The most mentally draining open world RPG

It's not necessarily a bad thing if the game stresses you out. Think about it this way: would you rather feel nothing at all, or mild comfort, than feel completely immersed in a challenging, stressful experience? Everyone's answer will be different, but there is definitely a lot of room for players who enjoy being pushed and challenged in healthy ways while playing.

Tough enemies, difficult and complex systems, impossible bosses, and worlds that combine survival with RPG, these open-world games should be your next stop if you don't mind mentally beating yourself up in a good way. They are very stressful, yes, but you won't find games as rewarding as the following ones.

Gothic 2

Old But Golden With A Big Dose Of Challenge

The Gothic the games have always been known for being quite brutal and not exactly beginner friendly. Gothic 2 it continues in the same vein, sporting a world that is instantly hostile and merciless towards you, starting with just a nobody, facing zero-scale enemies. It expects you to adapt to the environment instead of throwing you a friendly bone like many modern games do to slowly initiate you. Are the enemies too difficult? Too bad, come back when you're better. That, on top of a world map that doesn't have accurate quest markers and forces you to remember where to go and what your last progress was, makes it a draining experience if you're not used to the way games used to be made – without any hand-holding.

To add to that, leveling can be quite slow and punishing. Make a bad choice with your stats and it will be a long time until you can level again. On the other hand, leveling is really beneficial and significant. However, they are games like Gothic 2 which makes grinding them so rewarding because it not only strengthens your character, but also you as a player. It's a real-life learning experience, and like anything that presents a challenge, you have to be prepared to fail and make a fool of yourself in the struggle before you master anything.

Pathological 2

You are the town's only hope

Pathological 2 is a mentally exhausting experience thanks to its setting and gameplay. If you've ever wondered (for some horrible reason) what it would be like to be a plague doctor tending to an entire city fighting for its last, rattling breath of survival, this is the game for you. Its atmosphere is incredibly dark and oppressive, and you feel constantly helpless as you try to make decisions to improve the characters around you. Unfortunately, almost no choice is ever truly good. With everyone comes a sacrifice that drains you emotionally.

That said, no game does it as well Pathological 2while throwing in other concerns like your own survival. Yes, in addition to the mental strain you'll be dealing with, you also have to manage your hunger and thirst as well as gather resources. You are the only person who can help others, but would you put your own survival before someone else's? With a time limit in the game, you will be desperate and it will push your decision-making skills and stamina to their limits. Despite this, it's easily one of the most exciting and immersive survival game experiences out there, and it does a fantastic job of taming the horror of an opponent you can't physically fight with your fists. It is a very worthy game that is worth suffering through.

External

A highly punishing survival RPG

Preparation is always the key to success and External he will teach you this lesson by force if he has to. Most of us gamers have been spoiled by instant dopamine experiences and fast-paced games where running is the way, but External it combats this notion by teaching you that slowing down is the best and safest way forward. As with Gothic 2you start from scratch and build yourself up to become a hero, and the journey is pretty long and arduous, laced with tough enemies in a medieval fantasy world, Aurai, which is cruel, uncompromising and lacks any fast travel, so be prepared to walk a lot and ensure your own safety in the process.

Small errors in External can get out of hand quickly. You'll die and you'll be significantly behind, with injuries that will slow you down, which will limit your combat abilities, making you a weak target for almost anything and everything in the world. Forget about sleep and hydration and you will face the consequences of fatigue. You can even contract diseases and not even think of underestimating some of the game's enemies. If someone catches you, it's immediately “GGs”, so you're always forced to be on your toes, to plan, to think ahead. The reason why it still works great and why External it needs to be experienced, it's like Gothicit's a learning process for the player. You're not just watching your character get overpowered, you're learning through your own mistakes what works and what doesn't. Nothing is given to you for free, so when you conquer that dungeon and beat the boss that gave you a hard time, it's exciting. Even better if you suffer through it with friends.

Kenshi

A daring survival experience like no other

Very similar to punishing vibrations Gothic games and Externalwe have Kenshi. This is a game you will either hate or love because it is open ended. Sure, it allows you to decide who you want to be, but the world doesn't make it easy for you at all. In the beginning, you are an absolute nobody and can't hold your own in any fight. Chances are you'll die and bleed out in the wild or be enslaved. Expect to be kicked again and again as the game tests your patience and tries to demotivate you without throwing you a bone or giving you any instructions on where to go or what to do. When you experience setbacks, such as failing a battle, the consequences are quite severe and you will usually have to recover for a long time to regain your health, and you may even lose a limb for good.

All the while, life in the world Kenshi it goes on. It's a bit of a simulation in the sense that everything in the game works on its own, cities are raided and different factions in the game clash with each other whether you're there or not. In the beginning you are constantly trying to crawl out of the hole and many players give up. However, there is a good reason why Kenshi is so incredibly popular with many, and that is the freedom to write your own epic journey. No great story is ever without obstacles, and with how open the world is and how you can basically go anywhere, talk to anyone, interact with everything, it can be so rewarding to see your character, and later your entire team, develop into something tangible after countless heartbreaking failures.

Elden Ring

The lands between are relentless against the tainted

i won't lie Elden Ring might be the tamest game on this list in terms of how punishing and mentally draining it feels, but it still deserves praise for being an open-world, Soulslike RPG. In typical Soulslike and FromSoftware fashion, you can expect to be spat out into the world without much guidance. Yes, there's a short tutorial dungeon, but as soon as you walk into our first outer Grace in Limgrave, you'll meet the Tree Sentinel – your official, warm welcome to the world Elden Ring.

The Lands Between are full of smaller and larger dungeons, POIs and roaming enemies with their quirks that will drive you crazy. Even small, insignificant enemies will feel annoying and rough at first with your limited combat knowledge, gear, and low stats, forcing you to play as a coward and farm for experience. This means that in the soulslike style, the bosses are also just as unfair. They're often much bigger than you, sporting attacks that can stun, grab, or lock you into a combo of several smaller strikes if you're not ready with your feint. You're always a little on your toes Elden Ring the world, waiting for the next strange enemy with their own unfair trick, be it a wandering Crucible knight or a giant troll, or even Malenia in her boss's chamber. With all that said, like any Soulslike, the feeling of reward after defeating a boss you've been glued to for hours is simply unmatched. Your characters grow in power with each kill as you earn runes to upgrade your gear and stats and better weapons and armor. While there are builds and playstyles that can trivialize many of the game's challenges, it's still soulslike at its core and remains unapologetically stressful yet highly rewarding for those completely new to the genre.