10 Brutal Difficulty Spikes In Recent Video Games
1. Ginso Tree Escape - Ori & The Blind Forest
Generally speaking, Indie games have a reputation for being much harder than their AAA peers. And generally speaking, that's exactly the case, which, for many, makes them so much more worthwhile. Naturally, though, with high difficulty comes truly sadistic difficulty spikes, and the sequence everyone remembers the most in 2015's Ori and the Blind Forest is just that.
The charming 2D Metroidvania game is already a sizeable challenge before you get to the Ginso Tree. Platforming and combat are utilised in equal measure, and it's very easy to lose your rhythm and have to start a particular gauntlet all over again.
However, at no point does anything else in the level come close to its hair-raising, crotch-tightening finale, the Ginso Tree Escape.
The sequence follows the well-used 'rising water' trope seen in many platforming games, but the trickiness of the ascent is not something one could ever really understand without playing it themselves. There's no margin for error here whatsoever, and with enemies and their projectiles being your only means of climbing higher, you'd better hope that pesky R&G is on your side.
It's a truly engrossing sequence from start to finish. Without its harsh difficulty, you have to wonder if it would have made the extreme impact on its fanbase that it did.