10 Final Levels That Ruined Great Video Games

In Double Fine's mind-bending platformer, a young psychic called Raz infiltrates the minds of several eccentric characters, hoping to uncover a sinister plot.

Although the levels' psychedelic structure and bonkers' puzzles are a major reason why Psychonauts has had a lasting legacy, it went too far in the final area. Simply put, the Meat Circus is too hard. This might sound like an unfair criticism, since the last stage should be tough.

However, Psychonauts has one of the most brutal difficulty spikes ever seen in platforming. The game is fairly easy, which is why it's confusing when you're inexplicably thrust into an unforgiving level with sparse checkpoints, relentless enemies, and pixel-perfect platform sections.

Though certain players would like to rise to the challenge, that's easier said than done. Much of the difficulty stems from camera limitations rather than skill, since you can't always see what you're doing while making life-or-death manoeuvres. As a result, players are expected to die on loop through no fault of their own.

Meat Circus has become so infamous over the years, the creators were compelled to tone the difficulty down when Psychonauts was re-released.