We reach a point sometimes during the gaming adventures of our life where we find ourselves cursing at the computer screen, babbling unacceptable things while getting so close to throwing our controller or keyboard out of the window or right on the screen itself. This may happen more than once, depending on how experienced a gamer you are or not, on how difficult and demanding are the games that you like to play and, maybe mostly, on how their gameplay is structured, something that quite often does not have much to do with how hard the game in question may be overall. What I am describing is those points in video games that tortured us enough to be considered as the banes of our existence; be it a nasty jumping sequence, an evil timed run, an insane boss fight, sometimes all such things combined. 

I started playing video games in the early 2000's, and have played quite a few since then; and I recall always wanting to complete the highest difficulty levels when they were available. I am mentioning this in order to highlight that a game sequence turning into a bane does not always have to do with the difficulty level; most of the times, it is a result of design and setup, and although how much experience a gamer has is also very important, it is not a number one factor in every case. The very first games that I played were third person shooters (Blake Stone, Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem 3D), and a bit later I discovered the iconic third person adventures of Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider series. Up to now, I have played and loved games of various genres and gameplay styles, and naturally I have my fair share of banes, ranging from my first gaming years until recently. 

Von Beck's Revenge (Tank Chase Sequence), from Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb

Released in 2003 by Lucas Arts, Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb was sensational for its time, and it still is, for that matter. Classic third person, with fancy action, smart puzzles and wonderful sceneries, its only serious flaw (well, if you can call it such, but from a practical point of view, it kind of was) being the lack of checkpoints in the course of the levels. Each chapter was divided in several levels, at the end of which the game would make an automatic save; but there was no way to save your progress while in those levels. I do not remember experiencing any issues with this, however, until I reached a point very close to the finale, the infamous tank chase sequence in Hong Kong, in the level "Von Beck's Revenge". Von Beck was the villain of the story, an annoying and persisting German military man, who had been pursuing Indy throughout the whole adventure. So in Hong Kong he made his most grand entrance in a nasty tunnel full of abysmal gaps, driving a huge tank with a drill at its front. Not the least impressed with his artillery, Indy must run along said tunnel, jumping over the small gaps and taking care to swing over the biggest ones with the aid of his trusty whip, while Von Beck's drill is literally down his neck, creating even more gaps on the ground as it moves. It is a sequence that requires timing, speed and reflexes, and although it lasts less than 3 minutes, it is guaranteed to leave a mark. When I first played the game, it took me one whole week of retries until I finally made it, and I remember that when I gave the game another go a bit later, because I liked it so much, when I got to the accursed level I stopped and quit without even trying again. Just recently, I decided to go back to it and record it, to see how it would be after all this time; it now took me only a few reloads until I succeeded, and it was mainly because of the different control system which I was not used to. To be fair, however, I cannot blame my younger self for having such a hard time with this sequence, because back then I was playing with keyboard and mouse, and admittedly it is way easier to do with a controller, with which I played it now. 

 

Brother Obscura aka The Red Ghost Boss, from Tomb Raider: The Angel pf Darkness

Technically this is not a boss fight, as you do not literally fight the enemy in the actual sense, but as a sequence per se, it is set up in such a way as to be justly classified as such. Concluding a rather well-structured sequence in an underground archaeological site, this part of the Angel of Darkness is clearly one of its most notorious moments. Released in 2003, the last game of the now historical Core Design was a charming tangle of fascinating elements and problematic gameplay. In an attempt to evolve the well-known and lauded features of the classic Tomb Raider games, the developing team decided to implement a few new mechanics which, however, could never work as they were supposed to. And not only that; they affected the overall gameplay so badly, that even the simplest task, running from one spot to another just a few steps away, would end up being nothing less than a struggle. The main and most infuriating problem of the game was Lara's inexplicably slow movements, a number one obstruction in instances when she was called to do things quickly and with perfect timing. One such instance was the sequence in the attic of the Hall of Seasons where Brother Obscura, the infamous Red Ghost, was guarding a painting, the artifact that Lara had been looking for since the beginning of the adventure. In a small room with several identical statues, the Red Ghost keeps floating around, moving the painting from statue to statue, thus preventing Lara from taking it. The task here is to shoot the Red Ghost enough times so as to immobilize it for a few seconds, which will then give you time to run and grab the painting. Needless to say the conditions need to be perfect for the task to succeed: you need to stand close to the statue that holds the painting, but not too close because in this case the artifact will fly off to another statue; additionally, you need to stay there in the crawl position, so as to not get hit by the Red Ghost; and shoot it with a powerful gun so as to stun it quickly. Moreover, you need to holster the gun as soon as the Ghost gets stunned, and then stand up to run to the painting. With Lara's slow motion movements and her needing practically ages to change positions and holster her guns, all this becomes an instant and never-ending nightmare. Even now, I found it quite nasty, although not even half as bad as in my first runs.

Boaz Returns, from Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Another nasty highlight from The Angel of Darkness was undoubtedly the boss fight with Cristina Boaz, the scientist who mutated into a hideous giant spider-like creature and was "tasked" to rid off Kurtis Trent, the secondary protagonist of the story. Designed almost the same way as Lara in this game, Kurtis however was at the same time better and worse as far as his movements were concerned: he was able to run a bit faster, but certain moves, like stepping backwards for instance, seemed to be a pain for him to execute. On top of that, although he was carrying his cool, sharp and shiney chirugai, it remained a precious gem hanging from his belt, as he could use it only during cutscenes. On the other hand Boaz, although being even more awkward than him, was able to attack him with a variety of ways, the worst being those that made him fall, because then, just like Lara, he needed ages to stand up on his feet. In addition, the aiming system was not on Kurtis's side either, resulting in most of us succeeding in hitting the targets (the four pods on Boaz's body) almost entirely by chance.

 

The Great Pyramid Shaft, from Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Timed events are always a highlight in games; in fact the tighter, the better. Or maybe not. Sometimes the line between challenging and infuriating is so thin, it can easily become invisible. One such case is the sequence with the timed jumps in the shaft of the Great Pyramid, from Tomb Raider: Anniversary. The game was released in 2007, created by the developing team of Crystal Dynamics as an admittedly impressive remake of the original, classic first Tomb Raider game. For the most part, Anniversary was a blast; fantastic graphics, immersive, interactive environments and ambience, beautiful music, a smoothly moving Lara, an easy and comprehensive control system - and then there were the retractable poles. I can't even attempt to understand the logic of adding retractable poles in nearly every room in Egypt, but regardless it was something you eventually got used to after a point; until you reached that demonic shaft in the Great Pyramid in Atlantis. The room consists of several levels going upwards, that you need to reach after performing sets of timed jumps. Said jumps involve, guess what: retractable poles, as well as retractable rings to which you must grapple and swing from. After the first two sets which are rather easy, there comes the third set - the actual bane of my existence in this game. That third set is, no doubt, the work of demonic forces combined, moreover since there is a workaround there in plain sight which, however, is nearly impossible to acknowledge due to the deceiving complex "official" route that you are supposed to follow while running out of time in the most unforgiving fashion. When I first played the game, I literally quit at that point after I don't know how many retries. Then I downloaded a save file from right after that part, so as to be able to at least complete the game. I admit it was a most traumatic experience, because it is not like me to quit a game like this; let alone a Tomb Raider game which, moreover, I loved. And now, nearly 20 years later, the time came for me to make amends and give it a try again. Again, it was pure nastiness, but now, after having played several difficult and challenging games meanwhile, I knew how to deal with it; and I knew that when something in a game seems impossible, there is always another way around it. Of course it can also be done the official, long way, but the shortcut I am going for in the video is pure work of art - and yes, I see it this way since, thanks to it, I was finally able to complete this part after all these years. 

 

The Final Execution Chamber, from the Executioner DLC of The Evil Within

I have very fond memories of The Evil Within, which proves how a game can be as difficult as it gets, but if it is wisely designed, it can offer a most entertaining experience. Created by Shinji Mikami, the mastermind behind the first Resident Evil games, The Evil Within was released in 2014 by Bethesda and it still carries its peculiar, undeniable charm. There are no flaws in its DLC The Executioner either, just an extremely difficult extra level / room in NG+. Luckily, you have very strong weapons at your disposal at that point, but this does not make the Final Execution Chamber less challenging. In the DLC, you play as the Keeper, and you pass through a series of rooms where you have to fight all sorts of monsters and enemies from the main game. The Final Execution Chamber is naturally the toughest of all, as there are that many enemies whom you must defeat, and on top of that, in the end you are forced to fight a very badass Sebastian and a crazed, enraged Joseph at the same time. I like to call them The Murder Husbands at that point because, let's face it, they kind of look like they are that. Needless to say they are insanely tough bosses, and more so since they attack together. I remember reaching my wits end in this frustrating mess of a battle, so I decided to start recording it to give me a motive and keep trying. I was victorious eventually, but I admit that, as much as I enjoyed it, I don't think I will ever touch that DLC again.

 

Lucas Baker Boss Fight in Professional difficulty, from the Not A Hero DLC of Resident Evil 7

From Resident Evil 7 and onwards, most games in the Resident Evil franchise took a different approach as far as their levels of difficulty would differ from each other. Its DLC episode "Not A Hero" was no exception in its Professional difficulty, its main problem being the rather stingy drops of ammo that you find and the insane number of super-strong enemies you have to deal with until you reach the arena of the boss fight. Lucas Baker becomes a nasty, infuriating mold monster in the finale of the episode, and at first he may seem impossible to defeat in Professional difficulty. I remember arriving at the last room of the game with as much ammo as I could get, and still running out of all of it before he would even reach his last phase. The "secret" to beat him is in fact using several weapons in some kind of cycle, something that the game does not make clear during the fight. You can easily decipher that his weak point is his heart whenever it gets exposed, but to be able to shoot it enough times while preventing him from fatally attacking Chris requires a series of strategic moves that, once understood, can really make the battle in Professional end within minutes. Stunning him with incendiary grenades just before he lands an attack, then immediately shooting him to eventually expose his heart which, in turn, gets a dramatic amount of damage when shot with a specific kind of ammo, puts an end to his miserable existence faster than you would expect. This fight was a nightmare for me when I first got to play the DLC, and I remember not being able to finish it back then; I did so years later, and again now for the sake of this article. This time it felt way easier; I don't know if it was because I got a better computer now, thanks to which the game had better performance, or because meanwhile I had become more experienced after having played several demanding games; maybe it was a combination of both. 

 

 

Nemesis Boss Fight in Nightmare and Inferno difficulty, from Resident Evil 3 Remake 

Jill Valentine's iconic adventure in Raccoon City saw an interesting remake in 2020, which was a pretty atmospheric game with nicely developed characters, and one very nasty boss: the infamous Nemesis could only be even more evolved in his revamped version, made even more stressing due to Jill having to move in tight and limited spaces while being chased by her ferocious stalker. There are several boss battles that you have to carry out with this monster, plus one crazy chase through town; and although all of these sequences can easily become a gamer's banes, it is the last boss fight that shines as the absolute winner. The finale of the game finds Jill trapped in a room with the heavily mutated Nemesis covering half of it. The boss cannot move around, but it is able to attack Jill with a series of deadly ways, while she must shoot several blobs on its "body" and at the same time fix the super-powerful weapon which is conveniently placed in the same room and with which she will be eventually able to destroy the monster. In the first three difficulty levels this fight is a breeze; the Nemesis has very few blobs on it, its attacks are fewer and much slower, and Jill has all the time in the world to succeed in her mission. But in Nightmare and, worse, in Inferno difficulties, fighting the final form of the Nemesis is exactly that: a nightmare and Hell incarnate. This is one of the cases where the difficulty level truly makes a difference. The boss has way more blobs on it, which, moreover, are more resilient; its attacks are incessant, literally the one after the other, and capable of sending you to the You Are Dead screen far more times than you can count; and the time that you are given to fix the weapon whenever the monster is stunned, is marginally a nasty joke. The first time that I finally made it, I could not believe my own eyes, and I admit it is a sequence that I never look forward to when playing the game. 

Naturally in the gaming part of my life I still come across several sequences that have the characteristics of a bane, but those listed above have to be the most impressive ones, at least in terms of how many times I had to play them out until I would finally succeed in completing them.

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness in Retrospect

The Angel of Darkness is maybe the only notorious game in the otherwise much loved and acclaimed Tomb Raider saga. Released in 2003 following a great hype and even greater promises, it unfortunately featured innumerable flaws alongside its good elements. Core Design, the historical development team that had been responsible for the first five (eight with the gold expansions), now classic, Tomb Raider games, had very intriguing plans for both the game and its possible sequels but sadly all went down the rabbit hole after The Angel of Darkness saw the light and all of us saw how much more work it actually needed before getting a release. Several problems led to this, and since the release date of the game had already been postponed more than once, the sixth Tomb Raider installment eventually had to appear in the market while, in reality, it was still in development.

The story of the game takes place a few years after the events in The Last Revelation. In the fourth game's dramatic finale, Lara got trapped in the depths of the Great Pyramid and, as we can see during most of the fifth game, Tomb Raider Chronicles, was presumed dead for a certain period of time. Her old friend and mentor, however, Werner Von Croy, followed his clues and subsequently located her, while she was still alive and breathing. 

We assume that Lara was then rescued and it is implied at the start of The Angel of Darkness that she was still holding a grudge against Von Croy for supposedly leaving her to die in the pyramid. And this is where the problems of the game actually begin. Because we do know very well from The Last Revelation that Von Croy didn't really abandon her. For starters, he was possessed by the evil god Seth for most of the game's story, during which he acted as an enemy. But at the end, after Lara locked Horus in his temple inside the pyramid, Von Croy was not only set free, but he also desperately tried to help Lara get past the collapsing rocks, something that Lara knew because well, you know, she was there to witness the whole thing.

So the initiation of the scenario in The Angel of Darkness is actually based on a concept that isn't really true, and this is something that both protagonists know, and also something that we know. This somehow sets the pace for the rest of the story, but in fact the story itself is much more interesting, much more intriguing and much more complex. Von Croy asks Lara to find an artifact for him, a certain painting, but while they are in the middle of an awkward argument, something happens, Lara loses her senses and when she comes to, she sees that her hands are full of blood and that her mentor is lying dead in front of her. Doing her mathematics in seconds, she realizes that she will be accused of Von Croy's murder, even though deep down she knows she wasn't the one who killed him. Feeling that the death of Von Croy has a lot to do with the painting he wanted her to find, she begins her quest which leads her first to the criminal underworld of Paris, then to the very Louvre Museum itself and a secret dig site at its basement and eventually in Prague where she finally locates the culprits and puts an end to their evil plans. All this, not before she solves some fascinating, old-school puzzles and not before meeting a mysterious stranger who happens to have a connection to the painting as well and whose own story is also very interesting.

Said mysterious stranger is Kurtis Trent, a new character with whom we have the chance to play two chapters and carry out a nasty boss fight. Core Design had some pretty awesome plans for Kurtis, but with how things turned out, he prematurely became part of the game's past mythology. Kurtis was met with enthusiasm from a decent amount of Tomb Raider players, and it's almost certain that if all had gone smoothly and The Angel of Darkness hadn't been such a hell to play, he could very well still be active in the saga somehow.

But as I just mentioned, The Angel of Darkness is a hell to play. Technically, the game is not much different from the previous ones. The control system is pretty similar, and there are also a few new cool moves, like the commando crawl or the stealth attack. The problem is that the way Lara and Kurtis are programmed, they respond to the commands as if their whole life bores the hell out of them, and their movements are so slow that you so feel the urge to fast-forward everything somehow. For some insane reason, they always - and I mean, ALWAYS - make a few walking steps before they start running. I don't know if this was supposed to be there for realism, or if it was a left-over, or a feature that was going to be present in certain occasions only, but it still is one of the most problematic things that I have seen in gaming. There is a sequence where Lara must go through a hallway trapped with deadly lasers while taking cover in doorways in the way. At the end of the hallway, there is a strong enemy waiting to shoot at her. While Lara is trying to make it from one doorway to another in a zig zag manner, she must also take care to not bump onto the lasers so as to not trip them. In the course of doing that, she'd better not have her weapon out because her scripted combat moves (another hell, to which I will refer later) are the worst thing that could happen to her in such a situation. Because of that, she has to move along as usual, but regardless the enemy will start shooting at her as soon as she steps out of a doorway. The most logical thing at that point would be to run as fast as you can. But NO. Because Lara is scripted to ALWAYS take a few walking steps before running, even in this critical, life-threatening situation she will AGAIN casually walk her few steps before setting off to running. And guess what, she will have already been shot several times, all this while trying to make just a few frigging steps to the next doorway.

And now the combat moves. Oh my, the combat moves. When there is no enemy around, Lara and Kurtis can walk and run (preferably walk because that's how heroes do it obviously) normally. But when an enemy shows up, even if he is behind a barrier, they will start hopping around in circles, resulting in you shooting in panic and losing your orientation in the process. And what to say about the upgrade system. Lara will refuse to push a tiny glass case if she is not "strong enough", but she may very well kick open a heavy door without the slightest shame.

It is such a pity that you can see all the flaws, but at the same time you can also see all the potential. The graphics are fantastic (keep in mind that the game was released almost twenty years ago, so the standards were very different), and there are sections that are unforgettable. You can imagine these in a better setup and see how amazing the game could have been. The whole dig site under the Louvre is one of the best stages in the whole Tomb Raider saga. It is a huge hub consisting of a main area and four puzzle areas that are based on the four elements - a reminiscent of the Lost City of Tinnos from Tomb Raider 3. But my most favorite is definitely the stunning Bio-Research Facility, a vast area made of several rooms that connect with each other via security doors, and said rooms host beautiful but deadly plants and a creepily calm atmosphere.

The facility rooms are in fact greenhouses, but their carnivorous plants and poisonous mushrooms are only a facade for what truly goes on underneath. Evil masterminds, crazy scientists, power-hungry madmen are again present, as is always the case in our beloved Tomb Raider games. By the way, this whole section holds a cunning resemblance to Javier's greenhouse from Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. I guess all villains have some things in common after all.

Puzzles are not very difficult, but they do require some thinking. The aforementioned element areas under the Louvre involve a series of trials that are easy to understand but rather difficult to execute, but definitely one of the most memorable moments of this section and maybe of the whole game is the room at the top of the Hall of Seasons with the one-of-a-kind boss "fight" against the red ghost that guards the painting: it is not a typical fight in that you cannot battle against the boss, but rather you have to carry out a timed process in order to be able to take the painting and leave without the ghost messing with you. This sequence was one of those stages that back then had players, including yours truly, pulling their hair in anger and despair, but somehow now I managed to do it with my second attempt. Draining the water in the Louvre sewers is an ingenious process, as is the whole sequence with distracting the mutant fish in the Aquatic Research Area. Among my favorites is surely the puzzle in Vasiley's library in Prague, set in a lovely environment which makes you wish there was more to explore there.

The lab in the final stage is also a beautifully made setting involving a series of cleverly thought puzzles. It is in fact an Alchemy lab, as the game's backstory has mainly to do with Alchemy, and it is where the plot reaches its climax and you begin to see where all this is going. The arch-villain is a man that does not come from this century, and everything in his lab betrays that. Vintage decoration, old-time equipment, even zombie skeletons, comprise the compelling environment of his secret laboratory. Don't you just love those beautiful vintage items in games? I know I do.

Character-wise, the game is doing pretty well, although there was still room for a lot of improvement and development. Now that I got to play the game again after so many years, I saw that there is a lot more depth in both the characters and the story than I thought back then, as I also noticed details in the dialogues and the notes that I previously missed. There are six villains in the story, although only three of them actually become threatening, and Lara finds out in the end that the real evil mastermind was someone that, up to that point, preferred to move mostly in the shadows.

As I mentioned a few paragraphs above, Kurtis is a very interesting character and he had a lot of potential. Core had plans for him to be the protagonist in a possible spin-off and maybe even become a recurring character in future Tomb Raider games. Kurtis is a demon hunter, coming from a long line of ancestors that shared skills similar to his: he has some sort of telekinesis and can see very far away by using his special power. He has a powerful weapon, a Chirugai, which however he only uses in a cutsene at the end of his boss fight. I want to believe that if the game had been more complete, we could have been able to use it in gameplay as well. Kurtis can control his Chirugai with his mind and the weapon essentially "senses" his presence even if he is hidden somewhere around. Such great elements that would fit so well in the Tomb Raider world. The levels that we get to play with him take place in a sanatorium, also a secret experiment center of the bad guys, which now is a nest of creepy, blood-thirsty mutants. The bonus is a boss fight with one of the mutated evil masterminds, which, like the aforementioned red ghost sequence, used to be a nightmare for us back then. Now, after having played so many difficult games in the meantime, I realized that what truly made those sequences tough in The Angel of Darkness was the broken control system, because otherwise they were very straightforward and easy.

The Angel of Darkness has its peculiar charm and its own cult merit but unfortunately its flawed gameplay system is a curse that it will always carry on its back. Regardless, it's an experience that left and will always leave good memories to Tomb Raider players, at least; if anything, it was the last game made by Core Design and this alone is a reason to consider it historical anyway. The Angel of Darkness stands in the middle of the two eras of  the Tomb Raider saga, after the end of the classics and before its rebirth, first with Legend, Underworld and Anniversary by Crystal Dynamics and then with Reborn, Rise and Shadow by Square Enix. It was an unlucky game because at the time of its production the gaming technology had taken big steps compared to the previous decade, but still it had not reached the impressive heights that became a standard a few years later. It had so many innovative and interesting elements but its technical flaws prevented it from making a breakthrough to a bigger fanbase and thus creating its own legend in the Tomb Raider universe.