8 Hardest Difficulty Modes You Will Never Finish

Summary

This script discusses the most challenging game modes that push players to their limits. It covers 'Akuma' mode in 'The Evil Within,' where a single hit means instant death, and 'Ethan Must Die' in 'Resident Evil 7,' starting with only a pocket knife against relentless enemies. It also touches on 'Dead Space 2's' Hardcore mode with limited save opportunities and 'Civilization's' Deity mode, where AI opponents have godlike advantages. The script humorously describes the extreme difficulty of 'Touhou Project's' Lunatic difficulty and 'Super Hexagon's' Hyper Hexagonist mode, ending with a playful nudge to subscribe for more engaging content.

Takeaways

• 🎮 The script discusses the concept of challenging game modes in video games, highlighting the appeal for skilled or masochistic players.
• 🐉 'The Evil Within' features an 'Akumu' difficulty level, where players die instantly from a single hit, making it extremely punishing.
• 🏰 'Civilization' games increase difficulty by providing AI opponents with powerful buffs, rather than enhancing their intelligence.
• 👽 'Dead Space 2' offers a 'Hardcore' mode with limited save opportunities, amplifying the tension and challenge.
• 🎶 'Guitar Hero Metallica' introduces 'Expert Plus' mode, requiring an additional kick pedal and introducing 'Ghost Notes' for an extreme drumming experience.
• 🔫 'Resident Evil 7' has an 'Ethan Must Die' mode where players start with minimal equipment and face tougher enemies and deadly traps.
• 🎲 'Super Hexagon' pushes players to navigate through relentless waves of lines in 'Hyper Hexagonist' mode, testing reaction times to the limit.
• 👹 'Doom' reboot includes an 'Ultra Nightmare' difficulty, combining the regular 'Nightmare' mode with permadeath for a brutal challenge.
• 🎯 The 'Touhou Project' series is notorious for its 'Lunatic' difficulty, where the screen is nearly filled with bullets, demanding precise evasion.
• 👾 The script humorously suggests that some game modes are so hard they might be more about self-punishment than enjoyment, questioning the players' motivations.

Q & A

What is the difficulty level 'Akumu' in The Evil Within known for?

Akumu, which is Japanese for nightmare, is an extremely difficult difficulty level in The Evil Within where players die instantly from a single hit, making it a significant challenge even for experienced gamers.

How does the 'Ethan Must Die' mode in Resident Evil 7 differ from the normal game?

In 'Ethan Must Die' mode, players start with only a pocket knife and face tougher enemies that can kill Ethan in a single hit. The environment is filled with deadly traps, and items are found in randomized crates, some of which are booby-trapped.

What is the significance of the 'Ultra Nightmare' difficulty in the Doom reboot?

The 'Ultra Nightmare' difficulty in the Doom reboot is a level so challenging that not even the developers who created the game could complete it. It features permadeath, meaning that dying sends the player back to the start of the game without saving.

What is the 'Hardcore' mode in Dead Space 2, and how does it affect gameplay?

The 'Hardcore' mode in Dead Space 2 allows players to save only three times throughout the entire game, with no checkpoints. This means that dying results in losing significant progress, as players must backtrack through the game from the last manual save point.

How does the 'Deity' difficulty mode in Civilization VI affect the AI opponents?

In Civilization VI's 'Deity' difficulty mode, AI opponents receive a 32% boost to science, culture, and Faith, along with increased combat, XP, research boosts, and production and gold bonuses. This makes them extremely powerful and challenging to defeat.

What is the 'Lunatic' difficulty in Touhou Project games, and why is it considered hard?

The 'Lunatic' difficulty in Touhou Project games is the highest difficulty level, characterized by a relentless barrage of bullets that cover most of the screen. It requires extremely fast reflexes and precision to navigate through the narrow, ever-changing safe spaces.

What unique challenges does the 'Hyper Hexagonist' mode in Super Hexagon present to players?

The 'Hyper Hexagonist' mode in Super Hexagon is known for its extremely fast and confusing patterns of approaching lines. It challenges players to react quickly and accurately to avoid collisions, with the game eventually switching to black and white and playing music backwards.

How does the 'Expert Plus' mode in Guitar Hero Metallica differ from the 'Expert' mode?

In 'Expert Plus' mode, players must handle twice as many kick drum notes and deal with 'Ghost Notes,' which are softer notes that require a lighter tap on the drum pad. This mode is known for its complex and fast drum patterns, making it one of the most challenging in rhythm action games.

What is the 'Nightmare' difficulty level in The Evil Within, and how does it relate to 'Akumu'?

The 'Nightmare' difficulty level in The Evil Within is already quite challenging, but it serves as the base for the even more difficult 'Akumu' level. 'Nightmare' is intense, but 'Akumu' raises the stakes by introducing a one-hit kill mechanic.

What is the significance of the 'Seeds of Life' reference in the script, and how does it relate to the game modes discussed?

The 'Seeds of Life' reference in the script is a metaphor for the growth and diversification of gaming challenges. It relates to the game modes by highlighting how some games have evolved to include extremely difficult modes that test the limits of player skill and perseverance.

Outlines

00:00

🎮 Brutal Gaming Challenges

The paragraph discusses the extreme difficulty levels in video games that are designed to test the limits of players' skills and patience. It starts with a personal anecdote about nearly completing 'Skyrim' but quitting due to its increasing difficulty. It then delves into games that offer 'brutal' difficulty modes, such as 'The Evil Within' with its 'Akumu' mode where a single hit results in instant death. The paragraph also touches on strategy games like 'Civilization', where higher difficulties provide enemies with significant advantages, and 'Dead Space 2', which features a hardcore mode allowing only three saves throughout the entire game. The summary highlights the masochistic nature of these modes and the近乎 impossible task of completing them.

05:00

🎶 Music to the Ears of Gamers

This paragraph focuses on the 'Touhou Project', a series of Japanese bullet hell shooters known for their intense and challenging gameplay. It describes the 'Lunatic' difficulty level, which is considered extreme and only for the most skilled or masochistic players. The paragraph uses vivid imagery to describe the overwhelming number of bullets on screen, likening it to a hedge maze of deadly projectiles. It also mentions 'Resident Evil 7's 'Ethan Must Die' mode, which starts players with minimal equipment and places them in a house filled with lethal traps and enemies that can kill in a single hit. The summary captures the essence of these games' unforgiving difficulty and the unique challenges they pose to players.

10:03

🎵 Rhythmic Nightmares

The final paragraph discusses the 'Expert Plus' mode in 'Guitar Hero Metallica', which introduces an additional kick pedal and 'Ghost Notes', creating a complex and fast-paced drumming experience. It humorously compares the difficulty of mastering this mode to developing a repetitive strain injury. The paragraph also touches on 'Doom's 'Ultra Nightmare' mode, which combines the already challenging 'Nightmare' mode with permadeath, making it a test of skill and endurance. 'Super Hexagon's 'Hyper Hexagonist' mode is also mentioned, a mode so difficult it's likened to a brainwashing technique. The summary encapsulates the extreme difficulty and unique gameplay elements of these modes, emphasizing the近乎 superhuman skills required to conquer them.

Keywords

💡Gaming Achievements

Gaming achievements refer to the accomplishments or milestones that players earn within video games, often as rewards for completing specific tasks or challenges. In the context of the video, gaming achievements are presented as something to be proud of, highlighting the sense of accomplishment that comes from overcoming the game's obstacles. The video script mentions the speaker's personal gaming achievement of nearly finishing 'Skyrim,' which exemplifies the theme of overcoming challenges in gaming.

💡Brutal Difficulty

Brutal difficulty in video games denotes a level of challenge that is exceptionally hard, often designed to test the player's skill and perseverance. The script discusses various game modes that are considered 'brutally difficult,' such as 'Nightmare' and 'Akumu' in 'The Evil Within,' where the player faces extreme adversity, like instant death from a single hit. This concept is central to the video's exploration of the extreme ends of gaming difficulty.

💡The Evil Within

'The Evil Within' is a survival horror video game developed by Tango Gameworks. The game is mentioned in the script as an example of a game with extremely challenging difficulty modes, namely 'Nightmare' and 'Akumu,' which are so hard that they are almost unplayable for the average gamer. The game's mention in the script serves to illustrate the concept of 'brutal difficulty' and the lengths some games go to test the player's limits.

💡Civilizations

Referring to the 'Civilization' series, a turn-based strategy game where players build and manage their own civilization throughout history. The script mentions 'Civilizations' in the context of its 'Deity' difficulty mode, where AI opponents are significantly empowered, making the game extremely challenging. This example is used to highlight how some games ramp up difficulty by enhancing AI capabilities rather than just increasing the AI's intelligence.

💡Dead Space 2

'Dead Space 2' is a survival horror game where players control the character Isaac Clarke. The script discusses the game's 'Hardcore' mode, which restricts saving to only three times throughout the entire game, adding a significant layer of challenge and tension. This example is used to demonstrate how certain game modes can heighten the stakes and test the player's ability to manage resources and avoid failure.

💡Touhou Project

The 'Touhou Project' is a series of Japanese bullet hell shooters known for their intense and challenging gameplay. The script references the 'Lunatic' difficulty in these games, which is notorious for filling the screen with a near-impenetrable barrage of bullets. This keyword is used to exemplify the extreme difficulty found in certain gaming genres and the type of challenge that appeals to a specific subset of gamers.

💡Resident Evil 7

'Resident Evil 7' is a survival horror game that features an 'Ultra Hard' difficulty mode named 'Ethan Must Die.' The script uses this mode to illustrate the concept of games that are designed to be nearly unbeatable, starting with minimal equipment and facing enemies that can kill the player in a single hit. This example underscores the video's theme of extreme gaming challenges.

💡Guitar Hero Metallica

'Guitar Hero Metallica' is a music rhythm game that introduced an 'Expert Plus' mode, which requires players to manage additional drum notes and 'Ghost Notes,' making it one of the most challenging rhythm games. The script uses this game to show how some games increase difficulty by adding complexity to the gameplay mechanics, pushing players to develop new skills and adapt to more intricate patterns.

💡Doom

The script mentions 'Doom' in the context of its 'Ultra Nightmare' difficulty, which is so hard that even the developers couldn't complete it. This mode incorporates permadeath, meaning any death sends the player back to the beginning. 'Doom' serves as an example of a game that pushes the boundaries of difficulty to the extreme, testing the player's ability to execute flawlessly under pressure.

💡Super Hexagon

'Super Hexagon' is a minimal, fast-paced game where players navigate a small triangle through a hexagonal space filled with approaching lines. The script describes 'Hyper Hexagonist' mode as being incredibly fast and confusing, pushing the player to react at lightning speed. This keyword is used to depict the type of challenge that requires quick reflexes and intense concentration, showcasing another form of extreme difficulty in gaming.

Highlights

Gaming achievements can be a source of pride, with some games offering extremely difficult modes.

The Evil Within's 'Akumu' mode is exceptionally challenging, offering permadeath with a single hit.

Civilization's 'Deity' difficulty mode provides AI with significant advantages, making it very hard for players.

Dead Space 2's 'Hardcore' mode limits saves and disables checkpoints, increasing tension.

Touhou Project's 'Lunatic' difficulty is notorious for its overwhelming bullet patterns.

Resident Evil 7's 'Ethan Must Die' mode starts players with minimal equipment and tough enemies.

Guitar Hero Metallica's 'Expert Plus' mode introduces complex drum patterns and ghost notes.

The original Doom's 'Ultra Nightmare' difficulty combines regular nightmare mode with permadeath.

Super Hexagon's 'Hyper Hexagonist' mode is incredibly fast and disorienting, even for experienced players.

Some games are designed to be so difficult that they border on the masochistic.

Difficulty modes in games can test the limits of player skill and perseverance.

In 'Akumu' mode, players must avoid all damage while navigating through hordes of enemies.

The 'Deity' difficulty in Civilization VI gives AI civilizations significant boosts, making them formidable opponents.

Dead Space 2's 'Hardcore' mode requires precise save management and punishes death with progress loss.

Touhou games are known for their 'bullet hell' mechanics, which are extreme on 'Lunatic' difficulty.

Resident Evil 7's 'Ethan Must Die' mode removes all but the most basic equipment, increasing the survival challenge.

Expert Plus mode in Guitar Hero Metallica demands precision and an additional kick pedal for advanced drum play.

Doom's 'Ultra Nightmare' difficulty is so hard that even the developers couldn't complete it.

Super Hexagon's extreme mode is a test of reflexes and concentration, with patterns that can induce a sense of disorientation.

The transcript discusses various games and their most challenging modes, appealing to hardcore gamers.

The 'Ethan Must Die' mode in Resident Evil 7 is a remixed section with heightened difficulty.

Transcripts

there are plenty of gaming achievements

worth being proud of I myself once

nearly finished Skyrim but then it got a

bit hard so I stopped message if you

want my strategy guide some games

however take the whole overcoming

adversity thing and crank it so hard the

dial falls off creating brutally

difficult game modes that only the

seriously skillful or willfully

masochistic would want to take on here

are eight of the hardest modes that we

will never ever attempt let alone finish

I'll call one out just before I picked

you up said it was multiple homicides

half a dozen units already unseen

maybe it's the ghost of that doctor who

went Skitzo and chopped up all those

patients that's not what happened there

there are many words we'd use to

describe The Evil Within harrowing

gruesome

and well it's not really a word but uh

is everyone else all right the city

whatever are you talking about you are

the only Soul here right now one word we

definitely wouldn't use to describe it

however is easy which is why we were

somewhat taken aback to discover that

there are two difficulty levels above

the game's regular survival difficulty

Nightmare and akumu

now as you may have guessed from the

name nightmare is no walk in the barbed

wire covered Park but akumu which is

Japanese for nightmare is even harder

than that in that if you take so much as

a single hit from anything you die

instantly

if you played The Evil Within you'll

remember that pretty much all of the

game is things trying to hit you often

all at once in large groups you have to

never get hit by anything in a game

where your character is about as mobile

as a dumpster full of house bricks akumu

completion percentage among Evil Within

players is currently sitting in the low

single digits so it's provably doable

but it's a bit like deliberately running

yourself over with your own car

technically an impressive feat but

you've got to wonder why you went to all

that trouble just to make yourself

miserable this Seeds of Life grew

strengthened

bread and diversified

now it required but one more ingredient

a great leader

unite the quarreling tribes to harness

the power of the land to build the

Legacy that will stand the test of time

running a nation state is hard work just

ask any of the former citizens of the

short-lived nation of antitropolis or I

mean you could ask them if they'd been

any survivors it's even harder though

when every other country in the world is

a supernaturally advanced superpower

with no flaws who hates you that's what

happens in strategy game civilizations

higher difficulties instead of making

the AI more intelligent and resourceful

it just provides them with a succession

of powerful Buffs that mean you're

always on the back foot the worst

example of this is the series deity

difficulty mode which grants your

enemies Godlike abilities while you get

zip it's like the computer is playing

with cheats on cheats are only fair when

I'm using them damn it to use

civilization 6 as an example deity

difficulty gives the AI a 32 boost to

science culture and Faith plus four in

combat an additional 40 to unit XP

research boosts more starting units and

a staggering 80 to production and gold

meaning that every other civilization

you come up against will be sending in

the equivalent of Pacific Jaegers while

you're still trying to teach your

citizens how to make fire so you take

them and you rub them together guys guys

put the rock down guys you're not

listening

no you're confused right now

explain everything but you gotta trust

me okay listen you're in terrible

terrible

it's hard to imagine but there was a

time when you couldn't save in video

games in those dark days losing all your

lives meant starting over so let's give

thanks to Dead Space 2's hardcore mode

which allows you to save three times in

the entire game

checkpoints are disabled too so if

you're evenly spacing your saves in this

10 hour game that's about one save every

three and a bit hours which is three and

a bit hours worth of backtracking you'll

have to do if you die and if you

remember anything about dead space hero

Isaac Clarke it's that he's always dying

there he is at it again well good luck

trying to get him to stop in your dead

space hardcore playthrough as the

Necromorphs are much tougher and do a

lot more damage in hardcore mode and

you'll spend a lot more time crying and

panicking when they get near you because

you don't want to lose three hours of

progress right just just be Dead Space 3

also included hardcore mode but

thankfully updated it so that you can

Savor as many times as you want until

you die at which point it erases your

save and dumps you back at the start of

the game still I'm confident Isaac knows

what's at stake here I can trust him to

not die just when it's most inconvenient

right Isaac

oh we can't blame Isaac he's just like

Bonnie Tyler every now and then he falls

apart

[Music]

Touhou project is a series of Japanese

Shooters in the genre known as bullet

hell so named because hell that's a lot

of bullets

[Music]

Touhou games are nightmarish whirlpools

of deadly projectiles at the best of

times but it takes a certain kind of

masochist to attempt one of the series

games on lunatic difficulty described as

for weird people hey you said it Touhou

not us

[Music]

the aim of bullet hell Shooters as with

most Shooters is to keep yourself away

from your enemies bullets but it's a

task which is easier said than done when

literally 99 of the screen is bullet as

is usually the case in a lunatic Touhou

stage think of it like a hedge maze only

the hedges are bullets and if you touch

them you die you need to find that one

percent of the screen that it's safe to

be in and it's a different one percent

every second because these things are

fast and unpredictable and you need to

have the reaction speed of a hummingbird

on caffeine pills if you're going to

stand any chance

[Music]

look there's team bravely against

seemingly insurmountable odds then

there's this I've seen the way things

are going the future belongs to the

bullets and I for one welcome our new

bullet overlords if we join them now

maybe they'll let Humanity live on in

some kind of humiliating servant

position get a kind of Beyond Greyjoy

thing going on guys

the bullets are probably thinking it

over

so if we get this thing I can help me

and we can get out of here

can I

the old house is near the water you

can't miss it all right

I just hope you can handle my mother

Resident Evil 7 sets its stall out early

with the name of its Ultra hard survival

mode Ethan must die because you Ethan

Must Die due to all the deadly stuff

that happens to you Ethan Must Die mode

is a remixed section of the main

Resident Evil 7 game in which you have

to make your way to the baker family

Greenhouse to kill Marguerite who you'll

remember as being absolutely the worst

and mostly made of bees

a kind offer but I think I'll pass in

Ethan Must Die mode you start with a

pocket knife and nothing else and the

enemies are much much tougher often able

to kill you in a single hit if you're

not blocking also the house is now

covered in deadly deadly traps

items are found in crates around the

house but the crates are randomized so

you never know what you're going to get

from a life-saving weapon to relatively

useless gunpowder to a massive explosion

in the face because yes some of the

crates are booby-trapped they should

call this mode Ethan definitely will die

to add insult to fatal injury dying in

this mode sends you right back to the

beginning and you have to start all over

but don't worry if you can make it back

to where you died previously you'll find

an angel statue that if you break it

open gives you back your item that item

singular because you only get one of the

items you died with back and it's chosen

randomly you're welcome still you must

get something pretty awesome for beating

a mode this difficult right you sure do

if you consider an Overexposed picture

of Ethan looking at his hands awesome

which I mean we all do right

totally worth it

given that when I try to play Guitar

Hero drums on Expert I look like a

spider trying to climb out of a buff the

Expert Plus mode was not exactly at the

top of my Christmas list and yet that's

exactly what Activision introduced in

Guitar Hero Metallica to reflect the

fact that Metallica's fastest drum solos

sound like someone strafing the drum kit

with a machine gun

in order to play Expert Plus mode which

only applies to certain songs you'll not

only need to have mastered expert drums

and be able to keep better time than

Lars Ulrich himself you'll also need to

invest in an additional kick pedal for

your Guitar Hero drum kit I mean

technically you can play Expert Plus

with a single kick pedal yeah if you you

know want to grow an additional foot on

one of your legs it's not just managing

twice as many kick drum notes though

also introduced in Expert Plus and Ghost

Notes which are the Restless spirits of

notes who have unfinished business on

this Mortal plane alright the truth is

far less exciting ghost notes are

actually just softer notes designed to

keep drummers in Rhythm to play them you

had to tap the drum pad softly in

amongst all the harder proper notes

because we didn't have enough to be

thinking about already Guitar Hero

Metallica The End Result is a selection

of the fastest most complex drum

patterns in any rhythm action game and a

really excellent way to develop RSI of

the ankle what that is two a thing I

used it to get out of a whole year of

Sports at school I'm willing to take

full responsibility

of the last 24 hours but you must

understand our interest in their world

was purely for the measurement of

mankind

has clearly gotten out of hand now

I assure you nightmare or nightmare if

you're pronouncing the exclamation point

was the toughest difficulty setting in

the original Doom a difficulty setting

that last year's do reboot took one look

at laughed and then stubbed a cigar out

on that's because this Doom has a

difficulty level called Ultra nightmare

which is so difficult that no one who

actually worked on the game could

complete it the premise of ultra

nightmare is simple you take regular

nightmare mode which is as the name

implies an absolute nightmare then apply

permadeath to it so the second you die

you're booted back to the start of the

game and your save is a raised

[Music]

thank you no saving means you've got to

do it all in one sitting too or at least

hope you can leave your console pause

and not have someone switch over to

Netflix while you're in the bathroom

still people are up for the challenge

despite the game specifically asking you

if you're willing to put yourself

through this punishing ordeal the first

time you select it

you're not the boss of me game

[Music]

okay maybe you know best game

foreign

[Music]

Super Hexagon is a simple game you

control a little triangle that moves

around a hexagon fitting between the

gaps in waves of lines that endlessly

approach you

a Super Hexagon isn't is an easy game as

even on the earlier difficulties the

game throws lines at you faster than an

actor with places to be

[Music]

hyper hexagonist mode though described

by the game as its hardest dist mode is

so fast so confusing and so

mind-meltingly difficult that you'd be

forgiving for thinking you're not

looking at a game anymore and in fact

have found some kind of CIA brainwashing

technique from the 1960s

[Music]

have a sudden urge to overthrow

communism get even further in hyper

hexagonist mode and it will switch into

a black and white mode the music will

slow down and start playing backwards

and you'll start hearing the voices of

your long dead ancestors telling you

that the secret to the universe can be

unlocked if you can draw a perfect

hexagon free hand

[Music]

foreign

I think I may have been playing too much

Super Hexagon

getting there though

[Music]

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