There’s nothing wrong with playing video games at any difficulty level. Easy/Casual is good for relaxing and seeing what the game has to offer. Normal provides the intended, balanced approach to the gameplay, and Hard Mode gives those seeking a challenge exactly what they’re after.

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However, this isn’t always the case. Some difficulties can feel too hard or too easy, or don't offer much beyond tougher enemies on the same old level. But some games put more thought into their difficulty levels, offering different experiences per level, with a few offering their best ones on Hard Mode.

9 Devil May Cry Series

To be fair, this entry could count most hack and slashers from Bayonetta to the Norse God of War games, as they'd alter the enemy layouts depending on difficulty. But Devil May Cry was the first game in the genre to do that. Each setting nearly becomes an entirely different game as harder foes appear earlier than usual, and new, more difficult ones like Shadows and Frosts turn up to test players. That’s without getting into the series’ gimmick settings.

DMC4’s Legendary Dark Knight Mode upped the enemy count to Dynasty Warriors proportions. Heaven & Hell Mode from DMC3 to 5 makes everyone go down in one hit, including the player, while its Hell & Hell counterpart makes the player weak, but keeps the enemies strong. These challenges aren't just for sadism. They're meant to get players to use every bit of the characters' move lists and see what gets them past its heaviest hitters.

8 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

The regular Metal Gear entries could also count, as getting that FOXHOUND/Big Boss rank requires absolute stealth without special items on its hardest difficulty settings. But Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is different as it’s a hack n’slash that plays best when getting up close and personal. Also, its difficulty curve depends on how well the player gels with the Parry mechanic, which isn't hard to do, but the game doesn’t really explain it well.

Once players do get the hang of it, the Hard Mode feels normal, the Normal Mode feels easy, and the Easy Mode plays itself (especially with auto-parry on). Very Hard fits its name better as it throws harder enemies like the GEKKOs out in Raiden's first fight. But people who think they’ve got the Parrying down-pat will be tested by Revengeance Mode, where they have to do its tight parry counter-attack to do any decent damage to their foes.

7 Thief: The Dark Project

Successfully sneaking in Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell's hardest sections can be quite fulfilling. But for a while that’s all they offered. Other stealth games spiced things up with extra objectives to add to the challenge. Like Thief: The Dark Project, a moody, medieval stealth game where Garrett has to swipe items for a living. Normally, one mission may ask the player to just steal a scepter and get out.

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However, on its harder difficulties, the missions throw in extra objectives that have to be met to complete them. Now, Garrett would have to grab extra loot, grab the scepter, and then get out ASAP without killing anyone (“I’m a thief, not a murderer”). It took more effort to achieve them, while offering more rewards for succeeding, encouraging players to hone their sneaking skills enough to get them.

6 Alien: Isolation

Usually, the Normal difficulty offers the baseline the developers worked with. From there, they create other difficulties by adding or taking away features, and then modifying the AI accordingly. For Alien: Isolation, Creative Assembly and Feral Interactive actually recommend playing it on Hard mode first. Aside from it being their baseline, the easier difficulties have fewer Xenomorph appearances in them.

On Hard, it pops up more and shows off how it adapts to the player’s techniques (e.g., it’ll check the lockers if the player hides in them too much). Combine that with the scarcity of items, and it feels like the player is in a classic Alien movie. They’ll still have the HUD and maps to work with too. However, if they want a challenge, Nightmare mode will take them away and ramp up the Xenomorph’s skills even more.

5 The Last Of Us Series

The only people who love The Last of Us more than its fans are Naughty Dog themselves. The first game got remastered for the PS4, before receiving a PS5 remake. The Last of Us Part 2 would also get an updated version for Sony's new console, despite technically already being playable on it via the PS4 original. Either way, for players who want to check the series out, there are plenty of options available.

But how should they be played? Joel and Ellie’s lives are supposed to be on the line against the fungus creatures, but the easier difficulties give them more leeway with dimmer foes and more resources if they get reckless. The Hard mode feels more realistic by comparison, where one wrong move can either lead to death or to using up precious items. It adds to the tense atmosphere and puts the player in Joel/Ellie’s shoes.

4 The Evil Within

Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami may have co-founded Platinum Studios, but he didn’t stay there. Until recently, he spent the past decade at Tango Gameworks, where he directed another survival horror called The Evil Within. It sees Sgt. Sebastian Castellanos of the Krimson City police department deal with the nightmarish creatures that have overrun the town.

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The player has to watch their step for traps and defend themselves against the monsters with the few weapons they find. Except it’s pretty easy to beat it on Normal by going gung-ho on enemies. On the harder ones, players have to play more stealthily, watching the monsters carefully and listening for threats to know when to make their moves. In other words, Hard mode emphasizes survival while the other modes are just "horror."

3 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Before Shinji Mikami left Capcom in 2006, he took RE in a more action-based direction with the groundbreaking Resident Evil 4. As a result, the series gradually lost much of the horror in favor of more explosions, with Resident Evil 6 being the most explosive of the bunch. But not the best. Fans who wanted something new and scary again had their wishes granted with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

Escaping the crazed Baker family now required more brains than brawn and nerves of steel. The Bakers and other threats only get more formidable on Madhouse difficulty, where they can tank shots better (even headshots). On top of that, enemies and items are in new locations, and saving is limited to a few single-use cassettes. It offers a fresh set of challenges for players who know the Normal mode inside and out.

2 Undertale

The mania for 2015’s Undertale has finally cooled down, but it hasn’t gone away. Whether it’s from its spiritual successor Deltarune or the memes about the Skeleton Bros ("bad time", spaghetti, Megalovania, etc.), the game has left an impact. It doesn’t have traditional difficulty settings, but its best playthroughs can be challenging as they involve either completely ignoring its battle controls or using them exclusively.

The Pacifist playthrough requires using every option except combat to make peace with each foe, all while avoiding their attacks like a bullet hell game. It’s tricky, but it has a unique final boss and provides its best ending. To get its worst, the player has to kill every enemy through its Genocide playthrough. It’s the only way they can fight Undyne and Sans directly and see the mysterious Chara.

1 Kingdom Hearts 2

Kingdom Hearts proved Square-Enix and Disney go together as well as salt and caramel. As unusual as their combination sounds, it made for a sensational result. They’re not especially hard RPGs to get into, as most Disney kids aren’t after a Dark Souls-like experience. But they’re not necessarily after an easy ride either, which is where Critical Mode comes in handy.

Introduced in Kingdom Hearts 2, Critical Mode goes a step above the ordinary Proud Mode by altering the overall stats. Players have half their usual HP, take double the damage, and earn 15% less EXP on average. To make up for that, they do a little more damage, earn AP by 3 increments instead of 2, and get abilities like Reaction Boost and MP Hastera early. Everything is harder, but the player can hit harder back, making for a tricky but fair mode.

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