Summary
The 2010s saw a gradual desire from players to return to thedifficult gaming of their childhoods, a step away from the convenience and potential ease games could allow in the 21st century. It was an era dominated by the rise of the Soulsborne genre, and as an extension, a fascination with making games enjoyably hard once again.
Although Hidetaka Miyazaki’s boss battle creations were the pinnacle of difficulty during this decade, many others attempted to create equally memorable (and equally frustrating) encounters. These could take the form of retro-style boss encounters, or modern enemies requiring razor-sharp reflexes.
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The final boss ofTerraria,Moon Lord, is a version of Cthulu that requires multiple body parts to be attacked and destroyed before he is gone for good. Moon Lord requires the player to pay attention and, critically, shape an arena that will work best for them.
Theopen-endedness ofTerraria’sgameplaymeans one player’s strategy won’t necessarily work for someone else, and as a result, players have to rely on what they are comfortable with when facing this boss, even if it’s not the ideal appraoch.
In a galaxy ofLovecraftian Reapersand xenophobic militias, it seems unlikely that the hardest boss in the final DLC pack forMass Effect 3would come from an arcade game, but playing against them in Insanity Mode with all modifiers on can create an extremely difficult (and rewarding) boss fight.
The Mirror Match consists of three waves of enemies modeled after classes the player can pick, armed to the teeth and with the ability to respawn. Against squadmates, they are quick and lethal, and against the player, if not using cover or quickly changing position, are equally challenging.
When so manydifficult boss fightshave come fromFinal Fantasy, it is only fitting that aMonster Hunter: Worldcrossover event offers the most difficult creature battle in the entire game. Players must abandon any thought of doing this fight solo; a full team is absolutely required.
In its most difficult form, Extreme, The Behemoth will one-hit players with almost every attack, but none are as terrifying as Ecliptic Meteor, which will wipe out a party that is too close to the blast zone. For the Extreme Behemoth, every attack is a potential death sentence for the inexperienced or the unprepared.
For the more pacifistUndertaleplayer, fighting Sans is an unlikely outcome given the friendliness he shows the player character. If players seek to kill all life in the Underground, however, Sans will initiate a fight unlike anything else in the game.
Sans can string together attacks at random, attack during the player’s turn, and alter the Soul State., to make the gameplay wild and unpredictable. Sans' role as a barrier towardscompleting the Genocide pathis exactly what it seems; a way to punish the player for causing so much destruction.
Facing Sigrun is the culmination of a long and rewarding questline that Kratos can partake in partway throughGod of War. Defeating the eight Valkyries scattered throughout the realms unlocks an encounter with their queen, who represents one of the hardest challenges in the game.
Sigrun has a wide variety of skills that can be utilized in any order, combining the movesets of the other eight Valkyries, making her an unpredictable and dangerous opponent forThe God of War. Combined with her lightning-fast speed and insta-kill abilities, Sigrun is a force to be reckoned with.
The Radiance by itselfis a difficult boss, but it is the perfect form, Absolute Radiance, that is nigh-unbeatable. Her attacks are much faster than the former version and require expert timing to dodge, forcing players to pray for an opening.
What adds to the challenge is the endurance required by the fight. There are six stages, and it is only in the fourth stage that players can make use of the Dream Nail. With such grueling requirements, it is fitting that Absolute Radiance is considered the true final boss ofHollow Knight.
The firstchallenge in facing Isshin is endurance. Players must win a rematch against Genichiro before facing Isshin immediately afterward. With no other opportunities to heal or rest, this immediately places the player at a disadvantage.
What follows is a culmination of everything the player has learned throughoutSekiro: Shadows Die Twice; Isshin’s three phases make use of nearly every style of attack, and there is no simple strategy as there are for the game’s other difficult bosses, like The Demon of Hatred. Winning against Isshin is a matter of skill, and focus and nothing more.
Blocking access to The Devil himself, King Dice is a boss that is easy if players are lucky, and tedious if not. King Dice is essentially a marathon of minibosses, ranging from 3 to 9 in total, and he forces players to maneuver carefully to conserve health forCuphead’sfinal fight.
Reaching King Dice is a mess ofscreen content and toe-tapping bopsthat can make it difficult to keep track of what is going on, but it teaches dexterity useful for the final boss fight of the game. That being said, King Dice is a monster opponent, and the only enemy locked at Regular difficulty or higher who isn’t a final boss.
The much-feared final boss ofBloodborne’sonly DLC, The Orphan of Kos heavily punishes opportunist players who wait for the time to strike, and becomes far more difficult if theplayer brings help, enlarging its health pool and attacking unpredictability.
The Orphan of Kos gives players barely any time to rest or recover, attacks with four different debuff effects, and has such a wide range of skills that are performed with such speed that an element of luck is almost always needed to defeat it. Players will just being to get the hang of its first phase, and the second, more powerful phase will emerge.
Skolas is a boss so difficult that Bungie was forced to nerf himtwice. Firstly, he summons a horde of minions with rotating modifiers that caused them to be unpredictably powerful (especially during the ‘Arc Burn’ modifier), and secondly, players are limited to teams of three.
Bungie responded by first removing Arc Burn as a potential modifier, and when this failed, they cut Skolas' health in half. Although the modern Skolas is nowhere near as monstrous, it is this original form that echoesa challenge of the greatest severity.
