10 Hardest First Bosses In Video Games

Returnal's first boss is an interesting example because, while you'll surely encounter Phrike for the first time within an hour or two of playing, it will be much, much longer than that before you take the creature down.

As it turns out, Phrike is basically the toughest of the game's five bosses, unaided by the fact that players are still getting used to the Metroidvania-esque gameplay loop.

Developers Housemarque reported that Phrike caused more player deaths in the game's first month on release than any other boss - though that may be in part because even reaching the other four bosses may have taken many players longer than a month.

You'll need to take countless runs through the first biome, spanning possibly a few-dozen hours, before you're ready to kill Phrike, whose high-damage bullet hell attacks can cut you down with ease.

Once you've mastered the game's movement mechanics enough to finally kill Phrike, the other bosses seem considerably simpler by comparison.