Since I became hooked on indie games, I can say with complete certainty that the most challenging titles are the ones that have truly captured my heart.
I hate playing on high difficulties, but I love playing titles with a single game mode where the goal is to repeat and conquer, as these are the ones that are usually perfectly crafted for a demanding and satisfying experience.
Since Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls repopularised demanding journeys that don’t hold your hand, I think it’s obvious the indie scene was the most inspired, leaving us with countless adventures following in their footsteps.
Therefore, for those who are as big a fan of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s teachings as I am (or want to be), here are the ten hardest 2D Soulslikes, ranked.
10
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knight | Looking for the Perfect Combination
2021 | Adglobe and Live Wire | PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
As one of Hollow Knight‘s main successors, Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a game whose primary challenge lies in spatial awareness, given the numerous areas and connections to keep track of in order to progress with each newly unlocked ability.
While it’s not the most difficult Soulslike I’ve ever played, the understanding of the layout proved particularly challenging, especially when aiming for 100% completion, where you have to explore every nook and cranny of a map that only reveals the surface design of the environments.
Add to that a complex combat system where you can combine all sorts of summons, each with a different function and assigned to different buttons, and Ender Lilies becomes more demanding than its beautiful aesthetic might initially suggest.
Were it not for the fact that the enemies are simple and the bosses’ attack patterns are usually predictable (except for a couple that are devilishly complicated), I think we would easily be talking about a member of the podium of the most difficult titles in the genre.
9
Adventure of Samsara | A Complicated Balance
2025 | Ilex Games | PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Adventure of Samsara is the most recent addition to the list, which makes it a particularly significant entry because, unlike many of the games in this article, I found it challenging even after having finished numerous games in the genre and considering myself moderately experienced.
Since the game emulates the aesthetics and mechanics of classic 2D titles from several decades ago, its controls and movements aren’t spectacular or deeply animated, but rather concrete and limited to exacerbate the feeling of powerlessness in the face of an unforgiving world.
As a result, instead of feeling powerful as you progress and discover upgrades, you feel increasingly overwhelmed by the presence of beings that surpass you in size and power, conditioned by years of Metroidvanias and Soulslikes with complex combat and dozens of tools at your disposal.
It’s daring, and although it occasionally borders on frustrating due to its platforming, the truth is that Adventure of Samsara is a breath of fresh air for those who have been playing this type of game for many years and have been looking for a real challenge, which this title provides even beyond what I would like.
8
Moonscars | A Grim World
2022 | Black Mermaid | PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Speaking of dark and unforgiving worlds, Moonscars is a special Soulslike thanks to its atmospheric and captivating gloomy setting, which perfectly permeates an equally ruthless gameplay experience where everything is designed to make you feel completely helpless.
Although some weapons and combinations can make almost everything seem trivial, I decided to ignore the most effective options and stick with what I like, which resulted in hellish boss fights that often made me want to quit playing.
However, its content is relatively short, and its audiovisual presentation is beautiful, so, likely, I wouldn’t have been able to endure the sequences where you take double damage or the unfair combat if it were longer. Therefore, I believe it was a conscious decision by its creators to extend the experience.
In any case, Moonscars is not light or easy to love, because rather than being difficult in that it forces you to do trial and error, it really becomes demanding because of how its systems penalize you for dying, so it is definitely not made for all Soulslike fans.
7
Death’s Gambit | A Journey Through Immortality
2018 | White Rabbit | PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Death’s Gambit is a fascinating interpretation of the Soulsborne formula, and perhaps even one of the purest, not only because they share a similar aesthetic and feel, but also because they have a parallel difficulty curve: it starts very high and gradually decreases over time.
While it remains challenging even in the later stages, the real reason I’ve included this title on the list is that its introductory sections are anything but accessible or clear. I can rarely recall feeling so lost in a video game right from the start, which becomes frustrating faster than it seems.
The tools you have for fighting and healing, knowing where to go, the damage you inflict and receive, the familiarity of the controls… I’d venture to say nothing is truly intuitive at the beginning, but then you not only get used to it, but the game itself slows down with its bosses and stats, making it more manageable.
In any case, its average difficulty is above average even when it lets its guard down, so it’s something to take seriously. Death’s Gambit is an excellent Soulslike that gracefully invokes its Miyazaki-esque inspiration, which outweighs its occasional annoyances and lapses.
6
Blasphemous | The Path of Penances
2019 | The Game Kitchen | PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Those who are fans of Dark Souls are well acquainted with the name Blasphemous, and those who know the name Blasphemous have learned that the true challenge and rival to overcome isn’t the giant bosses or hordes of enemies, but the spikes that instantly kill you.
Besides being a Soulslike, Blasphemous is a Metroidvania that inevitably features platforming, which is present throughout its entire gameplay system. Fighting bosses, exploring Cvstodia, and killing basic mobs all depend on mastering its movement mechanics, which are excessively brutal and unnecessarily punishing.
Are the enemies’ attack patterns demanding, and is it important to manage your health and mana resources to properly execute their satisfying mechanical loop? Absolutely. Are you going to die three times as many times by falling on the spikes after a jump that is scientifically proven to have landed you on the next platform? You bet.
Blasphemous is generally difficult, but its limitations in controls and hitboxes are the real villain. It remains an impressive game that every fan of the genre should play, but the motives for including it here aren’t exactly to praise it, as might be the case with other entries in this article.
5
Aeterna Noctis | You’re Not Prepared
2021 | Aeternum Game Studios | PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Although difficulty isn’t always a cause for frustration, I’d venture to say Aeterna Noctis presents a rather exact blend of both, as it rarely throws you with fair challenges that don’t make you want to start smashing your head against the screen.
Okay, I’m exaggerating: the game is actually excellent, with platforming sections I find truly fascinating thanks to their gravity shifts and teleportations and bosses with dynamic and dizzying combat, but it demands more than you’re given to handle.
Our character’s tools and abilities are rarely up to the mechanical challenges of the game, forcing the trial-and-error period to go from engaging to tedious. I have no problem trying the same boss 30 times if I know it’s my fault, but taking 100 attempts because it has an attack I swear is impossible to dodge is way too much.
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Therefore, perhaps the reality is that Aeterna Noctis is the most difficult Soulslike on the entire list, because I doubt any of the others will make you die more times than this one.
However, this artificial nature places it below what, for me, constitutes true difficulty and not simply a series of low success rates, so I believe it falls short compared to several of its peers in this regard.
4
Salt and Sanctuary | Forgotten by God
2016 | Ska Studios | PS4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, and PC
As the first Soulslike I ever played, Salt and Sanctuary holds a special place in my memory, but my desire to acknowledge it isn’t solely driven by nostalgia.
On the contrary, I hold it in such high esteem because, even a decade later, I believe few video games have managed to capture the Souls essence so precisely both within and outside the 2D genre, while still maintaining a distinct character.
A character that, it should be noted, is complex from every angle. The interconnectedness of the maps, how they open up as you gain more movement abilities, the enemy attack patterns, the variety of classes and builds at your disposal, the countless secrets…
I wouldn’t say Salt and Sanctuary is the most difficult in any of these isolated aspects, but unlike others, it’s consistently challenging in each one. It’s a type of difficulty that’s constant and perfectly curved, making the entire journey feel compelling, even when you sometimes want to give up and just look for a guide.
3
Dead Cells | You’ll Die Until You Lose Count
2018 | Motion Twin | PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Within the multitude of genres Dead Cells blends, the Soulslike aspect is vividly present in its approach to combat, with invincibility frames, complex attack patterns requiring precision, short windows of opportunity, and the constant feeling you’ll never finish it.
I’ve dedicated hundreds of hours to the game over the years and have barely managed to reach the second boss cell, which isn’t even the midpoint of the maximum difficulty level it offers, so I think it’s clear what a behemoth we’re talking about.
Even its roguelite nature, which allows you to increase your chances of success after each attempt by adding upgrades that carry over between runs, doesn’t diminish the difficulty of the levels and the bosses, whose ability to destroy you in a second I’m sure is second to none.
It sacrifices the difficulty of other video games by having linear levels that don’t make you rack your brains about where to go, but what Dead Cells takes away in spatial awareness it triples in enemy difficulty, which is probably much worse.
2
Nine Sols | High Precision at High Speed
2024 | RedCandleGames | PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
If you combine the map-navigating challenges of Ender Lilies, the resource management of Blasphemous, and the combat mechanics of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you get Nine Sols: a masterpiece that will destroy you in ways you never even knew were possible.
Even if you’re experienced with FromSoftware games, Soulslikes, and Metroidvanias, RedCandleGames’ work is meticulously designed to teach you every hour that you’re nowhere near prepared for what’s coming next.
Every enemy, boss, platforming section, and area is harder than the last, resulting in a near-perfect difficulty curve that, nevertheless, starts quite high and ends with a secret boss that, I swear, has to be the most divinely difficult thing I’ve ever overcome.
The timing of parries, the extensive and rapid attack patterns of enemies, the precise parkour between areas, and the number of secrets in Nine Sols make this title not only a marvel, but particularly one that will prove extremely challenging during its relatively short duration.
1
Hollow Knight: Silksong | Putting What You’ve Learned to the Test
2025 | Team Cherry | PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC
If the developers at Team Cherry say they took so long to create Hollow Knight: Silksong because they wanted revenge on how players managed to beat Hollow Knight in every way imaginable, I’d believe them wholeheartedly; in fact, it would explain why Hornet’s adventure is the way it is.
I always thought Hollow Knight was difficult, though Silksong came along to show me that was just a tutorial, and that only the greatest challenges in Godhome can compare to the kind of magnificent atrocities that will test you in Pharloom.
The sequel not only starts with a difficulty level that rivals the final stretch of its predecessor, but it rises to a point where I can only imagine the developers laughing during development, knowing how miserable players would be trying to get through Bilewater or fighting the Last Judge.
Of course, unlike Aeterna Noctis or Adventure of Samsara, Hollow Knight: Silksong gives you all the combat and movement tools you need not only to overcome adversities but also to achieve the same level of control as in Hollow Knight, so it never feels truly frustrating.
On the contrary, one of Silksong‘s greatest achievements is being able to be the most difficult 2D Soulslike while, at the same time, being fair, because—with a few minor exceptions—it never pushes you beyond what you’re allowed to do, presenting a level of perfection and detail with very few precedents.
