Top 10 Hardest Video Game Puzzles

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VOICE OVER: Dan Paradis

Script Written by Nathan Sharp

Professor Layton once said "Every Puzzle has an answer" But these puzzles make him look sadistic. Join http://www.watchmojo.com as we countdown our picks for the Top 10 Hardest Video Game Puzzles.

For this list, we're looking at puzzles in video games that were so hard to complete, it left us pulling our hair out in frustration. In order to be eligible, the puzzle must be from a major game release, and that means no user-created games, maps, etc. It also must be one specific puzzle from the game, so no riddles from the "Arkham" games or the infamous Water Temple from "Ocarina of Time", as those are a collection of puzzles. And finally as usual one puzzle per franchise.

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#10: The Cigar Wrapper "Ripley's Believe it or Not: The Riddle of Master Lu" (1995)

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#9: Shakespeare's Stanzas "Silent Hill 3" (2003)

The Silent Hill series are a bunch of terrifying games. But this puzzle in the 3rd swapped our fear for frustration, just like the piano puzzle from the original. The player must organize Shakespeare books in order from a given clue. On the hardest difficulty, the clues are written in Shakespearian language and reference the plays, and the player has to figure out which play the clue is referring to. Not only that, but specific clues reference the need to change numbers from the completed order. It's a confusing mess.

#8: Goat Puzzle "Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars" (1996)

As an American tourist unraveling a conspiracy in Paris, you come across a goat blocking the entrance to a castle. Attempts to walk past him only end in head butting. The solution is simple: allow him to butt you, ... no really, then get up quicker than usual, run to a piece of farm machinery, and have him attempt to butt you again, only to get tangled in the machinery, allowing you to pass. Technically it’s easy, but its also not very intuitive because you’re left to assume that having him hit you is a failure.

#7: The Babel Fish Puzzle "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (1984)

We're going way back for this one. Based on the book series of the same name, this text adventure game has you traveling the universe, and getting stuck on a puzzle. Usually, the fish dispenses but slips away under a drain. No worries! All you need to do is put a towel over the drain, (Hope you remembered to bring one). Then steal a character's satchel to put in front of the panel. After that, you put some junk mail on the satchel and press the dispenser. This was so notoriously hard, Infocom sold t-shirts that read, "I got the Babel Fish!"

#6: Chamber 18 "Portal" (2007)

"Portal", a game about solving puzzles using a gun that create two portals to travel through, is rife with challenging puzzles, but Chamber 18 is the worst. It's an overall challenging chamber, full of sections not fit to shoot, turrets you have to dispose of, ledge jumping, and platform riding. Basically, everything which goes into puzzle games has gone into this chamber. What makes it even worse are the timed switch sections that keep you on your toes.

#5: The Water Sample "Resident Evil 3: Nemesis" (1999)

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#4: The Rubber Ducky Puzzle "The Longest Journey" (2000)

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Another Top 10 Hardest VideoGame Puzzles

In this puzzle in the cult classic point and click adventure, you need to recover a dropped key from a subway rail. So what do you do? Scatter crumbs from an apartment window so a seagull will peck a rubber duck in the canal below, and as a result flows down the canal. Then locate the duck, tie a line to a clamp, put it through the hole, re-inflate the duck, then position it like a fishing line over the key so the duck deflates and traps the key. Quite insane when you think about it.