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which genre of game do you think is the hardest, & why?

Hardest game genre/subgenre?


  • Total voters
    78

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
If we're gonna be having all these discussions about difficulty i might as well make an obvious poll.
What genre of game is the most difficult for you, and why? For me it's rhythm games since there's an immense amount of coordination and muscle memory required to pass the harder maps. You can't get good at DDR or sound voltex without months and months of hard work and practice.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Fighting games require, by far, the most skill to master.
gotta research matchups, framedata, learn combos, strategies, neutral, footsies all of this... and then train yourself to be able to use it in a match. It's fucking up there.

The worst part is that even years of practice and knowledge can leave you stuck at a middle level. It's one of the most demanding game genres to get into. The fact that even with all of that games like Street Fighter and Tekken sell millions of copies and have dedicated fanbases let you know that people will do ANYTHING to have fun in a competitive setting... and also a testament to how good a lot of these fighting games are
 

MudoSkills

Volcano High Alumnus (Cum Laude)
I'm going to agree with rhythm games - incredibly high skill ceiling as a genre.

It really does depend on whether we're talking about games as a single player or as a multiplayer experience - fighting games, shooters have large competitive scenes where high level play is intense.
 

Laptop1991

Member
The ones i don't enjoy, play or am not any good at, Fighting games and Puzzle ones, not a Souls fan and i didn't like Portal, whereas i loved Half Life etc and RPG's, part of it must be i don't want to like them basically or i would learn how to play them.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
Roguelikes are like an instant repellent on me because in most cases they tend to compensate for short length with ridiculous difficulty and randomized bullshit, rendering any ability to actually learn level layouts pretty much invalid.
 
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Daneel Elijah

Gold Member
Shmup are somehow not in the list? I would have hesitated between them and fighting games. So I put others. The hardest will always be against other humans, unless the game use bullshit AI. Or is just hard for being hard, like getting over it or other memes games.
 

22:22:22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Soulslike cuz I cant git gud.

Season 3 Smh GIF by Bachelor in Paradise
 

The Stig

Member
Fighting games is a good shout considering the depth for mastery. Though casuals can still play it and have fun at a basic level, IMO

Souls-type have quite the barrier to entry.

Those are the only 2 genres that I think twice about when considering a purchase. I tend to enjoy fighting games on a more surface level, I ask myself "will I really play all these characters?" and for souls-type games I ask myself if it's worth the grind/frustration etc
 

Hydroxy

Member
I suck at rogue likes. Also am pretty bad at stealth games. Also some puzzle games like point and click adventure games make me feel much inferior and weak for having to refer to walk throughs.
 

22:22:22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Shmup are somehow not in the list? I would have hesitated between them and fighting games. So I put others. The hardest will always be against other humans, unless the game use bullshit AI. Or is just hard for being hard, like getting over it or other memes games.

Good choice.
 

T4keD0wN

Member
Depends on what level/difficulty.
To me rhythm games on the lowest level and fighting on the higher level.

If i were to be objective though, the single most difficult game can definitely be Starcraft.
 
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Knightime_X

Member
All genres have quirk that can test your skill, but Fighting games seem to be the one that can change the most with every encounter.
 

[Sigma]

Member
Copy. Paste
Out of all the genres I play, fighting games off the top of my head are the most difficult for me(now that im older) because of the time I have to put in(on average). And that's with all the nuances and things that come with it.
 

22:22:22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Out of all the genres I play, fighting games off the top of my head are the most difficult for me(now that im older) because of the time I have to put in(on average). And that's with all the nuances and things that come with it.

Kinda different genres.

To git gud at FG you need to know the moveset of every character. Their hitboxes; also regarding match ups and your moveset has to be second nature. The mental game as well.

Right?
 
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Punished Miku

Gold Member
1. Rhythm games - difficulty comes from inputting things on a controller. This is basically just pure inputs at max difficulty.
2. Fighting games / action games - need to have some execution skill, composure under pressure, and varied strategy.
3. RTS games - strategic with no pausing. Lots of multi-tasking.
4. MMO - difficult to keep up at the top tiers while not gaining 100 lbs and becoming an incel. Requires multi-tasking.
 

brian0057

Banned
Looking Glass Studios style games.
It literally killed the company and every other that has tried it has failed in some way or another.
You may also know them as the ill-named "immersive sim" genre.
 

killatopak

Member
It's either RTS or MOBA

You not only have to be mechanically gifted, you also have to have tactical superiority to be pro.

Even worse it's a team game so you have to take account your and the enemy's team.

You have zero control of what your team mates will do. How you win will need multitude of variables that are outside of the game.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
For me, fighting games. I have fun mashing buttons and developing some basic strategy, but I have nowhere near the patience, determination, and reflexes to get truly good at them.
 

lukilladog

Member
Shmups and some arcade scrollers were evil, from consoles i remember Battletoads.

Ps. - MotoGP 22 must have the deepest learning curve in any non simulator racing game ever.
 
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Rubik8

Member
I voted for RTS. Because when I play them I nod off and it’s really hard to play a game successfully when you can’t stay awake.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Sim racing.
The skill ceiling is so frikken high it legit feels like you are destined to be latter half of the pack no matter what happens
 

Neff

Member
Yeah I'll go with bullet hells.

I don't necessarily agree that fighting games are the hardest. While they've certainly gotten more complex over the years, at the end of the day it's still just about getting inside your opponent's head and picking the right option. Bullet hells though require an obscene level of memory, dexterity, reaction and accuracy. You either take to them or you get ripped to pieces, there's very little middle ground.
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
There's plenty of genres I don't play very much and would find difficult. For me the hardest would be fighting and strategy games.
 

Mozzarella

Member
I used to be pretty good at Fighting games, i think their difficulty is way overblown, maybe because of console bias.

Bullet Hell and RTS are the hardest for me.
RTS is harder when you face a formidable opponent, and reaching the top requires a lot of training, same for Fighting games but in RTS the amount of stuff you have to master are far above and beyond.

In Single Player, Bullet Hell can get pretty tough, it requires good hand eye coordination which i am not super good at.
 

Laieon

Member
Grand Strategy, I just think there's a lot of stuff to manage and learn.

Edutainment. They used some of them in military torture programs.

Man, no joke - I wish edutainment games weren't on life support. As a kid I loved The Learning Companies' library, Humongous made some great stuff, Jumpstart was great, and Fisher Price had some great entry-level point and click adventure games, but now (despite the industry being bigger than ever), there... really isn't anything of note out there.

As an elementary school teacher, the closest thing I can find that fits the bill is Prodigy, and even then that's not narrative-based like many of the above titles/libraries were.

Just look at JumpStart (which I'm sure at this point is just Jumpstart in name only due to being sold off 100,000 times) in 2023 - so low budget that they apparently can't afford to pay their nephew enough to create high res marketing graphics and none of the characters look anywhere near as memorable as my guy Botley.
 
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RaduN

Member
Anybody who chooses anything but bullet hells, hasn't actually tried a bullet hell without credit feeding.
I finished Ninja Gaiden (2) on master ninja.
I can not pass level 1 boss in Mushihimesama Futari Ultra Mode with 1 credit.
 
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