The majority of Ubisoft’sTom Clancygames place a very high emphasis onrealism and immersion, and although this does make them incredibly fun to play, it also means that they don’t tend to be very forgiving in their overall difficulty. This was especially the case with earlier titles in theTom Clancyseries where Ubisoft really went above and beyond to make the experience feel as believable as possible, not only through their visual styles and aesthetics, but also with the enemies, who tended to be both durable and dangerous, ensuring that the player never felt too overpowered as a result.
Although many of these games have aimed to be a little more accessible in recent years, there are still many people who thoroughly enjoy the arduous challenge presented by some of the more difficultTom Clancygames, which can ultimately make themvery satisfying to fully complete. With that in said, these titles listed below are widely considered to be the hardest of the bunch, so it’s time to take a closer look at what systems, gimmicks, and mechanics make them so unforgiving in the first place.
Just before Ubisoft took the series in a more action-oriented direction, they decided to make one finalSplinter Cellgame that harkend back to the stealthier roots of the series in the form ofSplinter Cell: Double Agent. As a result, the gameplay is very similar to those classic titles, with players being tasked with finding unique ways to sneak around their environments before getting the drop on their enemies without them ever even noticing. The reason this game often gets touted as one of the harder entries in this beloved series though is primarily because of howclunky and unresponsive it can often feel to play.
BecauseDouble Agentruns on the Unreal 2.5 Engine, which had gone long out of style by the time that the game released, it means that actually moving Sam around and sneaking up behind enemies without any noise being made in the process becomes much harder than it sounds. This can prove to be especially irritating when trying to hide behind corners, as Sam will often simply refuse to cling to a wall, or will slide somewhere else entirely. The game is far from unplayable, and still provides a pretty compelling story and plenty of memorable areas, but it’s clear that it wasn’t designed to be quite as challenging as it ended up being.
Game FAQ Difficulty Rating: 3.32
Tom Clancy’s EndWar
Live the thrilling career of an army commander and lead your army to victory in a massive online World War III! Take control of the U.S.-led Joint Strike Force, the European Enforcers Corps, or the Russian Spetsnaz Guards Brigade in a persistent ongoing World War. Create your army to match your tactical style and create a strategy that will defeat your enemies.You Are In Control: In addition to traditional RTS controls (mouse selection, hotkeys), EndWar goes beyond other Real Time Strategy games by letting you use your own voice to control your units, offering you true control at the speed of thought.Putting You in the Battle: Instead of using the traditional top-down view, EndWar employs a unique third-person camera that puts you in the heart of the battle, making the use of terrain and cover even more critical to achieving victory. Zoom in and out at will and watch the devastation unfold as hundreds of units engage the enemy on fully destructible battlefields.Armed for the Future: True to the Tom Clancy legacy, EndWar offers a wide range of vehicles, weapons and equipment based on real-world military research, giving you unprecedented access to the cutting-edge technology of tomorrows wars, such as drones and space-based weapons of mass destruction.Go to war online in a persistent multiplayer World War III with fully-customizable battalions and unitsRefined HUD and controls and new waypoint system, combined with EndWars proven revolutionary voice command system30 stunningly realistic real-world battlefields set in Europe and the United States, including Washington D.C., Paris, and MoscowDeeply customizable armies featuring unit ranks and hundreds of upgrades add up to endless replay value.Includes all the downloadable content released on consoles – maps, additional upgrades and battalions.Watch the destruction unfold in spectacular detail in massive battles featuring hundreds of units and destructible environments.
In stark contrast to a lot of the third-person action games that had come before in theTom Clancyseries,EndWaris an RTS game thattakes place during a fictional third World Warwhere players are able to choose between three major factions who they must lead to an eventual victory. At its core,EndWaris an incredibly fun and vibrant strategy game that really shines because of its large-scale battles and massive variety of unit types, but it’s fair to say that the AI opponents won’t make things easy for the player, considering how aggressive they can be.
For example, the enemy factions will always do their best to rush towards capturing an Uplink which is close to the player during the beginning of a match, allowing them to apply pressure right from the get-go. Additionally, if players rely on one specific unit type too much throughout a battle, the AI will also reinforce and react to this accordingly, so it’s heavily advised to keep a wide array of different soldiers and vehicles to try and outplay them.EndWar’sbrutal gameplay perfectly suits the high-stakes tone of the game’s wider context, and while strategy fans will find it reasonably manageable, it can end up being much more daunting for newcomers to the genre.
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
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Infiltrate terrorists' positions, acquire critical intelligence by any means necessary, execute with extreme prejudice, and exit without a trace!You are Sam Fisher, a highly trained secret operative of the NSA’s secret arm: Third Echelon. The world balance is in your hands, as cyber terrorism and international tensions are about to explode into WWIII.Enter the realistic Tom Clancy universe. Suit up with the latest classified field operative gear and weapons.All the best stealth action plus all new moves. Highly interactive environments giving players more gameplay options and the ability to strategize their actions.Stunning environments driven by the Unreal engine. Dynamic lighting and sound effects that match reality.
WhileMetal Gear Solidhad ushered the stealth genre into mainstream popularity a few years before,Splinter Celltook this to a whole new level thanks tothe gameplay’s emphasis on using darkness as a resource for sneaking around, which is highlighted through the Light Meter. As players make their way through each area, they will need to try and conceal their identity by keeping the Light Meter as low as possible, which can be done by destroying lights, hiding in obscure areas, and generally just finding creative ways to pass by a room without being seen.
In order to accommodate for the intense stealth gameplay that Ubisoft were going for, Sam is made to be extremely slow in his movements, requiring the player to practice a lot of patience in order to progress through areas without anyone catching wind of Sam’s position. The sound meter can also be very unforgiving at times, leaving little to no room for error when moving around. This level of difficulty does still do a fantastic job at emphasizing how hard the sorts of espionage stealth missions would realistically be to pull off, and it results inSplinter Cellbeing one of the most difficult games in its respective genre as a result.
AlthoughPandora Tomorrowgave Sam quite a few new abilities to help in clearing out rooms, such as being able to whistle and having a laser sight attached to his pistol, the game still manages to be incredibly challenging to complete due to its level design. Because many areas are a lot more linear and straightforward this time around, it also means that each room includes far more enemies than the other games usually would, to the point where actually sneaking through a level without being detected can feelmore or less impossible on a first playthrough.
Another big reason why the game is often considered by fans to be the hardest game in the series is because of how much more alert the enemies are of their surroundings, which can sometimes reach levels of absurdity. For example, it’s a common occurrence for guards to somehow possess the superhuman ability to call for reinforcements while being knocked out, and since this happens instantly, it means a mission can easily go horribly wrong for seemingly no good reason. Because the game is actually reasonably short, it feels like Ubisoft wanted to make the experience as arduous as they could to make up for this, a decision which is either a curse or a blessing depending on who’s being asked.
On the surface,Siege’s5 vs 5 attack and defend style gameplay isn’t too difficult to understand, but actually getting good at the game is an incredibly difficult task, with the learning curve only growing with each and every update. Because the game features such a staggering number of operators, all with their own unique abilities and gadgets, it means that learning how all of them work within a match becomes essential, not only to know which one to choose in a certain scenario, but also how to counter them.
Players will also need to familiarize themselves with the maps too, alongside being fully aware of what types of walls can be broken down, just in case any opponents attempt to get the drop on their team. Thegunplay inSiegecan also take a very long time to get used to, with the game’s focus on realism making it so each and every gun has a wild recoil pattern that can be pretty tricky to nail down. There’s nothing more satisfying than finally learning howSiegeworks and outplaying opponents through having good knowledge of the maps and operators, but actually getting to this point can take an agonizingly long time.
After the enormous success ofRainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft developed a neat spin-off title by the name ofRainbow Six Extractionwhich placed a greater emphasis on its co-op gameplay while also introducinga brand new alien-like enemy called the Archaeans. Rather than easing players into the experience, the game throws them right in the deep-end from the very beginning, with barely any tutorial screens to be seen, which already makes things pretty challenging. The game only becomes more brutal though once players start getting assigned to complete one of the game’s twelve different objectives, all of which involve venturing into an alien-infested base and trying to survive against a merciless horde of enemies, all while completing the mission and keeping everyone alive.
When playing solo, these missions can feel downright impossible considering just how littered each and every area is with dangerous enemies, but things really don’t become much easier when part of a team, especially if the players involved aren’t constantly communicating with one another through voice chat. Although many of the operators retain the abilities that they can use inSiege, such as Alibi’s holograms and Pulse’s heartbeat sensor, these tend to be much harder to use effectively given how unpredictable the enemies can be, which especially applies to the special aliens that appear later on. Anyone who fancies themselves a bit of an FPS veteran should definitely gather a few buddies and try to take on the intense challenge that isRainbow Six Extraction.
