I'm a masochist; recommend games

[ohnoitsabear]

IVAN. It's a rougelike where one of the main design goals was to make the game unbeatable. I've probably played it a hundred times, and never got past the second dungeon (out of three). Plus, it's free.

The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, if you choose all your skills as language skills, and take as many advantages as possible. All of your useful skills will start out super low, and you will level so slowly that it will take ages before your character improves a noticeable amount, making the game super difficult.

 

[dangoball]

Bastion(All idols invoked)

This gets my vote. I never played with more than half of them. Tried all once and damn did I die fast Some of those idol are plain unfair (those air and mirror ones I hate so much...)

If you like older games, try Baldur's Gate on highest difficulty as a mage (how do you like those 4 HP, eh?).
Sniper Elite on realistic is also damn difficult (the old one, haven't played v2 yet).

Other than that I can't remember anything exactly difficult that hasn't been alerady mentioned.

 

[beyondbrainmatter]

Dodonpachi
Battle Geregga
Dangun Feveron
Progear
Ketsui
ESPGaluda
Strikers 1945 series
Raiden Fighters series
Vasara 2

Those games ARE going to kick your ass. Badly.

 

[hermes]

XCOM is though and quite unforgiving. Also, its one of the few current games that can be unwinnable, so after 20 or so hours you can get so drained of resources that you simply lost the war.
Also, it is awesome.

 

[nexus]

I would recommend XCOM: Enemy Unknown (the one that *just* released), it's a really challenging (also rewarding) game. When selecting difficulty, go with "Classic" or "Impossible" mode. Impossible is by definition nearly impossible, so if it's your first play, go with Classic or even Normal. In the same window, go to Advanced, and tick the box that says "Ironman". What Ironman does is makes your failures and consequences permanent, and your saves are merely there to keep your progress. Just lost your entire squad, or your favorite man? Too bad, can't reload your save. Fail a critical mission? Too bad. Push on with what you have left.

You get really attached to your squad, as you can name them, alter their appearance and choose how they're upgraded. When you lose someone you've had from the beginning, it really sucks. As it is, I just lost my entire squad in a mission, they were my crack team that I've had for about 10 hours. While I've lost Ace squads before, this loss really hit hard, and I have to dig deep for resources now, etc. Go Ironman or go home.

Great game.

 

[Tanakh]

Occasionally I hear things about the game and try to work with them, but for the most part I'm learning it entirely through solo queue PVP. If that doesn't make me the ultimate masochist, I'm not sure what does, but at least I'm the ultimate something.

Isn't that the standard way to do it? Well, at least that's how I learnt it and most of the people I know.

Anyway, on topic, there are several single player games that do require presicion, but I can't get the same thrill. I would suggest either SC II or SF IV, PvP single player games are more tense IMO.

 

[surg3n]

Legend of Grimrock is pretty damn hard - but it is good to play a solo RPG that poses a challenge for a change - instead of grinding for over-powered weapons, you have to really stop and think, and plan how to deal with the puzzles and enemies. It's kinda retro, like the 16-bit dungeon crawlers like Bloodwych, Eye of the Beholder, or Dungeon Master especially.

There's also Minecraft Tekkit - a different kind of challenge, that's really more about engineering than anything, even survival - but it can be a lot of fun to come up with an idea and develop it with Tekkit, trying to keep everything neat, trying to avoid explosions etc etc. I think playing hardcore mode Tekkit is about as challenging as any 1 game should ever need to be.

For the DS, well Scribblenaughts is awesome, sometimes you have to really think about how to solve the levels, sometimes you solve em with pure luck, or by methods that other games just wouldn't allow. Room full of zombies and dinosaurs? - spawn Chuck Norris, job done.

N+ on the DS is worth a look as well, if you like challenging platformers like Meat Boy.

Torchlight can be pretty damn difficult as well - that's more like LoL I guess, maybe worth a look as it'll be dirt cheap - in fact it was part of the last Humble Bundle, which is pretty awesome if you consider how big Torchlight is.

And Binding of Isaac, it's basically the dungeon section from the original Zelda game with some awesome sick humour, lots of variety, every game is different, but most importantly it's a hellish challenge, I've still not managed to kill mom after 6 months or so of playing.

 

[Kuomon]

Buy a PS2 for cheap.
Buy God Hand from Ebay (it goes for about $60 so it's kinda like buying a new game).

Honestly, you don't have to be a masochist to enjoy God Hand, but if you want a game that beats you down harshly and expects you to learn from your mistakes in order to move forward, no other game does it better than Mikami's last Capcom game. You will die a lot, and you will want to blame anything and everything, but when you finally overcome an area or a difficult enemy, the feeling of satisfaction is almost unparalleled in gaming.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

Going to have to echo FTL, that game is brilliant. You can beat it in 90 minutes, but good luck, it's possible that you'll go 30 games and not win.

The new XCOM game on Classic/Ironman difficulty is pretty challenging, but not insane. If you really, really want to have your face ground into the dirt, then put it up to impossible difficulty. I'm not sure it's even possible to win on that difficulty, it almost feels like a joke for the people who want to suffer without any hope.

EDIT: Also another one I forgot about since it looks so kiddy is rayman origins. I've been playing that lately, it starts out simple and easy, but it ramps up, hard. I was honestly taken aback, some of the later levels are ridiculous. Especially the bonus levels where you have to keep up with a creature that's running away from you very quickly, and you have to time your jumps perfectly and never stop sprinting if you don't want to be pushed off the screen.

 

[EHKOS]

Honestly, inFamous 2 on the hard setting kicked my ASS. It might be easy for oyu, idk if it's just me, but dang that was hard.

 

[thespyisdead]

dungeons of dredmor... with the vampire skill... and going rogue... and permadeath! usually vampirism is an asset, but when you are getting your ass kicked, then you are more or less fucked, unless u have potions

EDIT: also generally any game set the the hardest possible difficulty will tickle your masochism

Double EDIT Mass Effect on insanity

 

[ms_sunlight]

You may want to check out the rogue-like genre. These games generally feature perma-death, crap-tons of traps and mysterious consumables which may or may not kill you. They're all about survival in a world that is out to kill you. Games like Dwarf Fortress, Nethack, and Dungeons of Dredmor belong to this genre.

You forgot Angband! Andband is a fantastic game - steep learning curve, perma-death, surprisingly sophisticated mechanics, quylthulgs!

http://rephial.org/

If ascii-based games are too lo-fi for the OP, I second the recommendation of Dungeons of Dredmor. It's cheap on steam!

 

[Overusedname]

Any Fire Emblem game on highest difficulty, and try to never loose a named fighter.

The games are well-made for the record, they're just hard as hell. I hope you like thinking 10 moves in advance.

 

[deathbydeath]

I'd recommend VVVVVV, Super Meat Boy, Shank 1 on hard Difficulty, and Jamestown will deflower you into a coma at the higher levels. Also the Stalker series.

 

[themind]

Ninja Gaiden NES or the Ninja Gaiden for XBOX, I think it was Ninja Gaiden Black, both are BRUTAL.

Dark Souls has been mentioned.

Shadow of Collosus is an awesome title for PS2, not exactly insane difficulty, but every fight is a boss fight that will take you hours to figure out, especially the later bosses.

Shining Force on the hardest difficulty is mezmerisingly hard. It's like playing chess against a machine that thinks 5 moves ahead.

Finally, if you want a truly impossible challenge, find a copy of Red Faction, the original game for PS2, and put it on the hardest difficulty. Good luck, and even that won't help you.

 

[snekadid]

I realised just a few minutes ago that when it comes to gaming, I must really like seeing myself in pain. Currently, I'm trying to figure out Dota 2. That's a pretty hard game in and of itself, but instead of playing against bots or with a few friends, I'm going it completely alone. Occasionally I hear things about the game and try to work with them, but for the most part I'm learning it entirely through solo queue PVP. If that doesn't make me the ultimate masochist, I'm not sure what does, but at least I'm the ultimate something.

In that regard, discussion value: recommend me something hard, preferably one where I don't have to raise the difficulty options for it to be hard, but if all you have is Dante Must Die, that's cool. Note that I own a decent PC, a Wii, DS and 3DS, and I live in Australia so that might limit my options slightly.

then you MUST play these:

THANKYOU!!!!!!!

I was scrolling down the thread and getting pissed off because no one was mentioning "I wanna be the guy". It isn't a game about a cold unfeeling world where death is around every corner, it is a horrible evil hateful world where death is around every corner, is on your side of the corner and is in fact the corner itself. It makes dark souls look like barnies hide and seek on the sega genesis when it comes to difficulty.

There's a very easy mode, but the game isn't actually easier, theres just more check points so you have to walk slightly less far for the next 50 times you die, and they make you wear a pretty pink bow in your hair for playing on very easy to show that your a little b*tch.

There's no reason not to play it, its free and its both hilarious and frustrating.

 

[PaladinofGuns]

If you're okay with emulating snes games from japan, play Fire Emblem Geneology of the Holy war and Then, Thracia 776 with their respective english patches. Thracia especially will fuck you in the ass.

Thracia 776 chapter 17A. Fucking Cyas and his ten leadership stars.

 

[Tallim]

The Void. Incredibly punishing game. Technically an action adventure but you'll need a lot of strategy and planning to effectively play it and even then.......... Probably one of the hardest games I've played in a long time. And yes I have played and finished Dark Souls.

La-Mulana - awesome game, metroidvania style but with some incredibly tough puzzles and sections.