Stage Fright

Not all video-game levels are created easily.

chapters In Video Games, There’s a Fine Line Between Difficulty and Disrespect FromSoftware’s miserable, massively popular titles complicate what it means to “enjoy” a game. By Jordan Minor
vulture lists The 100 Hardest Video-Game Levels of All Time Dizzying shooters, agonizing puzzles, and water stages (ugh) that raise the question: Continue?
backstories The Dead Cells Toxic Sewers Level Is Hard (But It Doesn’t, Er, Stink) What makes the game’s most daunting area so difficult and how new efforts around accessibility have changed the experience. By Aidan Moher

Continue?

hard mode May 25, 2023

So You Want to Beat Tears of the Kingdom in 75 Minutes …The speedrunner Gymnast86 shares the techniques and mind-set that helped him set the game’s first fastest-time record. (Now broken.) (Many times.)

By Eric Vilas-Boas
hard mode May 24, 2023

How Much Should a Video Game Tell You?In titles such as Elden Ring, Outer Wilds, and Tears of the Kingdom, a lack of information is part of the … charm?

By Luke Winkie

game review May 24, 2023

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Taps the Ceiling of What Switch Can DoIt’s a god game with the patina of a ronin story that makes you wonder, This is good, but is this as good as it gets?

By Craig Jenkins
backstories May 23, 2023

Into the Breach’s Final Level Is Hard Without Breaking the Rules“A high level of difficulty,” explains developer Matthew Davis, “makes every decision interesting.”

By Aidan Moher
vulture lists May 22, 2023

The 100 Hardest Video-Game Levels of All TimeDizzying shooters, agonizing puzzles, and water stages (ugh) that raise the question: Continue?
vulture lists May 22, 2023

The 100 Hardest Video-Game Bosses, RankedFrom gods and zombies to a shark and a tree, the one trait they share is an ability to end your game swiftly.