Summary
- Platinum trophies vary from speedruns to multiplayer dominance.
- Like a Dragon: Ishin! has a tedious grind to max level and a requirement to craft every item in the game.
- Meanwhile, The Elder Scrolls Online asks you to... become Emperor? Wait, are you seriou-
Ever since 2008, trophy hunters have been earning crushingly difficult trophies. Anything is possible when digital bling is on the line, including world-class speedruns, no-death runs, and multiplayer dominance. A platinum trophy is the mark of a truly completed game, only being unlocked when you earn every other trophy in a game's trophy list (not counting DLC trophies).
The difficulty of hunting a platinum trophy varies wildly, from 20-minute shovelware adventures to 100-hour endurance challenges. In the spirit of exploring the more challenging side of trophy hunting, here are the most difficult platinum trophies that PlayStation has to offer.
Updated on February 3, 2025, by Dominic Allen: PlayStation Trophies have been around since the summer of 2008, and since their inception, there's grown to be an unimaginable sea of platinum trophies. There are a lot of easy ones to boost your trophy level, but plenty of brutal platinums as well that'll push you to your limits. Some are difficult due to single-player, multiplayer, can take a very long time, or just generally require a high amount of skills. Whatever it is, these games aren't a cakewalk.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
A Platinum Ten Years In The Making
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
- Released
- April 27, 2022
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Drug Reference, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Mild Violence
- Developer(s)
- Crows Crows Crows
- Publisher(s)
- Crows Crows Crows, Galactic Cafe
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- First-Person, Simulation, Mystery
- How Long To Beat
- 3 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Time-sensitive trophies are always annoying if you want to do them legit, but The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe has the worst of them all. Most of the trophy list is actually really easy, except for two. One for playing Ultra Deluxe on your console for all 24 hours of a Tuesday, which wastes a ton of time and energy. Hopefully, your bill doesn't go up too high.
The second for playing Ultra Deluxe ten years after you previously played it. Obviously, people change the date to get this trophy nice and easy, but doing it legitimately forces you not to play the game at all for ten years on PlayStation. On the bright side, think of all the social media engagement you'll get in 2032 for waiting ten years. Game Director William Pugh will definitely appreciate it.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3
A Campaign That Does Not Mess Around
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- Released
- November 6, 2015
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Multiplayer
- Local Co-Op, Local Multiplayer, Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Number of Players
- 4 (Co-Op)
- Split Screen Orientation
- Horizontal (Campaign); Vertical Or Horizontal (Zombies)
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- How Long To Beat
- 9 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 has a rather panned campaign, but what many don't know is that it's probably the hardest in the series if you go for the platinum trophy, not solely due to the difficulty itself but the challenges you must complete. You have to beat the game on Veteran, which isn't too bad, but you must beat every level without dying once.
That's frustrating like no other on Veteran and can be a real time-killer. Then you have to beat Realistic difficulty, essentially a one-hit death mode. Then you must beat all 16 rounds of the Training Simulator on Realistic, which is beyond savage. To top it off, there's a bunch of grindy challenges to beat, adding even more time to the platinum. It's absolutely ridiculous how long and challenging this campaign is.
Monster Hunter: World
RNG Never Leads To A Fun Platinum
- Released
- January 26, 2018
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Publisher(s)
- Capcom
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Expansions
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
- Franchise
- Monster Hunter
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- How Long To Beat
- 48 Hours
- Metascore
- 90
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
A common misconception non-trophy hunters have is that platinums that take a ridiculously long time aren't actually difficult. In achievement/trophy hunting, time required matters, so yes, a platinum taking hundreds of hours is considered difficult, and a perfect example is Monster Hunter: World.
Not only will you have to reach Rank 100, taking over 100 hours on its own, but you must get a gold crown and miniature crown for every large monster in the game. The huge time commitment, taking an estimated over 300 hours, and the RNG required to get these crowns make this a platinum only for the die-hard Monster Hunter fans.
Ghosts 'N Goblins Resurrection
About As Hard As You'd Expect
The Ghosts 'n Goblins series is notorious for its brutal difficulty, so it's no surprise the platinum for Resurrection hurts. It isn't too complicated, as you just have to get all the collectibles, get all the upgrades, and complete everything. That last part is easier said than done, though, because beating every shadow stage in the game proves to be a Herculean task, even on the second-lowest difficulty.
Yes, second-lowest, as you can't beat the whole game on the lowest one. These shadow stages work as the second run through the levels the series is known for, and they're significantly harder in what were already hard levels. You're truly a master gamer if you get all the way through this.
Street Fighter 6
The Tournament Grind
- Released
- June 2, 2023
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Mild Blood, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Publisher(s)
- Capcom
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC, PS4, PS5, & Xbox Series X|S
- Franchise
- Street Fighter
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, Arcade
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
- Metascore
- 92
- Platforms That Support Crossplay
- PC, PS4, PS5, & Xbox Series X|S
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Some trophy lists aren't actually too bad, except for one nasty trophy that turns the experience into a nightmare. Street Fighter 6 belongs in that league because the Dominating Like a Ninja trophy will seriously test your patience. For this trophy, you need to win ten tournament matches. A tournament game is best of three, so you can still gain progress towards the trophy without winning the set.
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Tournaments aren't a daily occurrence and happen on specific dates, which just elongates the platinum. You're best off getting together in a boosting group and trying to get into a server with a very low player count to heighten the odds of playing with boosters. Even then, it can fall to luck.
Hi-Fi Rush
Tango's Hardest Game Ever
- Released
- January 25, 2023
- ESRB
- Rated T: Fantasy Violence, Language
- Developer(s)
- Tango Gameworks
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Platform(s)
- Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, PS5
- Genre(s)
- Action
- How Long To Beat
- 8-10 Hours
- File Size Xbox Series
- 16 GB (November 2023)
- X|S Optimized
- No
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Tango Gameworks already has a reputation for impossibly hard platinums with games like The Evil Within. The one-hit kill Akumu mode is pretty bad, but to be frank, Hi-Fi Rush is even worse. Yes, it's easier on PlayStation due to the amazing feedback of the DualSense controller, but the tasks required are still ridiculous.
Hi-Fi Rush essentially copies the trophy list of Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, requiring you to defeat bosses in a special manner; in this case, beat them without taking damage, S rank every level on every difficulty, and accomplish numerous things in the Bloody Palace equivalent, Rhythm Tower. All of this demands expert-level play, and that second requirement needs to vanish going forward. There's no reason why you need to S rank both the hardest difficulties and the easiest.
Dead Space 2
Significantly Harder On PlayStation
- Released
- January 25, 2011
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Visceral Games
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Dead Space
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- How Long To Beat
- 9 Hours
- File Size Xbox Series
- 13 GB (October 2022)
- X|S Optimized
- No
A horror game that most people know is brutal to platinum is Dead Space 2. The game's infamous for its Hard Core difficulty, allowing only three saves throughout the campaign while being set to Zealot mode, and if you die, the game puts you back to where you last saved. What a lot of people don't know is that the Xbox 360 version is much easier due to one simple fact: the game was released on two discs.
On an actual 360, not on future Xbox consoles, if you die while on disc two, the game can only put you back somewhere on that disc. This means the start of disc two essentially acts as a checkpoint, a true lifesaver. On PlayStation 3, Dead Space 2 is on one Blu-ray disc, meaning you'll have to play Hard Core mode legitimately.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Never Has The Story Of An Open-World Rockstar Game Been More Frustrating
- Released
- October 26, 2018
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- N/A
- Cross Save
- N/A
- Franchise
- Red Dead Redemption
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- Genre(s)
- Action, Adventure
- How Long To Beat
- 50 Hours
- Metascore
- 97
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
- X|S Optimized
- yes
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Up there with the hardest Rockstar titles, like Grand Theft Auto 4, Red Dead Redemption 2 will take you to the brink. Unlike the difficulty of GTA4, which was largely in the multiplayer aspect, Red Dead 2's single-player has to be the hardest ever for a Rockstar open-world game.
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Not only does 100 percent completion take the longest time yet, with so many tasks and annoying challenges, but you'll need to clear 70 story missions with a gold medal rank. You must do every task in one run, unlike previous Rockstar titles, and with only 104 story missions, you can't skip too many of them.
Like A Dragon: Ishin!
The Worst Grind Of The Yakuza Series
Like a Dragon: Ishin!
- Released
- February 21, 2023
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- Publisher(s)
- Sega
- Franchise
- Yakuza
- Platform(s)
- Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- How Long To Beat
- 25 Hours
- File Size Xbox Series
- 27 GB (November 2023)
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
After being a Japanese exclusive for nine years, Like a Dragon: Ishin! finally made it to the rest of the world. Yakuza fans rejoiced, but trophy hunters were singing a different tune. The Yakuza platinums are already on the difficult side, but Ishin has an even worse aspect: tedium.
The platinum grind for Ishin is ludicrous, requiring you to max out at level 99 and craft every single item in the game. This process is so tedious that it's simply bad for your mental health. Unless you're a diehard fan, don't try to get this platinum because it will take you to the brink.
Call Of Duty Classic
The Hardest COD Campaign
- Released
- December 1, 2009
- ESRB
- Teen // Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Infinity Ward, Aspyr Media
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Genre(s)
- First-Person Shooter
Even though Call of Duty was more dominant on the Xbox 360 than PS3, COD Classic offered a platinum trophy, unlike the small 200G on Xbox. This is great, but unfortunately, Call of Duty Classic remains the hardest COD campaign in the series. Unlike nearly every other instalment, the original COD did not have regenerating health.
That was introduced in COD2. To boot, on Veteran difficulty, you don't even get health packs. You must get through this game with as little damage as possible. The original PC version had a quick save feature, but not in this 360 and PS3 port. The challenge here is on a whole other level, even more so than World at War.