10 More Brutally Difficult First-Person Shooter Levels In Video Game History

While younger gamers know Rainbow Six as a slick, inventive multiplayer shooter, its forebear was less of a playground, and more of a university.

In Rainbow Six players must plan their assault pre-mission, studying every inch of the map in order to match the optimal weapons, operators and tactics to each mission’s unique requirements. The assault is then executed in Rainbow Six’s signature one-shot-one-kill style, where any sloppy planning or execution is rewarded with a brutally swift squad-wipe and an ignominious return to the planning screen.

Stone Cannon is all this dialled up to maximum cruelty. Other maps can be assaulted in such a way that you can establish safe zones behind you. Not here: the map is so compact, with so many interconnected rooms, hallways and multiple levels that locking down a flank is impossible. Worse, windows abound, which combined with the AI’s lightning reflexes and pin-point aim turns every pane into a potential death trap.

Thus, everything must be perfect. Your planning must be rock solid, your shooting flawless, and your discipline iron. Anything less and this is one examination you’ll be writing again, and again, and again...