Summary
Ever since the launch of Demon’s Souls in 2009, which led to the start of the Dark Souls series and then later Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring,FromSoftwarehas dominated the genre in what’s coined as their ‘Soulsborne’ titles. These games bringunique and wonderfully designed enormous boss creaturesthat will steadfastly direct you to the ‘You Died’ screen countless times.
Getting through a FromSoftware boss fight is truly the most punishing thing you can do to yourself in the world of gaming. But then there are also games made by different studios that offer equally formidable and tough-to-master bosses that you’d think have no business being anywhere but a FromSoftware title.
10Grand Unifier Raker
Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy
Everyone was worried Square Enix’s Guardians of the Galaxy would turn into another Avengers-style game fiasco, but what you got was an excellent narrative-driven game with high-stakes boss fights and an emotional story involving the beloved ragtag crew of the Milano.It’s one of those games best played on Easy difficulty, and the Grand Unifier Raker fight is one of the reasons why.
Every boss fight offers a challenge and a fun strategic dynamic with how you utilize your Guardian companions' abilities and blaster effects, but Raker is a more Soulslike experience. Before you even begin to battle directly with him, you must go through waves of tough enemies. The arena is also very small, he has three health bars with shields added, there are so many things happening at once, and when you die, you restart the entire encounter.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
WHERE TO PLAY
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is an action-adventure game from Eidos-Montréal that sees Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot attempt to clean up a galactic-size mess of their own making.
9Bulrog And Cartman
South Park: Snow Day!
The South Park games don’t hold off on challenging boss fights, and they sometimes play into the comedy, but Bulrog and Cartman in South Park: Snow Day! are not messing about. It’s the toughest boss fight by far in the game, even on Easy, and given its roguelike-tailored design, you start all the way back at the hub before you’re able to restart the chapter to try again.
The worst part is thatit’s like a Soulsborne game duo boss fight, but the giant Golem version of Cartman is invulnerable to any damage. You can only go after Cartman while this massive Bulrog monstrosity will perform heavy attacks, slams, and wide swings like an Elden Ring boss, and he will down you pretty fast. Cartman being Cartman will cheat and make things even harder, which makes every other South Park boss feel like a piece of cake.
8Spawn Of Oggdo
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Out of all the main story bosses in the Jedi: Fallen Order series, the one that turns out to be the most punishing is a giant carnivorous frog side boss called Spawn of Oggdo. Forget Rancors, bounty hunter bosses, and the Ninth Sister in the beginning section of the game,Spawn of Oggdo is a Jedi’s toughest match.
The movesets for the froglike Oggdo are as fast and erratic as you may expect. Leapfrogging jumps, a chain of bites that you have to block, ground slams, the long tongue coming out to grab Cal, and bile being spewed to create a deadly puddle. While some attacks may be easier to block and avoid than others, what’s most frustrating is the tongue is a one-shot kill, regardless of your current health.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a 2023 sequel from Respawn Entertainment that continues the story of Cal Kestis, a Jedi Knight who fights to survive the brutal Galactic Empire.
7Erymanthian Boar
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
The Asassin’s Creed series began delving into more Soulsike RPG combat territory and bosses starting with AC Origins, but Odyssey actually comes with the most challenging ones, whether it’s the mercenaries or animals you have to fight. Medusa may be seen as the most difficult fight to master skill-wise, but slaying the Erymanthian Boar is perhaps the most laughably punishing and annoying task in any AC game.
Taking on this boar for the Daughters of Artemis questline can become excruciating, with you most likely dying many times over from the gas this animal expels out or the rapid tusk attacks. The boar is always chasing you around the arena, so it’s also hard to get good aim with a bow. It can be comparable to the Blazing Bull from Sekiro,and you may have to get creative about taking it down, like luring mercenaries over to it to do some of the work.
Build on the role-play elements of Origins, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey takes you to Greece in the midst of the Peloponnesian War. As Kassandra or her brother Alexios, you must locate and take down the mysterious Cult of Kosmos.
6Baldur And Valkyries
God Of War 2018 And GOW Ragnarok
While God of War 2018 and the 2022 follow-up, Ragnarok, used a more linear narrative formula and companion duo gameplay system similar to The Last of Us and Uncharted,the boss fights certainly didn’t ease up. The final boss fight with Baldur was a multi-phase setpiece from hell, and all the Valkyries were near impossible to beat.
The Hermes-like super speed dodges and sprints Baldur has with his variety of ice attacks, plus the additional giant Freya summons named Thamur whose fist and icy breath you have to avoid, make this an incredibly long and draining feat.And those Valkyries prove excellent side bossesthat will quite literally be the death of you, with the sequel not making them any more manageable in combat.
5Nemesis
Returnal
Returnal mashes a complex and mysterious sci-fi story with bullet hell combat and roguelike game design, so, inevitably, the game sets up a challenge for both your gameplay skills and plot analysis. There also happens to be another major video game boss named Nemesis on the planet Atropos in Returnal, and this one is a lot more to juggle than its Resident Evil counterpart.
The first part of the fight is your usual dodging gigantic orbs that Nemesis sends Selene’s way, but then the laser beam cannons come out and, all of a sudden, the arena breaks off into platforms where you’re now grappling and dodging to get closer to the boss. The best way to describe it is visually stunning yet unbelievably brutal.
Returnal marries the roguelike and third-person shooter genres in Housemarque’s PlayStation 5 exclusive. You play Selene, an explorer stranded on the planet of Atropos, and must battle both hostile aliens and a time loop to discover what happened.
4Khan Maykr
Doom Eternal
If you want an FPS game that brings you the most punishing boss battles, Doom Eternal tops its 2016 predecessor in every respect. Even its very name foreshadows the kind of pain you’re in for with them. Any boss could’ve easily ended up on this list, but the Khan Maykr fight will be the one that keeps you on your toes the most.
The boss’s instructions make it sound easy; lower her shieldand use the Meat Hook grappleto deal Blood Punch damage. The only problem? It’s super chaotic and movement-based, requiring you to jump and fly from platform to platform, with the added caveat that you have to get clean headshots on cannon fodder enemies for them to drop aid and the floor frequently becomes lava. Khan Maykr also has a whopping six health bars!
DOOM Eternal
Doom Eternal sees you take on the role of the Doom Slayer, this time to rid earth of the demonic threat. The familiar arsenal of weapons returns, from the Super Shotgun to the chainsaw, and huge boss fights require strategy and cunning.
3King Dice
Cuphead
For such a whimsical and brilliantly crafted 1930s cartoon art-style game, Cuphead is one of the most ridiculously hard and soul-crushing platformers you’re able to play. The final Casino boss, King Dice, is just a taste of the unbelievable bosses the game throws at you.
He’s the evil, dice-headed card dealer at the poker table, and his main attacks involve him magically spawning a set of Aces like a magician that walks across the screen to inflict some severe damage if you don’t continue jumping and parry slapping out of their path. Even just getting to him proves a challenge in and of itself.
Paying homage to both classic ‘shmup’ games and Jazz Age cartoons, Cuphead is a shooter developed by Studio MDHR. Playing as the titular character, you must take down a series of tough bosses. A second player can join in co-op gameplay, assuming the role of Mugman, Cuphead’s brother.
2Awakened Alma
Ninja Gaiden Black And Sigma
There’s a reason why Ninja Gaiden Black and its subsequent entries can join Demon’s Soul asone of the hardest games to come out of the 2000s era. The Awakened Alma fight is punishing enough to put even some of FromSoftware’s best bosses to shame with the way it’s designed.
Alma essentially transforms into a giant winged centipede, an almost Resident Evil-type monster, and alternates between air and ground attacks. Some of her signature moves include a tail whip, dash, shooting lasers and orb projectiles, and sending a barrage of rocks in your path, not to mention other minor enemies spawning to pose a further obstacle.
1Corrupt Woodsmith
Kena: Bridge Of Spirits
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is one of those games that will surprise you. Its Disney animated feature aesthetic and art style may give you one impression, but once you start playing it, you’re in for a whole world of Soulslike hurt. In fact, the boss fights can feel nearly identical in difficulty to that of a FromSoftware title, especially the Corrupt Woodsmith, who’s arguably the most challenging.
Corrupt Woodsmith is incredibly menacing in stature and appearance, and the attack patterns are not playing around. You mainly have to watch out for the rings of fire that spread throughout the ground along with the giant hammer swings and smaller enemies also standing in your way. There’s also a tricky process of destroying the object the Corrupt Woodsmith is tethered to, and that still only describes the first phase.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a heartwarming action-adventure game from Ember Lab, in which you play a young girl tasked with helping the dead cross over to the spirit world.
