Beyond brutal: the most difficult FPS games to conquer
The first-person shooter (FPS) genre, as a concept, has been kicking around since the early days of home computing, but it wasn't until the release of Wolfenstein 3D in 1993 and Doom the following year, that it was truly defined by its gun-toting bloody mayhem.
Over the decades, the field has become saturated with different takes on the idea, from the multiplayer war zones of Call of Duty, to the creepy tension of F.E.A.R. and Bioshock, and the sci-fi shenanigans of Halo and Borderlands.
With the reboot of Doom in 2016, there's been a return to the brutally hard challenge that made the FPS genre so popular in the first place. Here are some of the most challenging titles that you can try to conquer.
Doom
Just like John Romero’s original, the reboot sees an unnamed space marine take up arms against a horde of demons spilling out from a gateway to Hell onto the surface of Mars. It's a fast-paced return to form, enabling players to execute their enemies in finishing moves known as 'Glory Kills'. It also sees the return of the BFG 9000. For a real challenge, players can opt to take on the Ultra-Nightmare difficulty setting. No saves. Permanent death.
Devil Daggers
While the reboot of Doom was a major graphical update over the original, developer Sorath took the opposite approach with Devil Daggers. It deliberately designed the game using blocky textures and visual artifacts to give it a retro 90s vibe. Sorath also made it ridiculously hard. The aim of Devil Daggers is to stay alive for as long as possible while a constant onslaught of increasingly difficult enemies try to kill you in a dimly lit arena. The longer you survive, the higher your name appears on the global leader board, but as soon as an enemy even touches you, you’re toast.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
Another FPS rebooted decades later, Wolfenstein: The New Order was a critical and commercial success. The release of a prequel, The Old Blood, saw a leaner game, with less story and more action. As well as the game itself, there were several hidden Nightmare Levels to discover, which warped players back to the original Wolfenstein 3D.
Dusk
Dusk is an upcoming retro FPS from the mind of indie developer David Szymanski and published by New Blood Studios. In it, players face an onslaught from possessed soldiers, backwater cultists and rampaging rednecks. The trailers so far have shown a breathtakingly fast-paced game that's sure to offer a substantial challenge with its endless survival mode.
Strafe
Another indie game that found its funding via Kickstarter, Strafe is adding a healthy dose of humour to the action-packed FPS entry. In Strafe you'll investigate the eerily empty spaceship Icarus, but it won’t be long before you're fighting through pools of blood and fending off hordes of crazed crew members. It'll also support by Oculus Rift for a gory VR FPS experience.
Although some of these brutal titles take their licks from games released decades ago, you still want a solid gaming machine to make sure the action remains ferociously fast with no juddering or slow-down. The ROG G752, G701 and GX800 will not only handle all of these games, it'll also support the Oculus Rift and broadcasting, so you can show the world how truly brutal your FPS skills are.
By Harry Slater
