On game ranks, 10 of the hardest puzzles in video games

13.01.2023 0 By admin

Sometimes a video game breaks up the action with a puzzle.

The point is to add some kind of problem solving skills that maybe make you think a little bit.

And then there’s also games that are just puzzles.

There’s plenty of examples of either type of puzzle.

And we wanna look at some difficult ones.

It’s Falcon and today on game ranks, 10 of the hardest puzzles in video games.

Starting off with number 10,the witnesses shipwreck red door puzzle.

The witness is a game that starts off easy

but quickly ramps up in difficulty.

As you explore the island
and solve the various puzzles

dotted around the landscape,
you slowly gain knowledge

about the various rules required
to solve different aspects

of the puzzles.

At a certain point, you’re expected

to combine things that you learn

from multiple different
locations on the island

just to solve one puzzle, which is usually

like a pretty satisfying
moment, unless you’re talking

about the infamous ship wreck door puzzle.

And what makes this one so hard,

is that it combines various elements

of the color puzzles, the symmetry puzzles

and some of the most hated
challenges in the game,

the sound puzzles.

Now it’s the sound part
that really makes it tough

because unlike the boards
in the jungle area, at first

you can’t really even
tell there are sounds

to hear for this one.

That’s because all the
noises are diegetic.

They’re just like regular
background noises in the area.

And you’re supposed to listen

to ’em to figure out a sequence from that.

Just trying to decipher
how many sound clues

there is tough enough.

Then you gotta figure
out how to understand

what pitch you’re
supposed to take from ’em.

It’s a puzzle in the
game that just baffled

the internet back when it
first came out, like there’s

probably more technically
challenging puzzles in this game

but this one was for a
lot of reasons, probably

the most frustrating.

At number 9, Silent Hill 3,
Shakespeare anthology puzzle,

another infamous one, for a good reason.

It’s an unusual feature that the game has

two different difficulty options.

One for combat difficulty and
one for puzzle difficulty.

If you remember playing
this game back in the day,

when I saw that

I was

a bit confused

why that would even exist.

Now, it was made obvious.

The second option actually
completely changes

the puzzles in the game like easy, medium

and hard are different puzzles.

Now what makes this puzzle
especially well known

is that it appears so early in the game.

It’s one of the first major
puzzles you have to deal with.

And this is where you find
out the game wasn’t joking

When you picked the hard puzzle option.

The nature, like fundamentals
of the puzzle itself

not that hard to understand really.

You just need to figure out
the code for the back door,

this bookstore on easy and normal.

All you really have to worry about

is arranging some books
in the proper order

and you get the code,

but on hard there’s there’s a lot more.

At first it’s just a poem.

It doesn’t even seem like you have a clue.

What the game expects you
to do is to read each verse

which vaguely describes
the themes and the plots

of various Shakespeare
plays each play being

in one of the anthologies.

And that gives you the
information you need

to arrange the books from left to right.

And no, these are not like
obvious Shakespeare clues.

Some of them are actually obscure,

and require genuinely intimate knowledge

of Shakespeare’s plays.

Now the Romeo and Juliet,
a little more obvious.

And once you know where
they’re supposed to be

you can kind of process of elimination it

but it’s still at not the whole puzzle.

Like there’s an additional twist where

you have to multiply the number
of each digit of the code

that you are given, depending
on the clue given on a verse.

Like making a long story short here,

it is complicated, vague

and incredibly difficult
to solve on your own.

And I’m gonna be completely honest,

back when I played silent hill three,

I put the puzzles on hard and
I just started the game over.

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This was why I was like
no, absolutely not.

At number 8 is the Talos Principle,

small space big solution puzzle.

It’s another game that’s pretty
tough right from the start.

But this specific puzzle in particular

is incredibly challenging.

Like all the best puzzles, it doesn’t have

some like trick to it.

You just have to figure
out how to do something

that’s seemingly impossible
within the logic of the game.

So it makes Talos principle
unique among puzzle games.

It doesn’t really have a central gimmick.

It gives you a ton of different
tools for solving puzzles

and this specific one,
which can only be attempted

after getting to the
secret zone in the road

Dick Hannah, DLC is a
laser connector puzzle.

So you’ve got a red beam, a
blue beam, and these connectors

that you can freely move around.

It’s actually kind of standard
as far as puzzle games go

but this one has a bit of a twist.

Usually for these kinds of
puzzles, the connectors can only

attach to one color,

but that’s not strictly
required in this game.

So to solve it, you have
to use your connectors

to target both blue and red receivers.

And once you know that the
puzzle becomes at least possible

but even then, it’s still very, very hard.

At number 7 is the subway puzzle for mist.

Now you can’t really do a list

like this without
mentioning the granddaddy

of all first person puzzle games, Mist.

Mist was a pioneer and a massive hit

back in the early 90s,

that actually got me very
interested in computers.

I was mostly a console gamer at the time,

but I quickly learned why
it’s well known for difficult

and sometimes frankly,
quite awkward puzzles.

My personal most hated puzzle is this one

from the cellenade cage where
you have to navigate a maze,

in some weird subway,
car-like contraption.

The only clue you get
telling you what direction

to go is this little noise that plays

whenever you come to an intersection.

So even if you know that the
sounds are what matters here

you still have to trial and error

until you figure out
which tone is supposed

to correspond with whatever direction.

And it’s frustrating
enough with good hearing

but I have to imagine that for anybody

with any serious hearing or sound issues,

this puzzle is almost
completely impossible.

At number 6 is Lufia II
world’s most difficult trick.

Now for a super Nintendo RPG,

Lufia II has some pretty
challenging puzzles.

And the worst of them
is undoubtedly this one.

If you hate sliding block puzzles

like the one in resident evil
4, you’re gonna love this.

It’s literally called
world’s most difficult trick.

And this sliding block puzzle

puts all other sliding
block puzzles to shame.

Seriously, the most optimal
solution to this thing takes

116

steps.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Your main goal for this one

is to slide the large
block containing treasure

to the bottom of the puzzle.

There are only two spaces
available to move however,

so it’s gonna be a long laborious process

to slowly move everything outta the way,

So the treasure block
can reach the bottom.

So just finding this puzzle
is actually a challenge.

It’s hidden behind a secret
wall that takes multiple bombs

and hammer blows to even open up,

and you do get some pretty
good rewards for solving it,

but unless you’ve got a guide to open up,

it’s not really worth the effort.

At number 5 is Riven’s marble puzzle.

Riven is in many ways a massive expansion

on the ideas present in the original Mist.

And with a bigger world
comes more ambitious puzzles

and the central marble puzzle might be

the most challenging of them all.

The goal as usual is pretty simple.

You just place five
colored marbles on a grid.

At first, you really have no idea

what any of this is supposed to be.

But as you play the game, you soon find

that each of the marbles
is meant to correspond

to the marble domes on each
of Rivens’s various islands.

What makes it so difficult

is that you have to be really precise.

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Like there’s a ton of possible
slots to put these marbles.

So you gotta pick the exact correct ones,

that are only shown by the
map devices on each island,

and even when you’re
looking at these things

it’s hard to tell exactly what
you’re supposed to be doing.

None of that accounts
for the color though,

the only way to figure out what
dome is meant to correspond

to what color is to use these
underwater viewing chambers

which tell you each of the islands colors.

And if you didn’t write any of that down,

oof got a lot of backtracking to do.

It’s an incredible puzzle to solve

when you finally put
together all the clues

the game’s been giving
you for the whole game,

but if you make even the slightest mistake

it can take hours to figure
out what you did wrong.

At number 4 is Old School
RuneScapes elemental workshop 3.

For whatever reason, Runescape really

has some truly brutal puzzles.

Mostly of the adventure
game nonsense logic variety

but this puzzle in particular
is very, very hard.

And simply because it just is.

Pretty much all of the elemental workshop

quest puzzles are a pain,

but the general consensus seems to be

that number three is the worst.

You still have to get through a little bit

of an adventure game, logic
type thing to access this one

like using the soft play on a book

to make a key mold, like
that kind of nonsense.

Once you’re inside, the
workshop is open to you.

And the real challenge
here is the body puzzle.

This eight part puzzle, where
you have to connect gears

from the main gear to the
various parts of the machine,

by hitting the switches in the sidebar.

Just figuring out how the blocks move

is kind of confusing at first.

And the puzzles themselves are
brutally difficult as well.

Like there’s not a lot of
stuff to say about this one.

It’s just really frustrating
and it’s only made worse

if you don’t have the best internet.

So have fun solving a
nearly impossible puzzle

that’s barely responding to your inputs.

And number 3 is La Mulana,
the mantras puzzle.

La Mulana is a science
scrolling adventure game,

similar to Matroid, but
with a noteworthy twist.

It’s filled with some of the most obscure

and baffling puzzles in any game ever.

I don’t even want to get into

the finding the secret
hell temple level here.

So we’ll just talk about

the other ridiculous world spanning puzzle

you have to solve, the mantras puzzle.

This is the final, main
puzzle of the game.

And the only way to unlock the final boss,

basically you have to go around
and chant a specific mantra

in a different rooms to call forth mother

which unlocks the final battle.

Where are you supposed to do these chants?

And what chants are you supposed to do?

That is where this becomes nonsense.

For one thing it’s not clear

what you’re supposed to do from the clues.

Each one’s so vague, it’s difficult

to interpret what the game
expects from the player,

so finding these specific locations

you’re supposed to chant
is really confusing.

Like just try to follow
along with what I say here.

Each location in the game has
a front side and a backside.

To find the chant location,

you need to start from a
compass room in each area,

then count the directions you have to go

to get to the boss room in the front side.

Now you have to take in those numbers

and follow them to the backside,

which sometimes requires
you to go backwards

because of the bizarre
way the game expects you

to interpret the map.

Now, my head is already spinning

from attempting to describe it.

I wrote it down so that it
would be less confusing to say.

And what I’m finding is
that that did not help.

I actually don’t know what I just said.

I just think you kind
of have to have a guide.

I feel like if you don’t have a guide,

you’re either a genius or a madman

and there is no in between here.

At number 2, return of the
secret pond in Baba is you.

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Puzzle games don’t get a lot
more twisted than Baba is you.

If you wanted any chance

of getting far in this game,

you gotta learn to adapt to its rules

and woof, it’s interesting.

The whole thing starts off simple enough.

It also has a pretty funny premise

where you slide blocks
around to form sentences

which in term create
the rules of the puzzle.

Now the open ended nature of it

allows for some pretty
creative problem solving

but there’s also a lot of room
for failure for that reason.

The game gets difficult and
well nobody can seem to agree

on which puzzle’s exactly the hardest.

I’m picking return of
scenic pond for this list.

Just because it seems to be
the one that comes up the most.

Found in the meta world

just get into this level

is an unlikely prospect for most people.

The puzzle itself is a
much much harder version

of a previous level and
introduces the new term haz,

which complicates things.

It’s a baffling puzzle.

And one of those games that might as well

be a foreign language when you
watch someone else play it,

especially a level like this.

So I’m not gonna linger too much.

Baba is you is a hardest hell puzzle game

like up there with Steve sausage roll

yes, real game have to mention it

or somebody’s gonna get mad,
but yeah, right up there

with Steve Sausage roll in terms
of hair pulling difficulty.

For such benign sounding puzzles too

it’s absolutely brutal
like return of scenic pond,

that sounds nice. It’s not.

And finally at number one,
Fez, the black monolith puzzle.

There are hard puzzles,

and then there are really hard puzzles.

And then there’s the
black monolith in Fez.

Like this thing is beyond
everything else out there.

It’s a puzzle so difficult

that it can’t be solved legitimately.

And for this list I’ve been purposely

avoiding augmented reality game puzzles.

The ones that basically
require an entire community

working together to solve ’em.

Like, that’s kind of more of
an Easter egg dinner puzzle.

But this final secret in Fez

is meant to be just a regular secret.

I think people were supposed
to figure it out on their own,

but it’s just basically impossible.

To even start this puzzle,

you gotta figure out
three different codes.

There’s a tetromino code that
shows different directions

the game wants you to press, a number code

and an entire alphabet.

The codes required to
atone and for the code

to actually make sense,

you have to look at it
from a specific angle.

Remember, Fez is a game
where you can rotate

the entire world and it changes
the level significantly.

It only gets more confusing
from there though.

Now you have to use the page numbers

on the book to somehow
rearrange the numbers

of the game’s release date,

put it on a 3D object and
then cast a shadow on it

or something like that might
not actually even be correct.

I don’t remember exactly.

I don’t think anybody actually
knows exactly how to do it

the right way because all the
correct solutions just sound

like the ramblings of a madman.

I have not solved this puzzle.

I’m just straight up saying that to you.

I liked Fez a lot too

but I was just like, Nope,
I don’t understand this.

And that’s all for today.

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I’m Falcon, you can follow
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and we’ll see you next time
right here on game ranks.