If raging is your game, here's our list of ten stressful games that will have you pulling your hair out, bashing your controller, and cursing your teammates!
We asked the community for their most “uncozy” games. What we got are 10 versions of gaming hell.
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1. Cuphead
Don’t let Cuphead’s cartoon art-style fool you. That’s the only thing keeping you from throwing the controller to your screen. As the appreciation for the art style fades, you’ll come to realize that Cuphead is a game made by insane people. Even the bosses laugh at you when you fumble that hit. Even with all those flashy moves, you’re still three or four hits away from being broken apart. Hell, even if you’ve got a friend with you playing as Mugman, it barely helps. It does guarantee that you two are gonna suffer together though.
2. Valorant
Playing Valorant is the last thing you should be doing in your life. This competitive first-person shooter will bring out the worst in you. It’s either: 1. You realize that you’re a lousy shot and accept the trashtalking. Or 2, you find out you’re good and you’ll be shouting at incompetent teammates for the rest of your matches. On the bright side, you’ll be discovering new swear words every day. The matches might be fast. But when things get really bad, the defeats are just humiliating.
3. Dark Souls: Remastered
Or basically all of FromSoftware’s games, but let’s give Dark Souls: Remastered the ‘most frustrating Dark Souls game to ever exist” award. Even when you’ve conquered General Radahn or Malenia in Elden Ring, you still won't stand a chance against these bosses. From the Capra Demon’s tiny boss room, to Artorias’ non-stop flurry of attacks, Remastered is just relentless. You'll come in with stars in your eyes, and next thing you know, you’re up against your first boss with crap weapons and armor. Like a lamb to slaughter.
4. Celeste
Celeste’s pixel charm….is the complete opposite of its challenging gameplay. The climb up this mountain will make you a nervous wreck. You only have to dash and jump. But as the first steps of your ascent will show you, the game will push these buttons and your reflexes to the limit. It’ll put strawberries in unreachable corners and, just to mock you even more, track your deaths every level.
5. The Mortuary Assistant
Horror titles have never been cozy but The Mortuary Assistant is just EVIL. The jumpscares are randomly generated. And it will scare the shit out of you at every conceivable moment, that you’ll be holding your breath the entire time. It doesn’t matter that you’re just reading your task list, or fiddling with your game settings. It’s going to find a way to terrorize you. Things might eventually get predictable, but that lingering dread of being watched by… something…is never going away.
6. Super Mario Maker 2
I know what you’re thinking “This is a Mario game. It can’t be that bad, right?” Yeah… sorry bud. Once you enter the community-made levels, you’ll realize the horrors that this game offers. Whether in 2D or 3D, their insane platforming sections will break you. They’re like little torture chambers. If you really want to take that crown, just know you’ll be risking your Joy-Con in the process.
7. Overcooked! 2
Overcooked is not a game to play alone. The constant pressure of making that perfect dish before the timer runs out feels like Gordon Ramsay is out to give you a knuckle sandwich. It’s a recipe for disaster, especially on drunken nights with friends or when playing with family members. The competition is fierce, which is ironically what the game isn’t about. From moving platforms, magical portals, and rising waters, Overcooked 2 is a big bowl of chaos that’s not recommended to play comfortably.
8. Dota 2
Let’s face it: when you’re playing with people, you’re bound to have a hard time. Put 5 people with varying degrees of competence in one team and you get pure chaos. That’s especially the case in a game like Dota 2, where the learning curve is practically Mount Everest. The game has over a hundred heroes. 150 items. And game mechanics you probably won’t know a thousand hours in. When things are this complicated? It’s a miracle anyone gets along.
9. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
The second FromSoftware game on this list and it’s the most ‘unFromSoftware’ game of them all. By that, I don’t mean “Not Hard”. It’s just that Sekiro isn’t about dodging or running away from bosses and hoping they miss. It’s about embracing the parrying button. If you’re any good, you’ll be hearing the clink and clang of swords in rhythmic precision. If you’re not, you’ll be rinsing and repeating with no end in sight. Your precious game time is spent basking in frustration. Even if you are into Soulslike games, you might want to hold off on this one. Or try if you dare.
10. Spelunky 2
PC — PS4 — Series X — Switch — XB1
We end this list with the most vile game of them all. Forget Soulslike games, forget competitive shooters and MOBAS. Spelunky 2 is a game that breaks the soul. This is a sequel that goes beyond the challenge of the original, adding twists and turns to its treacherous underground world. In this game, everything is out to kill you. From falling rocks, falling spikes, falling monsters, The only reprieve you have is after you die and then you get to learn from your mistakes. Like Super Meat Boy and Hollow Knight, these games are unforgiving and will not go slow on you.