The 20 HARDEST Levels in PS5 Games

20 Hardest Levels in PS5 Games

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking back at all the pain caused by the hardest levels, missions, biomes, and dungeons in games found on the PlayStation 5. We aren’t limiting ourselves to exclusives; if you can play it on PS5, it was considered.

The Iron Throne

“Baldur’s Gate 3” (2023)

The nature of a game like “Baldur’s Gate 3” means certain tasks may be easier or harder depending on how you tackle them and what classes make up your party. Even still, The Iron Throne from Act III is one of the most stressful quests in the game. It sees you infiltrate an underwater prison. As soon as you enter, a self-destruct timer starts, with the number of turns depending on your difficulty level. This is a combination of three quests: save Wyll’s father, Duke Ravengard, save the good Mind Flayer, Omeluum, and save a group of thirteen Gondians, all of these people found in different spots. Of course, you’ve got to fight off enemies while you do so. Thankfully, you don’t have to save all of the Gondians. But trying to get everyone out is a monumental task.

Reach the Coral Convergence

“Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon” (2023)

Many games have a difficulty spike. But FromSoftware always seems to include multiple. The one from “Armored Core VI” that seemed to frustrate most players was the final mission of Chapter 4, Reach the Coral Convergence. It sees you head into a city on the brink of collapse due to all the warring mechs inside. So, you have plenty of high-offense enemies to deal with as you progress. But the real reason this mission makes the list is its boss fight against IB-01: CEL 240. Sure, there are more powerful bosses later. But at this point in the game, its immense speed and multitude of projectiles and lasers are extremely hard to handle. CEL 240 gained a reputation among players and it’s pretty easy to see why.

Chapter 15

“Resident Evil 4” (2023)

There are 16 chapters in the “RE 4” remake. And the penultimate one is definitely the most challenging. As you make your way into a stronghold of enemies, you’ll have a lot of firepower to deal with. Enemies will immediately swarm you. And things don’t get any easier when you make it inside either, as there’s a particularly stressful section packed with Regenerators, some of the more intimidating enemies you’ll find in the game. You’ll spend the majority of this chapter’s time just beating back the overwhelming forces while on the brink of death. And as ammo and resources start to dwindle, you’ll feel the panic start to set in.

Laser Hell

“Split Fiction” (2025)

Technically a level within a level, Laser Hell is the fan-given name to a secret obstacle course found in the Maximum Security section of the Isolation chapter in “Split Fiction.” And we’ve got to say, ‘Laser Hell’ is pretty accurate. It tasks you with navigating five increasingly difficult laser fields, each of which require absolute perfect timing and will annihilate you instantly. Any one of them causes you to get very used to seeing your character disintegrate. This would be hard enough if only you had to make it through, but you better hope whoever you’re playing with also has the skills to match. The dev team knew how hard this challenge was, with director Joseph Fares even recording a video of himself offering the first duo to conquer it the chance to visit their studio.

Rulers of the Outer Worlds

“Final Fantasy VII Rebirth” (2024)

You have a group of optional VR missions in “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth,” called Brutal Challenges. None of them are more deserving of that title than Rulers of the Outer Worlds. It tasks you with making it through five ridiculously tough boss battles. While you do get to choose your party, this mission is only available on Hard Mode and doesn’t allow you to use any items. The first three fights are against two bosses at once. That’s obviously a huge pain, but you’ll actually start to miss them once you make it to the fourth and fifth fights, Gilgamesh and Virtual Sephiroth respectively. Of course, once you die, which you frequently will, you'll have to start the whole thing over.

The Pagoda Realm

“Black Myth: Wukong” (2024)

This area would be on par with many other levels in “Black Myth: Wukong,” which is to say regularly hard, if not for one incredibly irritating factor. As you try to climb your way out after being captured, you’ll eventually hear what are referred to as beguiling chants. They happen every three minutes, and bring an effect that lasts about a minute and a half. Your max health is cut in half, both you and the enemies gain a damage boost, and new enemies appear with a grab attack that can one-hit-kill you. There’s also an optional boss you can face while contending with this effect. And the story boss that can end it, Captain Wise-Voice, doesn’t exactly go down easy.

The Impossible Climb

“Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” (2024)

There are plenty of tough platforming sections in “The Lost Crown.” But the Impossible Climb is something else; an area designated for a side quest that will see you jumping, diving, dashing, and falling into a multitude of spikes. You have to climb your way up a large vertical area using different-sized weights and counterweights, all of which move and have spikes sticking out of the tops and bottoms. And you have to collect three bells without taking any damage. This grows extremely frustrating since, while clinging to and sliding down the sides, you have to keep moving often without knowing where you’re going. One slip up, and you start all over.

Eidos 9

“Stellar Blade” (2024)

Eidos 9 is an optional level in “Stellar Blade,” which must be why the devs chose to make it such a challenge. You reach this area by filling Lily’s progress bar to 100%. And as you’re about to head from the Great Desert to Spire 4, she’ll ask to pay it a visit. It’s at least a well-balanced challenge. Traversal can be really fun, grinding on roller coaster rails, parkouring and wall-jumping up buildings. But there’s also poisonous water to look out for, which can kill you quickly, and damage sponge enemies protecting cocoons you have to destroy. There’s also a pretty tricky duo boss fight against Corruptor and Dozer. All in all, a pretty fun sidetrack but definitely one to keep your guard up for.

Swamp of Sorrow

“Demon’s Souls” (2020)

While this area is a little bit easier than its appearance in the original “Demon’s Souls,” mostly thanks to the existence of the Sodden Ring making it easier to move in deep water, it’s still a pretty huge pain. If you don’t find that ring, the combination of slow movement, annoying enemies, the persistent poison effect, the confusing layout and poor visibility will make it hard to keep your motivation. More than many other levels in FromSoftware games, you will feel the overwhelming sense of being crushed by an environment and its inhabitants. And if you happen to die to the boss, the Dirty Colossus, there’s a significant amount of infuriating ground you have to retread.

Great Master Challenge

“Astro Bot” (2024)

After you collect all 120 puzzle pieces and rescue all 300 bots in the base game of “Astro Bot,” you unlock the Great Master Challenge. And while most of your adventure isn’t that difficult, this final level certainly is. From the get go, you will be swarmed with methods of death. Most platforms are completely unsafe to stay on, since they’ll either fall or crumble, sending you into the abyss below, or be covered by enemy attacks you need to carefully dodge. It’s designed to get you moving and never stop until the very end. And of course, there are no checkpoints. So, one mistake and it’s back to the very beginning. Needless to say, you make a lot of mistakes.

Derelict Citadel

“Returnal” (2021)

“Returnal” surprised a lot of people with its high difficulty, which we believe reaches its peak in the third region, the Derelict Citadel. Getting inside isn’t so bad, with just a few enemies to contend with. But after that, you’ll find the area heavily defended by an army of robots. As you get deeper into the level, they start to appear in larger groups. Many of them have attacks that can deplete your health fairly quickly. But by far the most problematic enemies are the Drones. Flying above the action, they can fire a barrage of missiles that home in on you and, after taking enough damage, issue a kamikaze attack by barreling right into you. Regardless, there are many fights to be found here that can bring a quick end to your run.

Bilewater

“Hollow Knight: Silksong” (2025)

One of the more frequent complaints about “Hollow Knight: Silksong” dealt with the punishing level of runback. And within the biome, Bilewater, it’s at its most painful. The area is already tough enough, with poisoned water that drains your silk and enemies that frequently pop out to hit you with an annoying projectile. You’ll die fairly frequently, whether it be from the boss Groal the Great, who’s one of the game’s tougher foes, or from the barrage of enemies and hazards that lead to him. And every time you do, you have to navigate this huge, infuriating biome all over again. While there is a hidden bench you can find to make things a little easier, it isn’t quite enough to make us not hate this place.

Dragon Temple

“Metaphor: ReFantazio” (2024)

This particular dungeon is one of the coolest, most lore-heavy that “Metaphor: ReFantazio” has to offer. It’s also by far the most challenging and time-consuming. That’s mainly because there’s not one, but two giant labyrinths you have to navigate inside the temple. The first one features a puzzle in how to traverse it, since it’s covered in fog that can turn you around. The second features no fog, but is about twice the size and filled with some really tough encounters that can force you to spend a lot of resources just so you can keep exploring. At a certain point, it becomes beneficial to try and avoid the monsters, no matter how prepared you are when you enter.

Arche Abbey

“Lies of P” (2023)

“Lies of P” crescendos in its difficulty, bringing a final level that is absolutely brutal. Arche Abbey is without a doubt the longest area in the game. And you’ll certainly begin to feel your patience tested as you try to make your way through it. This is partially because it’s gigantic, but also because there are multiple spots throughout where enemies will jump out to surprise attack you, which just makes you build rage as you continue to explore. That’s not to mention you have to face the two hardest bosses in the base game: Laxasia the Complete and the final boss, the Nameless Puppet. Understandably, there are many deaths to be had here.

Toxic Tunnels

“Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time” (2020)

“Crash Bandicoot 4” is, all around, one of the tougher 3D platformers in recent memory. Of its many levels, Toxic Tunnels is the most nightmarishly hard, and can easily drive you to a profanity-filled rage. Nearly every section will require some perfect timing for platforming, since there are a lot of moving parts and hazards to watch out for. You’re going to fall, get blown up or electrocuted, a lot. This is far worse for completionists, because in order to get this level’s Perfect Relic, required to fully complete the game, you must break every crate and not die a single time outside of bonus rooms. Doing this is truly the highest level of challenge that the game offers.

Imperial Palace

“The First Berserker: Khazan” (2025)

Admittedly, this area was toned down through a patch a few months after launch, with certain encounters featuring fewer enemies and others being less frustrating in where they were placed. Even still, it definitely deserves to be here. It’s the final level of an incredibly difficult Soulslike. And even with the patch, the enemies you’ll face here still provide some of the toughest fights in the game. It ends with a battle against Ozma, a truly stunning display of powerful attacks in hard-to-read combos spread across three phases with a ton of health to whittle down. If the enemies don’t drive you mad, Ozma certainly will.

The Monster

“Ghostrunner” (2020)

Another final level, and one whose insanely high difficulty you’ll likely be unprepared for. The Monster features some of the most frustrating platforming you can find in a first-person game. You’re working with platforms and walls that are pretty small in size, so propelling yourself forward and wallrunning requires the utmost perfect execution and timing. This is especially true in sections where walls move around, or areas that feature large red orbs that, if you touch, bring instant death. Even with your high agility and mobility, it isn’t enough to stop you from dying over and over again, keeping you stuck here to spiral into madness, if you don’t just give up entirely.

The High-Spirited Demon

“Nioh 2” (2020)

Everything about “Nioh 2” is hard, but this mission just feels mean. You’ve got a lot of strong enemies to contend with at once. And wherever you go, you’ll likely find them all bunched together, in some really cramped locations, that will make fighting them especially aggravating. There are also these huge yellow crystals placed throughout that release waves of damage when you’re close, can only be damaged by melee weapons, can heal themselves, and are sometimes found in enemy encounters. It’s hard not to feel like the developers were specifically trying to piss us off. At least the boss isn’t too bad in comparison to others, but it’s a huge chore to reach them.

The Haligtree

“Elden Ring” (2022)

An optional dungeon in “Elden Ring,” the Haligtree has since become one of its most famous locales. The design is immaculate, with impressive structures built across the branches of a gigantic tree, culminating in a keep at its base. Also, and this is saying something considering it’s a FromSoftware game, it’s one of the game’s biggest challenges. As you descend, you’ll be met by plenty of hardy foes that will consistently beat you back, keeping you from exploring further. As long as you can make it through them, you’re rewarded with the hardest fight in the base game, Malenia. Her first phase has attacks with alarming range. And her second comes with the Scarlet Rot effect, dealing damage over time. Both have the annoying ability to heal herself with every hit, even if you block.

Renoir’s Drafts

“Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” (2025)

There are all types of places in “Clair Obscur” that you’ll find while underleveled, that will quickly beat you down and send you packing. The best example of this is Renoir’s Drafts, a level located under water. Groups of enemies will come at you with more force than some of the game’s bosses. And then you have the level’s actual bosses to deal with. First is the Chromatic Creation, with high defense, some detrimental combos, and the incredibly irritating Inverted status effect, which turns all of your self heals into damage. Then there’s Simon, who quickly gained a reputation as one of hardest bosses in recent memory due to his high damage and ability to instantly wipe out your first set of party members at the halfway point. Best leave this until you’re max level.

What are some of the hardest levels you’ve experienced on your PS5? Share your thoughts in the comments, and we’ll see you next time!