Summary
Capcom has long been touted as the king of survival horror, developing some of the most captivating and memorable games within this beloved genre for over two entire decades at this point. While there were definitely a few games that helped usher survival horror into the gaming space,mainlyAlone in the Dark, it was really the release ofResident Evilin 1996 that set out the basic template for how these games would play and the clever design decisions that could make the experience so tense and scary.
After the immense success and popularity ofResident Evil, Capcom would eventually go on to create a plethora of other fantastic survival horror titles, many of which were designed to be brutally difficult in order to emphasize the feelings of fear and panic that are core to the genre. It’s time to take a closer look at some ofthe hardest survival horror gamesCapcom’s ever come out with to understand what exactly makes them so challenging in the eyes and hands of many fans.
Haunting Groundis an incredibly unique title within Capcom’s catalog since, while reception to it was lukewarm when it came out in 2005, over time, it has become somewhat of a cult classic that many longtime fans can only hope will receive a remaster at some point in the future. The player controls Fiona, a teenager whosuddenly awakens in a gigantic castlewhere she must attempt to escape the clutches of the many monstrosities that lurk around every corner.
Unlike a lot of Capcom’s survival horror games, though, Fiona doesn’t have any weapons to defend herself with, and while she has a very slow kick attack, this uses up her stamina bar, which will greatly reduce her movement. She does at least have her loyal companion, Hewie, who can help her out at certain points, but the lack of weaponry and surprisingly fast enemies make the game a pulse-pounding challenge from start to finish.
The beloved remake of the game that started it all,Resident Evilcombines terrifying enemies with challenging puzzles and some very clever camera angles to offer up a pretty challenging experience throughout. While the zombies in the game are very slow, the camera will always be positioned in a way that makes it a little more difficult to escape from their grasp, and since they are able to come back as themuch faster Crimson Headsafter being killed, it makes even the most basic enemies a real threat to encounter.
Alongside the zombies, players will also need to deal with the Cerberus-infected dogs who will leap around Chris or Jill to avoid their bullets, and the Hunters, who are one of the most durable enemies in the entire series. The game can seem fairly easy to sprint through on subsequent playthroughs when the player knows where everything is, but that first run can be pretty brutal, especially for those who aren’t familiar with the survival horror genre.
Capcom managed to perfectly capture theeerie and creepy atmosphereof the RPD in the remake ofResident Evil 2, but with the zombies now being even more dangerous than before, it makes walking through those tight corridors and hallways all the more terrifying. In classicResident Evilfashion, ammunition is incredibly scarce, and players will need to go out of their way to find some of the stronger weapons, which become absolutely essential for the boss encounters.
While the bloodthirsty zombies are already difficult enough to defeat, especially because of how many bullets they can take to the head, the addition of the Lickers and the Ivy Zombies, who appear later on, ramps up the challenge considerably. So long as players are smart about their ammunition and herbs, the game is relatively manageable, but it will severely punish anyone who tries to rush through without investigating their environment first.
Resident Evil 0is a very challenging game both for its intentional design mechanics and due to some of its clunky boss battles. Throughout the game, players will be able to switch between Rebecca and Billy, and while this sounds like it should make encounters easier, the game also forces them to be separated for large chunks of the story, with Rebecca being far weaker and more susceptible to damage than Billy.
The game is also packed full ofextremely challenging puzzlesthat often leave barely any hints or indications as to how they can be solved, with the animal puzzle being a prime example. Then there’s the Infected Bat, the boss that many consider to be the hardest in the series due to how fast, aggressive, and lethal its attacks are, requiring the player to hope and pray that their shots manage to land before getting hit themselves. While the two-player mechanic is definitely very ambitious and a lot of fun to play around with, it does also end up adding an extra layer of challenge to the overall experience.
In a similar vein toHaunting Ground,Clock Tower 3puts players in the shoes of a defenseless protagonist who, for the majority of the game, must run away and hide from enemies to make it to the next area in one piece. A core mechanic of the game is the Panic Meter, which slowly rises every time Alyssa is attacked or even just seen by one of the monsters, also known as Subordinates. The gauge fills up extremely easily, and once it reaches the top, Alyssa will start stumbling around and will become almost impossible to control.
This single mechanic injects so much more horror into the experience, but it also makes it all so easy to get caught when trying to sneak aroundthe clever enemy AI. Alyssa does get given a set amount of Evasion Points, which can be spent to avoid a specific attack, but considering that these are limited, they are more of a last resort rather than a mechanic that can be relied on.
After his work on the originalResident Evil, Shinji Mikami decided to take a slightly different approach to the survival horror genreby replacing zombies with dinosaurs, which are just as terrifying and dangerous as their counterparts. The main enemy ofDino Crisisis the raptors, small but incredibly fast dinosaurs that can easily overwhelm Regina if she’s not prepared. Regina luckily has a small handgun to help her fend off enemies, but since it’s incredibly weak and unreliable, it encourages players to run away and use the environment rather than face the raptors head-on.
The game also contains some of Capcom’s most difficult and arduous puzzles to this day, especially those that involve using and re-writing multiple code disks to access specific areas. Rather than taking a single block of damage, Regina will also continue to bleed over time, meaning that a single hit can prove to be fatal later on unless it’s treated with the proper medical equipment.
WhileCode Veronicahas a very captivating story and some extremely memorable characters, there’s no denying that some sections of the game feel far too difficult for their own good, almost to the point of seeming completely unbalanced. The most obvious example of this isthe Tyrant fight on the plane, which is infamous for being an encounter that can soft-lock the player if they don’t have enough ammunition to take him down, but there are also a few smaller examples of this, such as the extremely frustrating Bandersnatch enemies.
Additionally, while the game is already difficult enough to get through, there’s a point where it will suddenly switch perspectives over to Chris, meaning that if players don’t put all their items in an Item Box to carry over, they will lose them all for these later sections. Hopefully, Capcom can try to makeCode Veronicajust a little more manageable in regard to its difficulty if the game ever receives a remake in the future.
Because of the sheer number of zombies that appear on-screen at once inDead Rising, it’s incredibly easy to become overwhelmed when exploring the massive shopping mall that the game takes place in. Since Frank is simply a journalist looking for his next scoop, he’s very ill-prepared to deal with the undead hordes that surround him, meaning that the player will need to get creative with their weapons to even stand a chance of making it out alive.
Alongside the merciless zombies who can cause some real damage if they manage to get their hands on Frank, there’s also the Psychopaths,a group of maniacal humanswho are usually equipped with a deadly contraption or weapon. Sometimes, the more influential Psychos will actually send some of their cronies to do their dirty work for them, such is the case with cult leader Sean Keanan, who will force Frank to deal with his loyal servants and the gigantic horde of zombies.Dead Risingis an intensely difficult game, and it provides the perfect test for anyone who thinks that they’ve mastered the survival horror genre.
