Most ruthlessly punishing indie games

These demonically difficult freeware titles will devour your soul

Words: on July 16, 2009

Some people make videogames because it’s something they love. Some people make videogames to gain fame and fortune. And some people make videogames because they want you to suffer... horribly. Crawling forth from deep crevices in the earth, a handful of particularly sadistic indie game developers have emerged to hunt for fresh souls to feed their unholy engines of destruction. These depraved, pale creatures take delight in the pain their creations will inevitably inflict upon you and have masterminded these games to produce the maximum amount of anguish possible. They crave your torment so badly they’ll even let you play for free.

With no money at stake, the punishment-delivering capabilities of these games have been left to grow unchecked. For your masochistic delight, we present to you a twisted menagerie of indie freeware designed to destroy your spirit and possibly your keyboard. These gaming abominations want to snap you in half, eat your innards, and regurgitate them back onto your corpse. You’ve been warned. Now go play!

I Wanna Be The Guy

No. You absolutely do not want to be The Guy. The Guy repeatedly gets disemboweled in a spray of pixelated bloody mist if even so much as the nail on his tiny pinky finger gently brushes up against a spike or other deadly obstacle. Believe us: You don’t want to be him. I Wanna Be The Guy is a psychotic amalgamation of visual and audio elements from classic retro NES games of days long past stitched together into something warped and insidious.

You’ll attempt to guide the titular hero along the path of good-guy righteousness…until that path comes alive with spikes, lasers, man-eating apples, and other hellish implements bent on ending your puny existence. Getting to the second screen is a challenge in itself. Venturing further beyond that point quickly becomes an exercise in absurdity.

Download: http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/

Precision

Momentum (or lack thereof) is what makes Precision such a bastardly game to tackle. There are no foes to battle, no power-ups to meddle around with, and no health bars to be concerned about. Physics is your only enemy. More precisely, the sinister physics implemented by the game’s maker is your only enemy. The goal is to simply run and jump from rooftop-to-rooftop in each level, collecting green bottles along the way, and climb down a ladder at the end to proceed without falling into the abyss below.

The controls and movement physics are ironically designed to be anything but precise, which is why you’ll replay some levels over and over dozens of times before completing them. Proper jump timing, carefully gauged momentum, and a good memory are the only way to persevere. But death and profane utterances come fast and furiously.

Download: http://www.yoyogames.com/games/launch/37405

Related

Platforms:

PC

35 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
  • Cernunnos

    Cernunnos  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    Syoban Action is a bitch at first, but after completing it a couple of times and memorizing the traps its a breeze, really.
  • AlphaAGENT144

    AlphaAGENT144  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    you guys forgot an infamous one around the interwebz:

    Touhou

    its extremely hard, i believe it deserves a place on this list
  • deathrebellion

    deathrebellion  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    and i thought the last boss battles of Megaman X series wuz hard :|
  • thomashalpenny

    thomashalpenny  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    @TheElusiveMongoose
    i started playing unfair platformer its the most annoyingly addictive game ever
  • Kikyabut2

    Kikyabut2  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    man, the worlds hardest game, that took me FOREVER to finish, my hands were practically glued to the keyboard and i had 6389 deaths! it was insane!
  • SolidSpartan

    SolidSpartan  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    That's it! I'm gonna download I Wanna Be The Guy. You people make it sound so, how should I say this, "cool". (Dam! I couldn't think of anything better.

    ReCAPTCHA: "chickens protect"
    What DO chickens protect? My guess is, THIER EGGS, and I'm not talking about the ones that hatch...well, actually, I am. ^_^
  • FinalGamer

    FinalGamer  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    I love IWBTG, I've actually killed the first boss and heading onwards when I got the stamina. A friend of mine's even beaten it. It is pure awesome.
  • dreamgor

    dreamgor  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    "sees i wanna be the guy" WAHHHHH the torture device from hell "jumps out from closest mountain" i got to the shy guy who shoots bullets ... even with watching multiple playthroughs i can't nail it...
  • Kaz993

    Kaz993  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    I beat I wanna be the guy. It took... forever. I got so pissed. I broke at least two keyboards and shouted WHAT THE FUCK so loud my neighbors complained. No joke.
  • theschwartzb

    theschwartzb  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    These games looks soul-destroyingly difficult.
  • bmrskate

    bmrskate  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    *I Wanna Be the Guy. Damn my good grammar lol
  • ryno

    ryno  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    what about Don't shoot the puppy
  • dweller

    dweller  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    Wow. Bite the bullet is so awesome. A parade of bullets with some slo-mo has exploded my mind.
  • civver

    civver  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    I suppose you people playing these games are having fun. I know I won't.
  • elchetos

    elchetos  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    That only shows how hardcore gamers often seek the most masochistic challenges we can get our hands on. I remember IWTBTG when it just came out... Even after watching the video of the playthrough of the first level I couldn't get past the 3rd screen. Oh, those good times...
  • Corsair89

    Corsair89  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    I'm definitely avoiding these games because I would get so pissed off at them after dieing so many times.
  • Pepsuber88

    Pepsuber88  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    I remember passing the wheel in the worlds hardest game, it took me 48 tries to figure out there was enough space between each wheel to stop. The hardest game: Bowman obstacle shooting. RecAPTCHA: tral fudges
  • Cyberninja

    Cyberninja  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    not touching any of these games and metroid has a new villan because my recaptcha is sister brain
  • TheElusiveMongoose

    TheElusiveMongoose  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    How about The Unfair Platformer? ^^ It's a flash game not an indy game, but it is so packed ith booby traps... just try it ^^

    http://www.kongregate.com/games/Eggy/the-unfair-platformer
  • Danomeon

    Danomeon  - 2 years, 7 months ago  - Report

    Correction: "The second screen".

    Sorry, I was excited about being the first. Except I didn't admit it. Until Now.

    I'm an idiot.
Most Commented
Connect with GamesRadar