7 Difficult Video Game Bosses Designed to Make You Suffer. Or At Least Me.
First things first — all of the games featured in this are genuinely excellent, so don’t take this feature as me disliking them! In fact, the seven of these are among my all-time favourite games. However, these are bosses that caused me an immeasurable amount of suffering and distress, even if I did like them. There’s just so much pain to be found with them, you know?
Without further ado, and in no particular order (bar the first one) here’s one that nobody can disagree with…
Isshin, the Sword Saint — Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
I’m starting this list with the biggest bad of them all, the one that I still haven’t beaten! Isshin, the Sword Saint is the final boss of Sekiro, and if he wasn’t bad enough on his own, you’ll have to beat an entirely separate boss each time before you face off against him. Lightning fast with incredibly long ranged attacks, this is one boss that might inspire a fury in you like no other. I’d say you feel really good once beating him*, but I do not know what this feels like. It’s on the bucket list, though!
*the game is very satisfying when you beat a tough opponent, generally.
Cannoneer and Blade Bearer — Code Vein
Is it a Souls-like if it doesn’t have at least one duo boss? Cannoneer and Blade Bearer were the hardest wall I hit in Code Vein, and I had to take a fair bit of advice on board in terms of tactics, the AI ally I took into battle, and my equipment. I got there in the end, but oof, it took me a while, and I’d been clearing the game pretty breezily until this point.
Ruby Weapon — Final Fantasy VII
I’ve used an image of Ruby Weapon from FFXIV because it’s much higher quality — although it is infinitely easier than the original one found in FFVII. Its constantly regenerating tentacles, high health pool, and that it can remove party members from battle entirely make this a maddening experience. Thankfully, I think I’ll have an easier time with it in FFVII Remake, when it inevitably makes its appearance!
Kunikazu Okumura — Persona 5 Royal
Oooh. Oooooh. OOOOH. The Okumura palace was vastly improved upon in Persona 5 Royal, but the boss is enough to make me tear my hair out. There’s a time limit, you cannot use All-Out Attacks, and there are rounds where you have to win within two turns or you start that round all over again. You have to abuse weaknesses and baton passing to beat this one, and it’s certainly an experience I’m glad to have overcome. Fun fact: this is one of the bosses made easier on Merciless difficulty, due to the extra damage done when hitting weaknesses. Yes, I found this out as I had to Google the best way to win.
Laurence, the First Vicar — Bloodborne
Ooooh, Laurence! I only beat this one the other day, and actually didn’t struggle that much at the time, but at launch I struggled against this in vain, hardly ever getting past its halfway point — you know, around the time it starts spewing lava EVERYWHERE. Laurence is a beefy boy with long range, and again, you know, the lava, which makes this one of the DLC’s hardest bosses. I found it harder than Orphan of Kos, but the Amygdala in the Cursed & Defiled Chalice might actually top both of them…
Bazelgeuse/Seething Bazelgeuse — Monster Hunter World
As soon as you hear the opening notes of this big bad bully’s theme song, you know you’re in for a bad time. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. Are you fighting another monster? Just looking for a way back to camp to replenish your items? Whatever it is, Bazelgeuse will go out of its way to ruin your day.
It’s very satisfying to take down though, although it isn’t too rare to be carted a few times before then!
Kronika — Mortal Kombat 11
Fighting games and bosses are something that have plagued me for years, and rarely are they something I tend to enjoy fighting against, but Kronika takes the cake. Maybe it’s because she’s very recent that she sticks out so much to me, but playing against her when you can’t use X-Ray moves, or stagger her as she doesn’t react to attacks, or when she summons weaker versions of other characters… you get the gist — it’s a time for suffering. Hasn’t stopped it from being among my most played games on PS4, though.
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Ah… I really will have to try and deal with Isshin soon…
