating attacks.
Each member ofthe Beauty and the Beast unitcomes with their own gimmick that makes them vastly different to fight against, so while Crying Wolf is able to snipe Snake with a railgun from afar for example, Raging Raven glides around the stage while launching a bombardment of explosives from her grenade launcher. The game also has some pretty intense difficulty spikes that randomly pop up, a prime example being the epic and chaotic bout betweenMetal Gear’s Rex and Ray, which is far from a walk in the park.
It’s clear that when working onMetal Gear Solid 2, Kojima really wanted to go all-in with making the gamea truly immersive experiencethrough its visuals and gameplay. Because of this, the game really doesn’t do much hand-holding, and instead, encourages players to think on their feet and use their own intuition to progress through certain areas. It actually makes this very clear from the very get-go, with each room being packed full of trip wires and armed soldiers, meaning that running straight through a level without any strategy is never an option.
Because of how technologically advanced the AI enemies are inMetal Gear Solid 2, it means the soldiers will thoroughly search each and every corner of a room, making it extremely difficult to outsmart them. Added to this, their weapons also pack one hell of a punch, so if they do manage to catch sight of Raiden or Snake, they can simply keep knocking them over with gunfire to finish them off, so it’s therefore heavily advised to exercise caution when taking on even the weakest of enemies.
Considering that Big Boss is supposed to be on the back foot for much ofMetal Gear Solid 3, using any resources he can get his hands on to aid in his survival, it’s fitting that the gameplay is as difficult as it is, adding to the whole idea of becoming a true and hardened survivor. Guards are much more aware of their environments this time around than they are in the second game, and the absence of a reliable radar means it can be quite tricky to know exactly where enemies are, making it very risky to move between areas.
Because the number of enemies appearing on-screen at once has also been drastically increased since the second game, it becomes an absolute nightmare trying to sneak through some of the more open areas without being forced into a dangerous firefight. Pair this with some very challenging bike-chase scenes, and it results inMetal Gear Solid 3being a very realistic but also extremely challenging stealth espionage experience.
BecausePeace Walkerwas the firstMetal Geargame that featuredco-op as a core componentof its gameplay, it means that enemies are far more plentiful, with almost every area being packed full of soldiers to get through. As a result, the game becomes much harder to complete when playing on solo, especially since a lot of the areas are also very narrow and much harder to sneak through compared to other titles.
Besides the enemies and level design, the game also features some incredibly challenging mission types, one of the most infamous being the vehicle capture missions where players will need to take out their targets in a specific order to lure out the leader. The bosses can also pose quite a serious challenge, a prime example being Pupa, a massive AI mech that is equipped with six gatling guns that it will gladly fire at the player if they even think about getting close.
AlthoughMetal Gear Solidwas a lot of people’s first introduction to Hideo Kojima as a creator, the game wasn’t exactly considered to be very “Accessible” in the sense that it was clearly much more arduous than a lot of the2D platformer titlesthat were being released at the time. Because Snake’s movement isn’t quite as refined or precise as it would eventually become in later games, it means that sneaking around and remaining out of sight can be harder than it initially seems.
Metal Gear Solidalso includes some of the series' most iconic and difficult bosses. A few examples of these enemies include a lightning-fast Cyborg Ninja, who can decimate Snake’s health with his quick and sudden attacks, and Psycho Mantis, who forces the player to switch their controller port to outsmart him.Metal Gear Solidis still a fantastic game that would provide the template for all stealth games going forward, but it’s far from an easy experience, especially when returning to it after playing the much more streamlined future entries in the series.
Although the core gameplay and characters in the originalMetal Gearare very similar to what would later be seen withMetal Gear Solid,it’s considered to be far more difficult than those games, with many longtime fans heavily encouraging keeping a guide at hand to even have a chance of completing it. The main reason for this is becauseMetal Geardoesn’t really explain much of anything to the player, such as what key items to retrieve, what frequencies to tap into, and even which enemies to kill in certain circumstances.
Because of how clunky the combat feels in the firstMetal Gear, it also means that sneaking up on guards and knocking them out is much harder than it was probably intended to be and can easily result in Snake getting caught red-handed. Considering when the game was released, it’s understandable that it would be a little rough around the edges, but these smaller issues do inevitably make the game as a whole extremely hard to beat. It’s Kojima’s most difficult game to date by far.
