Those who aren't fans of the turn-based gameplay style in RPGs usually say they're boring and repetitive rather than challenging. On the contrary, a well-done turn-based system finds a balance between fun and challenge. There are strategies you have to think about in your battles, especially because the game isn't afraid to throw powerful enemies at you with no warning.

Even when you think you've got it all down, lowering your guard or getting cocky can result in a sudden game over in these kinds of games. Of course, there are plenty of turn-based RPGs that are particularly sadistic and ꦗunforgiving, making them anything but boring.

Updated on April 18, 2024, by Jouanna Bondakji: You'd think there'd be less stress in turn-based RPGs since the combat doesn't happen in real-time, but there are some that go past being challenging and dive straight into having anxiety-inducing mechanics and hair-tearingly frustrating enemies. We've added more of these types of games to the list. Beware: most of these games are suited for the most masochistic of us.

9 🦹 Tactics Ogre (PS1) 𒆙

Staying true to the trend of older games just being harder, Tactics Ogre on the PS1 is said to be more difficult than even its remastered version, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tactics Ogre: Reborn. The "tactics" part of the title cannot be ignored. There are SRPGs that are relatively lenient if you try to brute force things without planning, but this game is definitely not one of them.

Part of the difficulty comes from even common enemies being able to crush your team if you're not careful, plus insta-death, but most of it is actually the fact that there are a lot of mechanics to learn, and you kind of have to hunt for the tutorials yourself. If you have a tendency to hoard items, forget that here, because 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:they w𝓰ill often be the reas🙈on for your survival. Also, the game literally won't let you grind to be over-leveled, so you'll always be at the same level as the enemy at best.

8 Breath Of Fir🦋e 2

There are games that have pretty fine mobs, then sudden difficulty spikes when it comes to bosses. In Breath of Fire 2, the mobs can kill everyone in two turns tops, and the bosses take it to another level. The icing on the cake? The enemy encounter rate is ridiculously high, so avoiding common enemies to maintain your energy (and sanity) won't work.

You also can't save any time you want, so if your party happens to get wiped out after you've made a lot of unsaved progress, you'll have no choice but to start from your last save. There are many characters you can recruit into your party, but they're not equally good. Whom you happen to end up with can also contribute to making the battles much harder rather than easier.

7 𝓀 Phantasy Star 2

What's unique about Phantasy Star 2 is that it's not just the enemies that make the game hard; it's the actual layout of the dungeons, too. They are basically labyrinths you'll more than likely get lost in, and many even include warp points and floor layering to make them that much more confusing. Without a map to refer to, you'll be getting lost quite often.

Now, imagine trying to figure out how to get through a dungeon only to be constantly bombarded with enemy encounters, thanks to the high encounter rate. It would be a mercy if the enemies were at least somewhat easy, but they can decimate you pretty quickly, and escaping isn't always an option. If you can't stand grinding levels, playing this game would probably be a nightmare.

6 Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne �🏅�

The 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Shin Megami Tensei games have a reputation for being harder than the average JRPG, because you can easily get a game over if you're not on your toes at all times. This goes doubly so for Nocturne, as there are bosses even earlier in the game who pose huge difficulty spikes, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:such as Matador.

If you don't know exactly what you're doing or Nocturne is your first SMT game, you'll more than likely die at least a few times. Buffs and debuffs are essential to winning some fights, and even in regular battles, a seemingly weak enemy will be able to insta-kill you with Light or Dark spells. Because of this, you can't take too much time fooling around in battle, or you'll find yourself suddenly staring at the Game Over screen.

5 Fi🔯re Emblem: Thr♎acia 776

The 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fire Emblem games differ in difficulty, and there isn't a total consensus on the challenge of most of them. But Thracia 776 is pretty much universally agreed upon to be the toughest, thanks to its unique mechanics that don't apply to other Fire Emblem games. For example, if a unit is inflicted with a status effect, it'll never go away on its own, no matter how long you wait.

Also, healing staves have a chance to miss, which can be detrimental to units low on HP, especially with the perma-death mechanic. Furthermore, every time a unit performs an action, they accumulate Fatigue points. If they're fatigued enough, you won't be able to use them again in the next map. All these things put together, make for a very tough game that even veterans of Fire Emblem might struggle with.

4 ﷽ Battle Brothers 𓆉

There are games that can change your experience based on the difficulty you've chosen. In Battle Brothers' case, there are players who consider even the Easy difficulty too hard. You lead a company of mercenary brothers in a procedurally generated map, and it's up to you who to make contracts with, hire, or fight. It sounds simple enough, but the enemies you fight will be brutal more often than not, because they're always scaled to your level.

If a brother dies in the fight, you lose them forever, making it particularly painful if they had good stats. Plus, the maps being procedurally generated means you won't always get the best environment RNG. The lack of good citadels or seaports can be your downfall early on.

3 ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤🐷⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚResonance Of Fate

Resonance of Fate's gameplay focuses on acrobatic gunplay, which is pretty fun to watch. Its combat mechanics are also unique, which is both good and bad. Because they're so different, many players have a hard time fully grasping the concept at first. Even leveling up isn't done like you'd expect. There are plenty of tutorials you can go through, but they don't always help clear things up.

The more you learn the mechanics, the easier it'll get. But then come the difficulty spikes mid to late game that'll thrust you back into frustration. Status effects are brutal in this game, and later enemies love using them.

2 ♌ XCOM Series ꧅

The XCOM games revolve around battling an alien invasion while managing your resources. There are difficulty options, but even on Easy, these games can overwhelm you with how tough they can be. It's easy to make mistakes, and the game is unforgiving if you do.

Different units specialize in different things, and you choose where to place them. Naturally, getting it exactly right is nearly impossible if it's your first time playing, but one misplaced unit can cost you the entire mission. You have to get used to making it out without all the units you came in with, because trying to get out with everyone alive makes everything even harder.

1 🐓 🐬 The 7th Saga

The 7th Saga is notoriously difficult. There were changes made to the English localization that actually made it much harder than the original Japanese version. For example, the English version reduces the stats that characters gain for every level up. However, this doesn't apply to rival characters whose stats are the same as in the Japanese version.

This makes fighting them extremely hard since they'll always scale with your level but have much higher stats than you. Because of this, grinding before those battles is ironically not a good idea. The English version also gave🐲 a lot of enemies higher stats than in the original, making them tougher to fight. You can only have two party members at a time, but some people actually re༺commend going through the game solo because of how much slower you level up when sharing EXP.