Other games with harsh difficulty

[SelphieSelfie]

Since this has been bumped, it may be retro but FALLOUT 2 on Hard is on par with the difficulty of FTL on Normal with a crappy ship.
A huge difference though is that it can be saved anytime, anywhere but you'd need a lot of luck crossing the desert for the first 2 or 3 times without an ally. FALLOUT 2 with Killap's Restoration Patch is even harder.

[5thHorseman]

I've been having a lot of fun lately with Invisible, Inc.

Each win is maybe 2x longer than an FTL win (though can be less time than that), based on my playthroughs at least. It also has a 1-time-per-level mulligan option (that I love) but other than that every single mistake must be dealt with, and can easily end a run for you. However, you can also - with luck and skill - get out of many seemingly insurmountable situations.

But normally you don't

[erumsey]

The minecraft mod pack blood and bones.
This technically doesn't count bit idc.
Basically it's rewarding late game but no matter what ya do.
(Goes mining) random creepers blow up lava onto you
(Goes farming) CROPS IN THE WRONG DARN BIOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But the reward late game

[Tyrantissar]

Um, Stronghold on hard or hardest difficulty was generally deemed impossible for mission 15 during the campaign, but it has not stopped me form trying to do so anyways, and it has been 100 attempts and I failed to kill the very last man. I was enraged because It was 1 unit off from doing the impossible, and the classic strongholds have a hardcore gaming community that is still alive even today. Avoid stronghold 2 & 3 because the difficulty has been significantly reduced to shit.

Also another crazy feat I attempted to do was playing any old school RTS in skirmish mode with 7 maxed out difficulty AI's on a team against you, just to see how far away I was from being the most OP RTS player there ever was. Even today I still am pissed that I had not got the 1 kill that would put me on top as the best stronghold player there ever was to date. It basically would of meant I done the impossible. I have yet to see a video recording of somebody doing the impossible, and that would have a nice Niche on a YouTube channel or any other podcast/broadcast you could imagine.

[Kieve]

...and that would have a nice Niche on a YouTube channel or any other podcast/broadcast you could imagine.

As well as endless debates over "omg, hax, can't be done legit."

[Lime11]

Ever played "They Bleed Pixels"? That is one F****** hard game. But it's great! Got such an awesome style and music. Another pretty hard but great game is "Dungeon of the Endless". It's not super hard once you get your head around it but it's designed to challenge. Also has great art.

[DarkPhoenix141]

Getting the original Rainbow Six running is like FTL Hard Mode.

So I suggest that.

[Dirka]

Teleglitch:

Intense, atmospheric, extremely punishing.

[5thHorseman]

Teleglitch:

Intense, atmospheric, extremely punishing.

I want to like Teleglitch so much, but the only thing it has punished so far is my eyes.

Literally. I get headaches watching people play this.

[Leylite]

There's an option to turn off the dynamic lighting, which actually makes the game super-bright everywhere (even away from the lampposts) so everything is clearly visible. If I record another runthrough of the game that's definitely what I'm going to use.