10 Video Games You Should Play On Hard Mode

10. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a difficult game to start with. The first installment of the new XCOM games, it had to set the bar for the reboot of the popular strategy game series, and did so to great success and critical acclaim.

However, if you’re someone familiar with the intricacies of turn-based tactical titles, the game’s ‘Impossible’ difficulty more than sufficiently raises the stakes.

This highest difficulty mode both increases enemy strength and sharpness of AI, while also decreasing the titular XCOM organisation’s available power and worsening the initial global reaction to the alien invasion. Oh, and there’s permadeath, too.

Also included are further game mode adjustments Ironman, which entitles the player to only one save slot to eliminate reloads, and Second Wave, which is unlocked after your first playthrough.

Playing Impossible with Ironman added is undoubtedly the most realistic way to play the game, as it most accurately mirrors the state of the possible international response to such a global catastrophe.

It successfully imparts a sense of despair and responsibility on the player that impacts the emotional experience of playing a strategy game far more than many in the genre, so if you want to really feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, this is the game for you.