The 10 HARDEST Games of the Decade to Platinum

The 10 Hardest Games of The Decade to Platinum

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at the hardest of the hard. For our non-Playstation fans, a Platinum trophy is the highest-tier achievement you can get. It acts as a badge of honor, signifying 100% completion of a game, and unlocking ALL other trophies. Depending on the game, trophies can range from “Huh? That was easy?”, to “Maybe jail will be nice?” These are the 10 Hardest Games of The Decade to Platinum.

“Final Fantasy VII Rebirth” (2024)

The open-zone design of “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth” split the room pretty quickly. Some players appreciated the freedom, the optional hunts, and side activities, while others felt the sandbox structure padded the experience, stretching playtime without the need. Whether you loved or rolled your eyes at the open-world detours, there’s one thing most fans agree on: the Platinum Trophy is brutal. Earning it means diving into punishing combat simulations, clearing demanding battle trials, tracking down obscure collectibles, and tackling secret bosses that do not mess around. It’s not just about finishing the story, it’s about mastering every system the game throws at you, oh! And mastering your nerves. For completionists determined to stamp their authority on “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth,” Platinum becomes a full-time commitment.

“Monster Hunter: World” (2018)

There’s this idea floating around that if a Platinum Trophy just takes a long time, it isn’t really difficult. Trophy hunters will tell you that’s nonsense. Over here, in a Mojo video by yours truly, time investment absolutely counts as difficulty. I’ve got bills to pay, I can’t spend 1000 hours in a game casually - except “Monster Hunter: World”, I’ll spend 2000 hours in it if I have to. First, you’re grinding your way to Hunter Rank 100, which alone can take well over a hundred hours depending on how efficient you are. Then comes the real test of patience: earning both gold and miniature crowns for every large monster in the game. Those crowns are tied to size variations that rely heavily on RNG, meaning you can hunt the same creature dozens of times without the right spawn. It’s not mechanically impossible, but it demands endurance, persistence, and a tolerance for repetition. Clocking in at an estimated 300-plus hours, this Platinum isn’t going to happen naturally.

“Red Dead Redemption II” (2018)

When people talk about punishing Rockstar completions, “Grand Theft Auto IV” usually gets mentioned first, mostly because of its brutal multiplayer requirements. But “Red Dead Redemption 2” might actually be the tougher mountain to climb, especially on the single-player side. Hitting 100% in this world isn’t just a matter of finishing the story and ticking off a few simple collectibles. The game is packed with sprawling side activities, lengthy challenges, and layered progression systems that demand serious time investment, even hunting incredibly specific and rare creatures has become stories of hilarity, some players spending days looking for particular animals. Then there’s the Gold Medal requirement. You need 70 gold-rated story missions, and unlike older Rockstar titles, you have to complete all objectives in a single run of each mission. No mixing and matching best attempts. With only 104 story missions total, you don’t have much wiggle room.

“Cuphead” (2017)

“Cuphead” has a reputation, and it’s earned every bit of it. It’s one of those indie games people recommend with a grin, knowing full well what they’re signing you up for. Unlike our last three entries, the Platinum trophy isn’t some 100-hour marathon. In theory, you could snag it in under 20 hours. In reality? I lied, you won’t. The game is brutally skill-focused, built around tight reaction windows, pattern memorization, and boss fights that demand near-perfect execution. You’re going to replay levels. A lot. The Pacifist trophy alone is a headache, asking you to clear every run-and-gun stage without defeating a single enemy, which sounds simple until you’re dodging chaos with zero margin for error. Then there’s “Beat The Devil At His Own Game,” which requires finishing the entire game on Expert. Most can’t bloody do it on easy.

“Tetris Effect” (2018)

Nearly four decades later, “Tetris” is still the ultimate split personality game. Play casually and it’s calming, almost meditative. Try to master it and suddenly it’s a world championship in a sport you learned that arvo. The game itself is beautiful, hypnotic even, but one trophy in particular turns it into a gauntlet. “Seriously? Seriously.” is infamous among PlayStation completionists because it demands an SS Rank in every mode where it’s possible. That’s not just one lucky run. That’s consistent, near-flawless performance across a range of rule sets and challenges. You need precision stacking, perfect timing, and an understanding of scoring mechanics that goes far beyond casual play. For anyone who isn’t already playing at an elite level, it’s a brutal challenge, and that’s from the big dogs themselves.

“Devil May Cry 5” (2019)

Devil May Cry 5 is probably the hardest hack'n'slash game of the 2010s. At the very top of its difficulty curve is Heavenll or And Hell mode, in which enemies behave as if they're on the previous highest difficulty, but you die in a single hit. On top of this handicap, there are also no checkpoints throughout levels, forcing you to restart an entire chapter if you lose all three of your lives. The platinum trophy is guarded by one particular trophy that not only requires you to beat this mode, but gain S ranks on each and every chapter. That means there'll be no safe, cheesy strats to help you get through the fights. You’ll have to actually… Play? You gotta come to the table with skill, not tricks.

“Outlast 2” (2017)

“Outlast 2” is already nerve-wracking on a normal playthrough, and getting platinum isn’t just one brutal requirement in that world, it’s a stack of them. First up is the Saint trophy, which means clearing the entire game on Insane difficulty. In that setting, death sends you all the way back to the beginning, so one mistake can wipe hours of progress. While you’re there, you may as well aim for Messiah, which demands finishing Insane without reloading your camera batteries. This means you’re going to have to memorise areas, because you’ll need to stumble through the dark to make sure you’ve got batteries for those couple of moments. It's totally 100% necessary. Then comes Prophet, forcing you to complete the game without hiding in barrels or closets, removing one of your main survival tools. Oh! And there’s a trophy for beating the game in under 4 hours. Either way, you’re gonna get to play a LOT of “Outlast 2”.

“Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus” (2017)

On the surface, “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus” has a pretty typical trophy list. Collectibles, upgrades, boss fights, nothing out of the ordinary for a big single-player shooter… What’s this? “Mein Leben”? What the hell is that trophy? Finish the entire campaign in one sitting? On the hardest difficulty? Without dying a single time? No checkpoints? No retries? One death and your save file is wiped meaning you start the six-hour campaign from scratch, including every unskippable cutscene? Yeah nah I’m good. It’s not just a test of combat skill, it’s a test of endurance and focus. You need to memorize enemy placements, master encounters, and stay locked in for hours. One lapse in concentration and it’s over. For many players, “Mein Leben” isn’t just difficult, it’s a war story.

“Street Fighter 5” (2016)

Fighting games have always been about mastery, there’s a reason top players train like it’s a sport, it’s kinda (no jokes) like sports games. “Street Fighter V” leans fully into that competitive mindset with one particularly intimidating trophy: “Let’s Fight Someone Strong!” On paper, it just asks you to reach Gold League in online ranked play. In practice, that means climbing through a gauntlet of increasingly skilled opponents who understand matchups, punishes, and combos far better than the average player. You’re not grinding AI, you’re battling real competitors who are just as determined to rank up. Every loss costs points. Every win inches you forward. To break into Gold, you can’t just be a casual player, you have to be competitively trained. For an equivalent example: Our first entry on “Monster Hunter: World” was “play 30 minutes of soccer alone in your backyard every single day for a year”. Our “Street Fighter 5” entry is “become good enough to compete in the “FIFA World Cup”.

“Crypt Of The Necrodancer” (2015)

“Crypt of the NecroDancer” has a reputation that borders on myth among trophy hunters. The game itself is already punishing, similar to “Cuphead” that’s kind of its charm. But the trophy that cements its legend is “Lowest of the Low.” To earn it, you must complete an “all characters” run, meaning nine full clears in a row, one with each character, without dying. And that’s not the worst part. You have to do it without picking up a single item. No better weapons, no damage boosts, no healing, nothing. You’re stuck with base stats the entire time. One mistimed step, one missed beat, and the run ends. Hours of progress gone instantly. It’s brutally technical, mentally exhausting, and wildly unforgiving. There’s a reason the completion rate is less than 0.1%.