20 Video Game Hard Modes For True Masochists

Anyone who’s played Sifu, Slocap’s beat ‘em up about a kung-fu fighter who ages every time they die, knows that the game is no joke when it comes to difficulty.

And that’s just on its intended difficulty of Disciple. When you start playing on Master, Sifu turns into a game of mandatory perfectionism or eternal rage.

Although Sifu’s Master mode doesn’t really change much, making enemies just a little stronger while cutting your life in half, if you know how easily enemies can kill you in Disciple, both of these tweaks sound like a nuclear level of danger.

In Master you have to be perfect with every move you make, as letting yourself get hit even once can instantly kill your character.

It's honestly devastating, and yet Sifu’s community has created an unofficial upgrade of this hard mode, called Grandmaster, where they use the “Unlimited Threats” and “Stronger Enemies” unlockable modifiers to mix Master's penalties with endless waves of enemies that simultaneously attack you with their one-shot punches.

At that point, the only thing that can save you is conditioning your muscle memory to execute flawless combos on demand.