Top 10 Hardest Multiplayer Games To Learn

Where to begin with this one? An online survival shooter set on a remote island, “Battlegrounds” has players running around a shrinking map space looking for supplies while warding off their fellow survivors. On top of the constant tension of being hunted by rival players, there’s also the issue of dealing with dwindling supplies, random bombing runs and the encroachment of a deadly electric field. A fresh-faced player might find themselves put off by the tense gameplay that’s more about survival then getting the highest kill streak.

Released in September of 2015, this naval combat game has proven quite the intriguing title. “World of Warships” asks players to learn the ins and outs of every ship they choose to commandeer, so as to better destroy other vessels. It can be great fun to explore the various fleets on offer and engage in heated battles, but for those new to the experience it’s also a deeply methodical and complex game to master. Each and every ship has strengths and shortcoming that need to be understood in order to succeed, and controlling your ship is no small feat either.

There’s a lot to unpack with this game, to put it lightly. “Tribes: Ascend” was created as a free-to-play revival of the acclaimed “Tribes” multiplayer shooter series, with a greater emphasis on base management and city-based maps. It still retained the series’ patented frenetic gunplay and was home to many veterans of previous games, meaning untested players were in for an uphill battle from day one. Additionally, after the “Out of the Blue” patch in 2015, changes were made to game balancing that remain divisive to this day and may contribute to a harsh introduction to play.

As a military shooter with a pedigree for authenticity, “Arma 3” is quite admirable. It doesn’t quite explain, though, why the experience of playing it is rather obtuse and un-intuitive. Like other games in the genre, “Arma 3” opts to map its gameplay to an incredibly intricate and complicated keyboard-and-mouse control scheme, which can take many hours to decipher. The game itself doesn’t provide much in the way of documentation to explain its mechanics, nor does it adequately prepare players for the brutality of its near-realistic combat. Basically, be prepared to die a lot in online matches and spend time looking over out-of-game guides.

The second entry in the “Smash Bros.” series, “Melee” was an enhancement on its predecessor in virtually every way. It featured a greater number of Nintendo’s most iconic characters, it delivered more stages and items to play with, and it was overall a deeper, more nuanced fighting game. However, this made the game quite challenging in the realm of multiplayer, since each character’s moves were uniquely tailored to specific circumstances, which only become clear after hours of practice. It’s all the more difficult in the eSports scene, where the players that endure are those who exploit their chosen combatant and any given stage to the fullest extent.

Beginning with the 2010 release of “Wings of Liberty”, the “StarCraft II” experience is one shaped by a high barrier to entry. The game and its expansions managed to effortlessly build on the fundamentals of the original “StarCraft”, adding new units and abilities to the formula whilst still remaining true to the core design. Alas, it also matches the 1998 classic in terms of difficulty in engaging with online play. The years it takes to master each race’s strategies and elevate one’s actions per minute to competitive levels has created a multiplayer scene where only the best and most adaptable can succeed.

Oh Valve, how you do like to make rookie players feel welcome. From the original “Half-Life” mod to the high-definition installment “Global Offensive”, this tense tactical shooter series isn’t exactly lacking for ways to push you to the limit. Its fast-paced gunfights aside, “Counter-Strike” also demands that newcomers learn to manage in-game currency effectively, memorize which weapons are best in terms of damage and recoil, and learn every other intricate detail of play. That the games are also home to years-long fans who’ve long since committed this information to memory, and who can use it to thoroughly devastate opponents, does not help matters.

As far back as “Street Fighter II”, competitive multiplayer has been a staple of this storied franchise. “Street Fighter” boasts one of the most diverse casts of combatants in gaming and established a lot of the fighting game genre’s most enduring tropes… including the challenge of game mastery. To become a skilled “Street Fighter” player, one must learn how best to use their chosen character’s special attacks and counters. Careful maneuvering is key in player-on-player matches, with success coming to those who block or evade until their opponents make one mistake too many.

Not unlike the comparably popular “League of Legends”, Valve’s take on the MOBA genre is less-than-friendly to newcomers. “Dota 2” is very much a role-oriented game, built as it is around the concept of different lanes needing to be guarded from attack. Any player looking to survive a game, never mind win one, has to be able to communicate and coordinate with teammates coherently and regularly. This means finding a team with which you’re compatible, or risk matches going off the rails and being harshly criticized by the player base. It’s understandable how hard a sell this is for many gamers, given how alienating the entire experience can be.

Developed by CCP Games, this space-faring MMORPG is at once breathtaking to behold and terrifying to jump into. Getting a handle on “EVE Online” requires a given player to very quickly learn the intricacies of its manufacturing, trade, space exploration and assorted business management elements. Complicating things further are the multitudes of players driven to sow chaos and take from inexperienced or vulnerable players. To truly find success in this game is to balance fighting for one’s virtual life and spending hundreds of hours pouring over the various mechanics, and even then there’s no guarantee of survival.