10 Most Stressful Video Game Levels

If there's one way to make an already challenging level even more stressful, it’s to add a time limit into the mix to underscore how much pressure the player is under to complete their goal.

Nowhere is the time limit more stressfully used than in the final boss fight in Metal Gear Solid in which players go up against Liquid Snake.

In true Metal Gear style, this showdown is as over-the-top as conceivable, with the fight taking place on a giant nuclear mech with an airstrike imminent. To escape from this situation alive, players are tasked with beating Liquid Snake with just their bare fists in only three minutes. However, thanks to Snake’s long, gloating villainous rant that happens before the fight can begin, players get the pleasure of watching as thirty of those precious seconds tick away.

With just 150 seconds to save the day, players will need to act fast to whittle this boss's health down enough so that they can be knocked over the edge with a satisfying finishing blow.

Get too overzealous in your fight against the clock, however, and players can easily find themselves being pummelled by the Liquid Snake's punishing attacks.