10 Video Game Difficulty Modes You Must Complete Without Dying Once
9. Ori and the Blind Forest - One-Life Mode
Well placed as one of the better Microsoft exclusives, the Ori franchise from Austrian developer Moon Studio continues to deliver one of the most stunning video game landscapes in the business. It's also one of the better Metroidvania titles in recent memory with a tough but fair difficulty to match.
Normally when playing, the game counts your total deaths throughout the story and checkpoints are limited to soul links planted by the player. These require energy cells which are not in high supply, which forms much of the game's challenge. Those will to take it a step further can try one-life mode.
Ori only has one chance to save Nibel under this setting. Rather than counting your deaths in regular play, you instead have to do the whole game over again. To beat this mode, you'll have to learn the entire game by heart, including the multiple routes through the levels, gathering various abilities and boss strategies.
Even with the whole thing memorised, it's still a tough playthrough. Players can create multiple save files and quit out of the game to practice sections, but the brutal challenge remains. If you're sent back to the start, a wisp is planted to mark the spot you died.