Some games are there to help me switch my brain off. These are not those games. This is for anyone who gets that special, deeply satisfying feeling from finally beating the thing that has been absolutely flattening them for the last three hours.
From savage action games and merciless survival RPGs to brain-melting puzzle boxes and city builders designed to make every decision hurt, these upcoming games look ready to kick my ass in wildly different ways.
Key Takeaways
- Stranger Than Heaven and Phantom Blade Zero could bring fresh combat systems to high-difficulty action games.
- Ascenders: Beyond the Peak and Frostpunk 1886 make harsh decisions and survival pressure central to their challenge.
- Order of the Sinking Star is built for puzzle specialists, while Outward 2 aims to expand an already merciless survival RPG formula.
- Free Silksong DLC and Cronos: Lazarus round out the list with more demanding horror and platforming ahead.
Table of Contents
- 10. Stranger Than Heaven
- 9. Phantom Blade Zero
- 8. Alien: Isolation 2
- 7. Valor Mortis
- 6. Ascenders: Beyond the Peak
- 5. The Duskbloods
- 4. Frostpunk 1886
- 3. Order of the Sinking Star
- 2. Guns of Eschaton
- 1. Outward 2
- Bonus Challenge: Hollow Knight: Silksong, Sea of Sorrow
- Bonus Challenge: Cronos: Lazarus
10. Stranger Than Heaven
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Release date: 15 January 2027
Stranger Than Heaven already looks like a major left turn for RGG Studio. The setting and style are different from the usual Yakuza and Like a Dragon fare, but the combat system is what really has my attention.
Rather than assigning general attacks to a couple of face buttons, the game appears to map each limb to the shoulder buttons. Left punch is LB, left kick is L1, right punch is RB, and right kick is R1. Pulling off a combo means rhythmically entering an actual sequence of inputs. I cannot just mash one attack button and pretend that is a fighting style anymore.
That alone is an interesting mechanical wrinkle, but previews have also described it as the toughest game RGG Studio has ever made. That is a big claim, considering the studio usually keeps the main path in its games fairly approachable until the endgame challenges begin.
There is a chance that early difficulty impressions come partly from people getting used to that strange four-limb control scheme. Still, reports suggest enemies are more aggressive and dangerous too. If RGG is genuinely building a punishing combat game from the ground up, Stranger Than Heaven could be one of the most exciting departures the studio has attempted in years.
9. Phantom Blade Zero
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5
Release date: 29 October 2026
Phantom Blade Zero looks like an aggressive action game with Soulslike DNA, but the difficulty question is more interesting than usual because it has four separate modes. Early hands-on impressions have suggested that its default combat may not be quite as brutal as a typical Souls game, although it is unclear which difficulty those previews used.
The lower settings are Wayfarer and Pathmaker, effectively easy and normal. The real fun begins with Hellwalker. Instead of simply turning enemies into damage sponges or weakening my character, this mode reportedly makes opponents more aggressive, reactive, and capable of adapting to my preferred tactics.
That sounds cool right up until a boss recognises the one opening I have been exploiting and stops giving it to me. A reactive enemy that learns to punish habitual healing or predictable counterattacks could turn every fight into a proper mental duel.
Then there is 66 Days, a more forgiving form of permadeath. I get 66 deaths before the run ends completely. That sounds generous until I remember how quickly death counters rise when a hard boss has my number. Whether normal mode turns out tough or not, Phantom Blade Zero has options for anyone who wants the game to become brutally demanding.
8. Alien: Isolation 2
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2
Release date: To be announced
The original Alien: Isolation remains one of the most stressful survival horror games ever made. It did not need an endless parade of monsters because one terrifyingly intelligent, near-unstoppable xenomorph was more than enough.
Everything we have heard about Alien: Isolation 2 suggests it is preserving that vicious formula. Early material has pointed towards lethal stealth encounters where a single mistake can put me straight into panic mode.
The big change is the setting. Rather than being trapped entirely inside cramped space-station corridors, the sequel appears to take the horror into open wilderness areas. On paper, more open space sounds like relief. In practice, I am not convinced it makes hiding from an alien any easier. A cluttered station gives me crates, vents, rooms and corners. A wide-open landscape can leave me feeling very exposed indeed.
There are still plenty of unknowns. I do not know whether there will be multiple aliens, new ways to confront them, or whether they will remain essentially impossible to kill. Creative Assembly earned a lot of trust with the first game, though, so I am prepared for whatever fresh nightmare it has planned.
7. Valor Mortis
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Release date: 13 October 2026
There are somehow two first-person Soulslikes on this list, and Valor Mortis is the one set in a fantastical take on the Napoleonic Wars. That alone gives it a visual identity most games in this genre do not have.
Its developers call it Souls-inspired, which does not automatically mean it will be ruthless from minute one. But this is being made by the team behind Ghostrunner, and those games were hard as hell. That gives me a pretty solid reason to expect something unforgiving.
What makes Valor Mortis stand out is its blend of first-person melee combat, shooting, and Soulslike structure. None of those ingredients is completely new, but the combination looks surprisingly fresh in a genre that can feel pretty repetitive when it leans too heavily on familiar fantasy conventions.
Trailers naturally focus on the flashy moments, so it is impossible to know exactly how punishing the full game will be. My expectation is that it will ramp up sharply after the introductory material. If the team carries its Ghostrunner instincts into this new format, I would prepare to die a lot.
6. Ascenders: Beyond the Peak
Platform: PC
Release date: Q3 2026
If a game gets compared to Darkest Dungeon, I immediately assume I am in for some pain. Ascenders: Beyond the Peak has that same grim structure: I manage a central base, send adventurers on expeditions, recover artefacts and rewards, then spend those gains on better equipment and future upgrades.
It is a little like XCOM, if casualties felt less like an unfortunate possibility and more like part of the job description.
The expeditions are where this game earns its place here. I lead a three-person climbing party up hazardous peaks where the environment can be as deadly as any monster. Crucially, the climbers are tethered together. That rope can save someone after a fall, but it can also turn one bad situation into a full-team disaster.
If a climber becomes impossible to rescue, I may have to cut the rope to save the other two. That is not simply losing a party member. It is having to actively choose who does not make it back. That sounds grim, difficult, and like exactly the kind of decision-heavy design that can make a hard game genuinely memorable.
A demo is available on Steam, so this is one punishing prospect I can actually try before release.
5. The Duskbloods
Platform: Switch 2
Release date: 2026, to be announced
The Duskbloods is no longer completely mysterious after a closed network test revealed more about its multiplayer setup. It is still a strange prospect for a FromSoftware game, because it moves the focus away from the usual single-player journey built around exploration, story, and difficult encounters.
Instead, it is a PvPvE action game with battle royale and extraction-style ideas mixed into the formula. Up to seven players enter one of three maps, compete across three phases, and collect points through different actions. The highest-scoring players advance, while the lowest-scoring players are eliminated.
At least in the network test, the endgame involves player-versus-player duels, with the final survivor crowned the king of the Duskbloods. It also sounds faster, more vertical, and much weirder than I would normally expect from the studio.
The difficult part may not only be surviving enemies and navigating the map. It may be dealing with players who have learned every system, route, character, and cheesy tactic before I have finished figuring out the basics. Soulslike multiplayer gets intensely competitive, and this game seems built to attract exactly that crowd.
4. Frostpunk 1886
Platform: PC
Release date: 2027, to be announced
Frostpunk was never a city builder about creating a cosy dream town. It was a game about keeping people alive in a frozen apocalypse, usually by making decisions that felt awful even when they were necessary.
That is why Frostpunk 1886 is so interesting. It appears to revisit the original game’s core survival-management ideas while expanding them with more buildings, events, mechanics, and a new overarching Purpose path to pursue.
The original made every bit of progress feel expensive. I would solve one crisis, only to discover that doing so had made another problem worse. Eventually, I could learn the systems and find more reliable paths to survival, but getting there involved a lot of failed cities and harsh lessons.
This looks like a safe sequel in the best possible sense. It is not trying to abandon what made the first game compelling. It is trying to make that formula deeper, more complex, and relentlessly unforgiving all over again. If that means a sharper, better version of the original experience, I am completely fine with it.
3. Order of the Sinking Star
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2
Release date: 8 October 2026
Puzzle games can already be exhausting when they are working at full strength. Order of the Sinking Star takes four distinct puzzle games made by an all-star group of puzzle creators and combines them into one interconnected world containing 1,000 rooms.
The one merciful thing is that the structure is non-linear. If I hit a wall in one puzzle area, I can move elsewhere and work on something different. That sounds manageable until the boundary rooms start blending rules and mechanics from multiple puzzle zones together. Then it becomes a big, beautiful, potentially horrifying mess.
Jonathan Blow’s previous work gives me a good indication of the potential difficulty curve. The Witness begins gently enough, then its late-game puzzles become absolutely savage. If Order of the Sinking Star follows that pattern, the last stretch could feel like running into a vertical wall.
There is no conventional narrative structure here to soften the blow. The appeal appears to be a massive density of puzzles, systems, interactions, and difficult ideas. It could reach the kind of brain-twisting difficulty associated with Baba Is You. If it does, I will freely admit I may need serious help to see everything it has to offer.
2. Guns of Eschaton
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Release date: 2026
Guns of Eschaton is the other first-person Soulslike on this list, but it could not be more different from Valor Mortis. It is a weird-west horror game with an unusually striking visual identity, helped by contributions from Half-Life 2 and Dishonored concept artist Viktor Antonov.
There have been plenty of horror-tinged Wild West games over the years. This is one of the few that immediately looks like it might properly distinguish itself.
Its key difference is that there are no melee weapons. Every encounter revolves around guns, and a major mechanic lets me load different bullet types into my revolver. That puts emphasis on careful preparation and shot placement rather than blindly blasting away.
The game’s Steam description makes no secret of its intent to be difficult. I am expected to die a lot. The important thing is whether failure feels instructive and rewarding instead of purely irritating. A hard game where every death teaches me something can be brilliant. A hard game where each death feels pointless can become miserable fast.
If the developers nail the feel of shooting, enemy encounters, and iterative learning, Guns of Eschaton could be something genuinely unique. It has every chance to be brutal, but I am hoping for the good kind of brutal.
1. Outward 2
Platform: PC
Release date: 2027
The original Outward is one of the most unusual RPGs around. On the surface, it looks like a fairly pleasant fantasy adventure. Then I get ambushed by wolves, dragged to their lair, imprisoned by bandits, sickened by the wrong plant, or killed because I failed to plan properly.
It mixes traditional RPG exploration with extraordinarily unforgiving survival and combat mechanics. That cruelty is exactly what made it so distinctive. The world does not bend around me because I am the protagonist. It expects me to prepare, learn, and deal with the consequences when I do not.
Outward 2 looks set to retain that formula while delivering a larger, more interactive world. The hope is that it preserves the challenge while trimming away some of the unnecessary jank that held the first game back.
I think of the original as a flawed gem. There is loads to love, but also obvious room for improvement. Kingdom Come: Deliverance showed how a sequel can clean up a janky but ambitious RPG, retain its demanding nature, and find a much wider audience. I would love to see Outward 2 pull off something similar.
Bonus Challenge: Hollow Knight: Silksong, Sea of Sorrow
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2
Release date: 4 September 2025
Sea of Sorrow is upcoming DLC for Hollow Knight: Silksong, and the prospect is honestly a little scary. The base game is already on another level when it comes to challenge, especially once it reaches its third act.
If this expansion follows the example of the original Hollow Knight add-ons, I expect it to be absurdly difficult. Team Cherry has a talent for making punishing platforming and boss encounters feel irresistible even when I am clearly hitting my skill ceiling.
The good news is that, like the studio’s other DLC, Sea of Sorrow is planned as a free addition. The bad news is that I will probably have no one to blame but myself when I voluntarily enter another impossible arena.
Bonus Challenge: Cronos: Lazarus
Platform: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2
Release date: Q4 2026
Cronos: Lazarus is DLC for Cronos: The New Dawn, one of the toughest survival horror experiences I have encountered in a while. The base game is extremely stingy with ammunition and resources, which means every wasted shot can come back to haunt me later.
There is still not much known about what the Lazarus expansion will involve or how large it will be. But even if it ends up easier than the main game, it could still be one of the most difficult survival horror releases in years.
I loved Cronos: The New Dawn. Bloober Team did a great job establishing a new IP, and it deserved more attention than it got. If Lazarus maintains that level of quality and tension, I am ready to be stressed out all over again.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which upcoming game on this list is likely to be the hardest?
I would put Outward 2, Order of the Sinking Star, and the highest difficulties in Phantom Blade Zero near the top. They each approach difficulty very differently, though: survival, puzzle-solving, and precision action combat.
Does Phantom Blade Zero have difficulty settings?
Yes. It has four difficulty modes, including Wayfarer, Pathmaker, Hellwalker, and the 66 Days mode that ends the game after 66 deaths.
Can I try Ascenders: Beyond the Peak before release?
Yes. A demo is available on Steam, offering an early chance to experience its expedition structure and dangerous rope-tether climbing system.
Will Hollow Knight: Silksong, Sea of Sorrow be paid DLC?
No. Sea of Sorrow is planned as free DLC, consistent with Team Cherry’s approach to previous add-ons.
