7 Video Games That Are BEST On The Hardest Difficulty

I know what you're thinking.

"Normal Mode? On a list specifically about the best and hardest challenges provided by video games? Are you trying to send my keyboard into a meltdown Jules as I hammer out a furious and cuss-filled rebuttal?"

Well before you light up your environment with the sound of mechanical clacking, please give me a moment to explain. For while "Normal Mode" isn't actually God Hands' most extreme difficulty, its approach to difficulty as a whole is so wildly refreshing that even the vanilla experience is a sorbet for the soul.

You see, in this wildly over-the-top and downright off-the-wall title, God Hand presents players with an adaptive difficulty mechanic, meaning that the more damage you dish out without taking any yourself, the harder the game gets. As such even on Normal Mode, getting up to level 6 difficulty, which is hilariously just called "Die" can make for a punishing and rewarding time in equal measure.

Finding the zen of combat and flowing through enemies and unleashing special moves just at the right time feels all the more rewarding when the game looks to be sweating buckets just trying to keep up. It's like a friendly rivalry between you and the devs, of one-ups-man-ship that feels right at home in a long-form anime series and because Normal Mode lets you build to that crescendo of chaos unlike Hard Mode that locks you at "Die" difficulty, makes the challenge feel earned as well as supremely satisfying to keep up.