History NintendoHard / FirstPersonShooter

** There's a good reason the series is sometimes called "the ''DarkSouls'' of First Person Shooters" (even though it predated Dark Souls by several years).

* This trope is the ''standard'' difficulty of the ''[[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]'' trilogy. The gunplay is very realistic - and you are supposed to fight groups of well-armed stalkers or some nasty mutants alone. You want to make this game easier? Well, pick higher difficulty. Yeah, ''higher.'' [[NonIndicativeDifficulty It makes weapons even more realistic, so you can take only few bullets before kicking the bucket, but so can your enemies. On lower difficulties, they may withstand some serious firepower.]] Such is life in the Zone.

* While the ''TimeSplitters'' trilogy is difficult in general thanks to its ''Goldeneye'' roots, trying to get Gold on the Challenges (and some of the more notorious Arcade League matches *cough[[ThatOneLevel Can'tHandleThis]]cough*) can be hair-pullingly frustrating. The Hard difficulty of the ''TimeSplitters 2'' campaign is definitely this trope as well, and puts the other two games to shame.

* ''VideoGame/{{Metro2033}}'', which comes from the same lineage as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., definitely shows this. Your character isn't a badass, or a stalker, or a soldier; you're just a 20 year old kid trying to make a trip across nuked Moscow, running right into the paths of mutants, Nazis, Communists, bandits, anomalies, and everything else that could redecorate its part of the station platform with your face. It's not too hard on Easy or Normal modes, but put on Hardcore, or any of the Ranger difficulties, and you get to see how you'd actually fare in a real life AfterTheEnd survival combat environment when you don't know the places, don't speak the language, and ammo is so valuable and scarce that it's used as ''money''! How will you do? If you're lucky, there'll be a corpse, or at least a red smear for the rats...

* All games in the ''[[VideoGame/{{STALKER}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R.]]'' trilogy are truly unforgiving when it comes to shooting people. It's pretty realistic, but too bad you are supposed to fight groups of well-armed stalkers or some nasty mutants alone. You want to make this game easier? Well, pick higher difficulty. Yeah, ''higher.'' [[NonIndicativeDifficulty It makes weapons even more realistic, so you can take only few bullets before kicking the bucket, but so can your enemies. On lower difficulties, they may withstand some serious firepower.]] Such is life in the Zone.
** The games were deliberately designed to be as tough as possible, and subvert dozens of common FPS tropes. Remember those other [=FPSes=] where you had limitless supplies of ammo which took up no room in your magic bottomless bag? No. Remember those games where the people not shooting you spoke the same language as you? [[BilingualBonus Nyet]]. Remember those games where there'd be some guy who would helpfully fill you in on the boss's weak point before you fought him? Nein. Remember those games where you didn't have to eat, where being injured was just a reason to be slightly more cautious, and you could heal by simply walking away and waiting for a bit? [[RuleOfThree Non]]. This game wants you dead, and a lot of content was DummiedOut in the first game and the AI's capability scaled back because it was regarded as too unfair. Most mods restore a lot of it with the express purpose of making the games ''even harder''. With those enabled, it's not so much about shooting as it is ''outmaneuvering'' the enemies that will get you to win fights. Yes, [[ItCanThink even with mutants]].

** The ''VideoGame/BrutalDoom'' mod tweaks enemy behavior to make them smarter, stronger and more aggressive (Cacodemons can strafe quickly to dodge projeciles, Imps have faster fireballs and have a leaping slash melee attack, Cyberdemons fire five rockets instead of three, Spectres are ''completely'' invisible except for their eyes, only becoming visible when they attack.) Reloading is also added, now requiring the player to monitor how full their clips are so they don't get caught reloading at a crucial moment. Though there are some things to help make it easier as well. On top of added secondary fire for most weapons, Berserk packs now allow the player to make [[FinishingMove executions]] which, on top of being [[{{Gorn}} bloody and ultraviolent]], render the player immune to damage for the duration and restore health, and the dinky pistol is replaced with a far more useful assault rifle.

** The ''Resistance'' campaign from the expansion pack of the same name is even more difficult. At least in the ''Cold War Crisis'' campaign you're fighting as part of an organized army, with tanks, air support and so on, but in ''Resistance'' you become the leader of a poorly-equipped band of guerrillas. You weapon supply must be restocked by collecting weapons in the battlefield, and guerrillas killed do not re-appear in following missions. At least it simulates those who have to hide out in the mountains to survive and steal equipment from the better-trained and equipped enemy.
** And don't even talk about the ''Red Hammer'' campaign, which is truly Nintendo Hard and at one point contained a bug that made it impossible to finish it at all. The final patch for the game, which actually renamed the game to ''ARMA: Cold War Assault'', also removed this campaign.

* ''{{Descent}}'': The unique zero-gravity, floating mechanic made the game harder to learn than most first-person shooters as it is, but the real difficulty comes from the brutally unforgiving enemies. Drillers (hitscan weapons) and Heavy Hulks (homing missiles) are absurdly common enemies that do insane amounts of damage and have huge accuracy, even on low difficulty levels. On the higher difficulty levels, even the easiest enemies are capable of ripping you apart in a matter of seconds due to their shots firing being stronger, faster, shooting more bullets per volley and healing items recovering less as the difficulty gets higher. The ''Insane'' difficulty level is very appropriately named.

* ''[[VideoGame Metro2033]]'', which comes from the same lineage as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., definitely shows this. Your character isn't a badass, or a stalker, or a soldier; you're just a 20 year old kid trying to make a trip across nuked Moscow, running right into the paths of mutants, Nazis, Communists, bandits, anomalies, and everything else that could redecorate its part of the station platform with your face. It's not too hard on Easy or Normal modes, but put on Hardcore, or any of the Ranger difficulties, and you get to see how you'd actually fare in a real life AfterTheEnd survival combat environment when you don't know the places, don't speak the language, and ammo is so valuable and scarce that it's used as ''money''! How will you do? If you're lucky, there'll be a corpse, or at least a red smear for the rats...

* ''[[VideoGame/Metro2033]]'', which comes from the same lineage as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., definitely shows this. Your character isn't a badass, or a stalker, or a soldier; you're just a 20 year old kid trying to make a trip across nuked Moscow, running right into the paths of mutants, Nazis, Communists, bandits, anomalies, and everything else that could redecorate its part of the station platform with your face. It's not too hard on Easy or Normal modes, but put on Hardcore, or any of the Ranger difficulties, and you get to see how you'd actually fare in a real life AfterTheEnd survival combat environment when you don't know the places, don't speak the language, and ammo is so valuable and scarce that it's used as ''money''! How will you do? If you're lucky, there'll be a corpse, or at least a red smear for the rats...

* ''VideoGame/Metro2033'', which comes from the same lineage as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., definitely shows this. Your character isn't a badass, or a stalker, or a soldier; you're just a 20 year old kid trying to make a trip across nuked Moscow, running right into the paths of mutants, Nazis, Communists, bandits, anomalies, and everything else that could redecorate its part of the station platform with your face. It's not too hard on Easy or Normal modes, but put on Hardcore, or any of the Ranger difficulties, and you get to see how you'd actually fare in a real life AfterTheEnd survival combat environment when you don't know the places, don't speak the language, and ammo is so valuable and scarce that it's used as ''money''! How will you do? If you're lucky, there'll be a corpse, or at least a red smear for the rats...

* VideoGaame/Metro2033, which comes from the same lineage as S.T.A.L.K.E.R., definitely shows this. Your character isn't a badass, or a stalker, or a soldier; you're just a 20 year old kid trying to make a trip across nuked Moscow, runnign right into the paths of mutants, Nazis, Communists, bandits, anomalies, and everything else that could redecorate its part of the station platform with your face. It's not too hard on Easy or Normal modes, but put on Hardcore, or any of the Ranger difficulties, and you get to see hobw you'd actually fare in a real life AfterTheEnd survival combat environment when you don't know the places, don't speak the language, and ammo is so valuable and scarce that it's USED AS MONEY! How will you do? If you're lucky, there'll be a corpse, or at least a red smear for the rats...

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' is unforgiving when it comes to shooting people. It's pretty realistic, but too bad you are supposed to fight groups of well-armed stalkers or some nasty mutants alone. Just like in real life. You want to make this game easier? Well, pick HIGHER difficulty. Yeah, higher. It makes weapons even more realistic, so you can take only few bullets before kicking the bucket, but so can your enemies. On lower difficulties, they may withstand some serious firepower. Such is life in the Zone.
** The game was deliberately designed to be as tough as possible, and subverts dozens of common FPS tropes. Remember those other [=FPSes=] where you had limitless supplies of ammo which took up no room in your magic bottomless bag? No. Remember those games where the people not shooting you spoke the same language as you? Nyet. Remember those games where there'd be some guy who would helpfully fill you in on the boss's weak point before you fought him? Nein. Remember those games where you didn't have to eat, where being injured was just a reason to be slightly more cautious, and you could heal by simply walking away and waiting for a bit? Non. This game wants you dead, and a lot of content was DummiedOut in the first game and the AI's capability scaled back because it was regarded as too unfair. Most mods restore a lot of it with the express purpose of ''making the game harder''.

** The game was deliberately designed to be as tough as possible, and subverts dozens of common FPS tropes. Remember those other FPSes where you had limitless supplies of ammo which took up no room in your magic bottomless bag? No. Remember those games where the people not shooting you spoke the same language as you? Nyet. Remember those games where there'd be some guy who would helpfully fill you in on the boss's weak point before you fought him? Nein. Remember those games where you didn't have to eat, where being injured was just a reason to be slightly more cautious, and you could heal by simply walking away and waiting for a bit? Non. This game wants you dead, and a lot of content was DummiedOut in the first game and the AI's capability scaled back because it was regarded as too unfair. Most mods restore a lot of it with the express purpose of ''making the game harder''.

* ''Videogame/{{Quarantine}}'' has ''every'' vehicular mook not in a passive state a DemonicSpider in every level (including the first map), and even the pedestrians who are hostile are annoying GoddamnBats. Armor is pretty much required to complete any mission in the levels you're in, because the unpredictability of the Mooks gets frustrating for a while, and even then, armor here in this game skirts dangerously close to ArmorIsUseless thanks to the Mooks having unfairly powerful attacks. Not only that, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything else tries its level best to slaughter you]] in the [[WretchedHive city of KEMO]] with even the traps and walled defenses harming you. Just to let you know, whenever you pick up a passenger, ''every single mission'' is a TimedMission and depending on the location you're in, you could end up with a frustratingly short timer before you could complete your mission, and to worsen matters, the city's layout is maddeningly confusing if you don't check your map. Justified, since you're driving a futuristic, hover-capable weaponized taxi car and making money by gaining fares. Also, the fares are randomized whenever you pick up a passenger, which can range from a fat paycheck that is good enough to buy you some more ammo and new weaponry/armor to a dirt-poor wage that isn't enough to buy a few items from the grocery store (of course, this is just a hyperbole, since there is no ability to get out of your vehicle in the game whatsoever). There are hardly any safe spots to rest in, no difficulty level to choose, and SaveScumming is pretty much required to complete the game.

* ''Videogame/{{Quarantine}}'' has ''every'' vehicular mook not in a passive state a DemonicSpider in every level (including the first map), and even the pedestrians who are hostile are annoying GoddamnBats. Armor is pretty much required to complete any mission in the levels you're in, because the unpredictability of the Mooks gets frustrating for a while, and even then, armor here in this game skirts dangerously close to ArmorIsUseless thanks to the Mooks having unfairly powerful attacks. Not only that, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything else tries its level best to slaughter you]] in the [[WretchedHive city of KEMO]] with even the traps and walled defenses harming you. Just to let you know, whenever you pick up a passenger, ''every single mission'' is a TimedMission and depending on the location you're in, you could end up with a frustratingly short timer before you could complete your mission, and to worsen matters, the city's layout is maddeningly confusing if you don't check your map. Justified, since you're driving a futuristic, hover-capable weaponized taxi car and making money by gaining fares. There are hardly any safe spots to rest in, no difficulty level to choose, and SaveScumming is pretty much required to complete the game.

* ''Ultimate DOOM'', the retail version of the original, contains an extra episode called "Thy Flesh Consumed", which is a [[ThisIsGonnaSuck pretty accurate description of what will happen the moment you start playing it]]. It's the closest thing to playing "Nightmare" mode without actually playing on it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' {{Lampshaded}} when the player selects [[HarderThanHard Nightmare! difficulty]]: the game asks "Are you sure? This skill level isn't even remotely fair." Nightmare difficulty features faster monsters that [[RespawningEnemies respawn]] a bit after being killed, and the speed of some fireballs is vastly increased. It was designed to be nearly impossible to beat. Naturally, gamers have since created Nightmare SpeedRun competitions.
** To top it off, cheat codes are disabled while running in Nightmare mode, just to make it all that extra bit of unfair. (This typically only applies to the original engine and faithful source ports like Chocolate Doom; source ports with no intention of preserving the original feel, such as [=ZDoom=], allow cheat codes in Nightmare mode.)
** ''Ultimate DOOM'', the retail version of the original, contains an extra episode called "Thy Flesh Consumed", which is a [[ThisIsGonnaSuck pretty accurate description of what will happen the moment you start playing it]]. It's the closest thing to playing "Nightmare" mode without actually playing on it.\\
\\
And while it didn't contain any content on the level of the above example, the [[MissionPackSequel official sequel]], ''DOOM II: Hell on Earth'' is [[SequelDifficultySpike noticeably harder]] than the original's "standard" episodes. Imagine what playing "Nightmare" on ''that'' game must be like...

* Call of Duty campaign on Veteran Difficulty. The description is not joking when it said that "You will not survive.". And most Call of Duty games has a symbol of a skull soldier representing the Veteran Difficulty. That's what you're going to be at the end of the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' second DLC: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot introduces extended 'Larger Challenges' that take roughly 4-5 hours to complete. If you die you have to start over from the beginning.

* VideoGame/{{Blood}} has even the weakest of mooks dealing ''huge'' amounts of damage even on lower difficulties (along with being rather stingy on the health pickups,) and the weakest ranged weapon in the game (which you'll be stuck with for a while) deals continuous damage, but still takes a while to kill anybody, requiring you to either unload more shots into the enemy (in a beginning where ammo is sparse) or just shoot once and run away until they die.

* PerfectDark, bonus points for being an actual Nintendo game. As first person shooters with complex mission objectives and use of stealth were still relatively new at the time, figuring out just how to complete each mission was hard enough. Doing so without being seen made it harder. And thanks to taking away the MercyInvincibility in its spiritual predecessor ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', every enemy was a potential DemonicSpider.

* PerfectDark, bonus points for being actual Nintendo game. As first person shooters with complex mission objectives and use of stealth were still relatively new at the time figuring out just how to complete each mission was hard enough. Doing so without being seen made it harder. And thanks to taking away the MercyInvincibility in its spiritual predecessor ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', every enemy was a potential DemonicSpider.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' is unforgiving when it comes to shooting people. It's pretty realistic, but too bad you are supposed to fight groups of well-armed stalkers or some nasty mutants alone. Just like in real life. You want to make this game easier? Well, pick HIGHER difficulty. Yeah, higher. It makes weapons even more realistic, so you can take only few bullets before kicking the bucket, but so can your enemies. On lower difficulties, they may withstand some serious firepower. Such is life in Zone.

* ''Videogame/{{Quarantine}}'' has ''every'' vehicular mook not in a passive state a DemonicSpider in every level (including the first map), and even the pedestrians who are hostile are annoying GoddamnBats. Armor is pretty much required to complete any mission in the levels you're in, because the unpredictability of the Mooks gets frustrating for a while, and even then, armor here in this game skirts dangerously close to ArmorIsUseless thanks to the Mooks having unfairly powerful attacks. Not only that, everything else tries its level best to slaughter you in the [[WretchedHive city of KEMO]] with even the traps and walled defenses harming you. Just to let you know, whenever you pick up a passenger, ''every single mission'' is a TimedMission and depending on the location you're in, you could end up with a frustratingly short timer before you could complete your mission, and to worsen matters, the city's layout is maddeningly confusing if you don't check your map. Justified, since you're driving a futuristic, hover-capable weaponized taxi car and making money by gaining fares. There are hardly any safe spots to rest in, no difficulty level to choose, and SaveScumming is pretty much required to complete the game.

* ''Videogame/{{Quarantine}}'' has ''every'' vehicular mook not in a passive state a DemonicSpider in every level (including the first map), and even the pedestrians who are hostile are annoying GoddamnBats. Armor is pretty much required to complete any mission in the levels you're in, because the unpredictability of the Mooks gets frustrating for a while, and even then, armor here in this game skirts dangerously close to ArmorIsUseless thanks to the Mooks having unfairly powerful attacks. Not only that, everything else tries its level best to slaughter you in the [[WretchedHive city of KEMO]] with even the traps and walled defenses harming you. Just to let you know, whenever you pick up a passenger, ''every single mission'' is a TimedMission and depending on the location you're in, you could end up with a frustratingly short timer before you could complete your mission, and to worsen matters, the city's layout is maddeningly confusing if you don't check your map. Justified, since you're driving a futuristic, hover-capable weaponized taxi car and making money by gaining fares. There are hardly any safe spots to rest in and SaveScumming is pretty much required to complete the game.

* ''Videogame/{{Quarantine}}'' has ''every'' vehicular mook not in a passive state a DemonicSpider in every level (including the first map), and even the pedestrians who are hostile are annoying GoddamnBats. Armor is pretty much required to complete any mission in the levels you're in, because the unpredictability of the Mooks gets frustrating for a while, and even then, armor here in this game skirts dangerously close to ArmorIsUseless thanks to the Mooks having unfairly powerful attacks. Not only that, everything else tries its level best to slaughter you in the [[WretchedHive city of KEMO]] with even the traps and walled defenses harming you. Just to let you know, whenever you pick up a passenger, ''every single mission'' is a TimedMission and depending on the location you're in, you could end up with a frustratingly short timer before you could complete your mission, and to worsen matters, the city's layout is maddeningly confusing if you don't check your map. Justified, since you're driving a futuristic, hover-capable taxi car and making money by gaining fares. There are hardly any safe spots to rest in and SaveScumming is pretty much required to complete the game.