10 Video Game Trophies That REALLY Test Your Patience

Gamers have had mixed feelings about trophies, achievements, feats and other such systems since they first started to be implemented.

There’s certainly an argument that they add replayability, appeal and impetus to a game, for those that are that way inclined. Even players that generally don't focus on trophies tend to like the idea of grabbing a handful along the way.

Trophy lists, however, tend to sink or swim based on how well thought out they are. Interesting little challenges are always great. The push to play through a difficulty mode we might otherwise leave untouched can be welcome too.

Trophies that are simply all tied to story progression are more than a little uninspired, though, and tasks that are just plain frustrating or time-consuming aren’t fun either.

This is the life of the true platinum trophy hunter, though. They have infinite patience for difficult, grindy or otherwise irritating trophies, such as these. No platinum trophies are included here, just particularly pesky standalone ones that more than got in your way.

Yacht Club games created three DLC campaigns for their beloved retro-tinged platformer Shovel Knight. Each of them casts the player as one of knights of the nefarious Order Of No Quarter, providing a bit more insight into their histories and motivations along the way.

Shovel Knight: King Of Cards is perhaps the most expansive of all, offering not just a wealth of new levels but a robust card-based minigame, Joustus. The game is similar to the famed Triple Triad of Final Fantasy VIII, but instead revolves around claiming gems on the board by pushing your own cards onto them (and the opponent’s cards off in turn).

The minigame is optional, but a big focus of the narrative and some of the levels. There are a lot of opponents to play against and many cards to collect, though claiming the “Card Completionist” trophy will be quite a feat.

Not only are some of the cards played only by optional bosses who must be defeated in order to challenge them at Joustus (only Polar Knight plays the Polar Knight card, for instance), but others will need to be purchased from Chester, who offers ‘mystery cards’ of different, increasingly expensive, tiers. Many doubles and a lot of gold-grinding will be needed.

Finally, a very difficult optional boss, Giga Cardia, must be defeated if you want the Card Crystal, which displays the location of all unowned cards.