Achievements and trophies make for excellent bragging rights, but they vary in difficulty. Some are easy to get, and merely require a bit of patience and exploration. Others are so notoriously punishing that you’d rather bathe in honey before swan diving into a fire ant hill.
Despite their difficulty, and actually, maybe because of their difficulty, these notoriously rare and challenging achievements have an allure to them. They’re rare, and oftentimes, the talking points of a gaming community keen to share their shared struggles. The following ones are some of the hardest, most brutal, and punishing video game achievements in history. If you’ve managed to successfully snag any of nearly-impossible feats, then well done.
Updated August 22, 2022 By Ben Jessey: Xbox and Steam achievements, as well as PlayStation trophies, don’t seem to be going anywhere. They’ve been around for many years and have even made it over to the new generation of consoles. Thankfully, they remain satisfying to earn.
Yet, that is when you can earn them. There are several that are almost impossible to win as they take unbelievable skill and patience to achieve. Some of the best examples made it onto the previous version of this list. And we’ve now added a few more punishing ones.
18 The Shadows Rushed Me (Max Payne 3)
Max Payne 3 is hardly the easiest third-person shooter, even on normal difficulty. But if you attempt to earn The Shadows Rushed Me achievement, you’re going to think it’s the hardest shooter ever. This is because the achievement requires that you beat the New York Minute game mode on hardcore difficulty.
This means not only do you have to complete the entire game in one sitting without dying, but you also have to do it before you run out of time. It’s punishingly difficult, especially because if you fail, you have to start the challenge all over again. It is not for the faint of heart.
17 Impossible, Right? (Crypt Of The NecroDancer)
Crypt Of The NecroDancer is a unique title as it’s a roguelike and rhythm game. Therefore, you explore dungeons and move with the beat. Going for the Impossible, Right? achievement turns this chill game into a nightmare.
To earn the achievement, you must complete the All Zones Mode with Coda. If you haven’t played the game, that challenge doesn’t sound too scary. However, Coda is the worst character to use. For one, their beat is really fast, and you die if you miss one. Secondly, they only have little health and a weak dagger as their weapon. And finally, they immediately die if they pick up coins, which is particularly difficult as everyone they kill drops gold.
16 Shenanigans! (CloudBerry Kingdom)
You earn the Shenanigans! achievement in CloudBerry Kingdom for simply completing chapter seven. Yet, that chapter happens to be punishingly difficult and makes CloudBerry Kingdom one of the hardest platformers ever. While there are a few tricky levels in this chapter, it’s the final two that cause the issue.
You just have to look at them to figure out why they’re so tough. The entire screen is jam-packed with obstacles. So much so that you can barely see anything. And if you hit one of them, then you fail. They’re almost impossible to beat.
15 Infallible (Fall Guys)
For the purposes of maximum difficulty we’re looking at the original version of the Infallible achievement in Fall Guys, which required you to win five matches in a row. For reference, only a small percent of Steam Fall Guys players have even earned the achievement for winning one game, let alone five, and this one requires five in a row. Nowadays, Infallible is an easier task to handle, as if you decide to party up with friends, you will only need to get five straight wins between the team rather than having to win all five by yourself.
Even still, Infallible stands out as the pinnacle of achievement rarity with just a tiny percent of Steam players having managed to pull it off. To win even one game of Fall Guys, you will need the perfect mix of skill, luck, and a lobby of inexperienced players. Good luck getting all of that five times in a row.
14 Messiah (Outlast 2)
What’s better than roaming around in pitch darkness without a flashlight while gruesome foes sniff out your fear? Doing so on Insane difficulty, for starters. This mean-spirited achievement involves completing Outlast 2 on the highest difficulty setting whilst bumping around haphazardly in the dark, something that only a tiny percent of the game’s Steam players have managed.
Why? It turns out that in order to gain the achievement, you cannot reload your camera batteries. Gee, that’s great! If you somehow manage to limp your way over the finish line, you might need a permanent pacemaker.
13 Emperor! (The Elder Scrolls Online)
ESO tickled players with the promise of a high-level achievement that involved nothing more than dominating the Alliance War battlefield to become Emperor of Tamriel. This achievement (much like Communism) sounds great on paper, until you actually get to the meat of it.
It turns out that unless you’re an uber-gaming God with control over the fabric of reality, space and time, you’re going to have it rough trying to dominate said battlefield. Alliance War involves playing PvP, you see. Yes, you can guess the rest from there. Good luck beating the top ESO players, much less that kid around the block from your house.
12 The Bladder Of Steel Award (Rock Band 2)
The truly cruel thing about Rock Band 2’s most sought-after achievement is that it isn’t only a test of skill at the game, but a test of endurance and dedication to the craft of achievement hunting.
To earn this one, you will need to complete the 84-song gauntlet of Endless Setlist 2, all without failing a single song, and without pausing a single time. That’s a six-hour commitment that you have to pass without a single failed song and without a single break. For your efforts, you will be rewarded with a shiny Playstation trophy that only a small percent of Rock Band 2 players have.
11 My Kung Fu Is Stronger (Mortal Kombat)
This one isn’t quite as hard to achieve from a technical perspective, but we would love to know the motivation of any gamer who is willing to shave off a significant portion of their lifespan to gain this achievement.
It’s no biggie, really. All you have to do is play as every character for a full 24 hours, and win 100 fights, and score 100 fatalities….and perform 150 X-Ray hits. Oh, did we mention that you must spill 10,000 liters of blood… for each fighter? Better quit your day job and prepare for life as your own best friend.
10 Go Outside (The Stanley Parable)
Unlike the other achievements that could be considered “difficult,” The Stanley Parable’s Go Outside achievement doesn’t test your skill at the game so much as it does your patience, and really, your general memory skill.
All that needs to be done to earn this achievement is start-up The Stanley Parable, turn it off, wait five whole years and then turn it back on. Maybe in that time, you could take up a hobby. Or, as the name recommends, take a walk outside. A five-year walk. Even though the game was released in 2013, it would take completionists until 2018 at the earliest to earn this allusive achievement. Unless, of course, you cheated to get this one. Which we know you would never do, right?
9 Mr. Perfect (Mega Man 10)
There’s a special corner of Hell reserved for people who come up with achievements like this. What you have to do is make it through the entire Mega Man 10 campaign without taking a single hit. No, you didn’t misread. Yes, we said, “without taking a single hit.” From a Mega Man game. It’s like saying “Run face-first through that plate glass window without bleeding.” Possible? Sure. Probable? Unlikely.
Imagine trying to do a no-death run in a game, any game, and think about what a challenge that would be. Now, imagine trying to do a no-damage run. Something that sounds that impossible probably has no business being an achievement, and yet, here we are.
8 Laso Master (Halo: The Master Chief Collection)
The Halo games definitely have a challenge factor. Now, imagine cranking it up 10,000x and you’ll have an idea of what LASO Master is like. LASO stands for “Legendary All Skulls On.” If you felt a chill run up your spine just now, don’t be surprised.
Not only do you have to complete all four Halo games on Legendary, but you’ll have to do it with every Skull activated. If nothing else, it would simulate an actual war with the Covenant’s best forces, what with no radar, beefed up baddies and half a shield. Have at it!
7 Massive Mythology (TowerFall Ascension)
The notoriously difficult achievement in TowerFall Ascension actually used to be a lot more difficult. As it stands today, Massive Mythology will require you to play in 5,000 rounds of the game’s versus mode. Doing so will proudly place you among the tiny percent of Steam TowerFall players that have earned the achievement. Before it was 5,000, however, you were tasked with playing in 10,000 versus rounds. And before that, it was 20,000.
Even with the continued acts of charity from the developers, Massive Mythology remains one of the rarest achievements out there for the sheer time commitment required.
6 Quiz (World Of Guns)
If you’ve ever wanted to earn the top spot on Beto O’Rourke’s hate list, try getting this World Of Guns achievement. All you have to do is memorize the silhouettes and makeups of 200 different guns so that you can take part in a Quiz where you must identify ten of them in a row.
You can only take this Quiz once per hour, which is probably why only a small percent of World Of Guns players have managed it, to date. You might think it’s easy to memorize a handful of guns, but 200 is something else, entirely. With so many moving parts in their makeup, it can be a crushing task. To make it through this achievement, it will require a dedication to study time something close to how you would prepare for major exams. Come into this quiz with a good night’s sleep the day before, and countless hours of preparation.
5 Better Than The Best (Sniper Elite 4: Italia)
This is another achievement that sounds easy enough on paper, until you actually put your boots on the ground. All you have to do is beat the great sniper game on Authentic Plus difficulty, without manually saving.
Oh, and your radar and HUD are gone, and if you get spotted, enemies will never stop searching for you until you put one in their heads. The lack of any assisting elements is what makes this achievement so hard to get, especially if you are relying on your rifle.
4 The Legendary Hero (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots)
Think you’ve got what it takes to be a Legendary Hero? You might regret your overabundance of confidence when you see the laundry list of requirements! First, you’ll have to beat Metal Gear Solid 4 eight times, at the very least. That’s because you can’t get your hands on all the other trophies without doing so, which is a hard requirement.
Then there’s that tiny issue of playing through the game on the hardest difficulty setting without dying, using health packs, killing a single person, or getting spotted. And just so you don’t think Konami made it easy on you, you’ll have to perform this feat in under five hours, or it’s all for naught.
3 No Point In Dying (Limbo)
On the surface, this achievement doesn’t sound too daunting. But that’s just how they reel you in. “All” that is required of you for this achievement is the simple task of completing the game in a single play session, one with an average four-hour playthrough according to HowLongToBeat, dying only five times or less. Again, sounds simple enough. Nothing a little practice and a can-do attitude can’t overcome.
But take it from the large percent of Limbo players that don’t have this achievement - it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. Even with experience, Limbo remains a deceptively challenging game, despite its simplistic appearance. Be careful when chasing after this one.
2 Masterminds (Grand Theft Auto 5)
One of the hardest achievements around is still Masterminds, which forces GTA Online players to complete three Criminal Mastermind scenarios with the same team of players on Hard difficulty, without losing any lives on Setups or Finales.
Sure, it can be done, but there’s a reason why only a few Steam players have managed it, so far. It is more plausible if you have a group of veteran Grand Theft Autoplayers to game with, but even then, you have to account for each player’s inherent weaknesses, which can throw a spanner into the machine in no time flat.
1 Seriously 5.0 (Gears Of War 5)
The Seriously series of Gears Of War achievements is nothing new, but that doesn’t mean they’re getting any easier. You’ll have to complete the Insane level campaign, Master Horde & Escape Launch Maps, get 20 Re-Ups, and reach the level of General in a Tour of Duty.
Basically, get ready to sacrifice a significant portion of the next 12 months to Gears of War. When you’ve shouted enough obscenities that you’re creating new ones out of thin air, maybe, just maybe, you’ll be closer to this goal.
NEXT: Hardest Achievements In Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
