15 Hardest PS2 Games of All Time

When talking about difficult games these days, the conversation often defaults to titles like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Bloodborne, Nioh or even Spelunky. It’s easy to forget just how frustrating older titles could be, especially in the PlayStation 2 era. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the hardest PS2 titles and what made them such a slog.

Shinobi

Nioh’s “masocore” description actually describes Sega’s Shinobi way better. While it starts out relatively fine, things quickly spiral into the deepest depths of hell. Are you constantly killing enemies? If not, you’ll die from the cursed sword which is slowly draining your health. Died from the insane platforming challenges? Have fun restarting the entire level because there are no checkpoints in between. The bosses are similarly torturous. You can unlock Joe Musashi from the original Shinobi, who doesn’t suffer from constantly health loss and has unlimited shurikens that deal more damage, but only after making significant progress.