Achievement hunting is serious business, and if you combine that with the fast-paced action you only find in first-person shooters, you have a match made in heaven.
There are plenty of creative Achievements in the space, including speedrun-style, multiplayer, and slow-burn grinds.
You may be no stranger to formidable achievements, but how about some that are just plain unfair? Here’s a selection of the most brutal achievements in the FPS genre, and only the most hardcore need apply.
These Achievements are available on PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam and share the same names across all platforms.
10Mile High Club
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered
There’s no doubt that Mile High Club is a problematic achievement for many, and it’sthe only one on the list that’s considered iconic and known by the masses.
Call of Duty 4has a superb campaign, and Mile High Club challenges players to beat theMile High Club mission with a time limit on Veteran difficulty.
The restriction is so rigid thatyou must complete the level flawlessly. You have no chance if you don’t memorize enemy spawns, and the finished run resembles an armed ballet where every move is rehearsed.
It’ll take many attempts to achieve this, but it’spretty doable with practice. Mile High Club makes the list for its status as a badge of honor among CoD veterans. There are more challenging Achievements, but it’s definitely the most recognizable.
9Personal Decorator
Call of Duty Black Ops 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Black Ops 3is arguably the bestCall of Dutyif you wantyour Zombies fix. It also has some nasty Achievements reserved for completionists.
Personal Decorator is rewarded once you earn every Decoration. The issue is that Decorations are particularly tedious to collect, and some are locked behind nasty feats likecompleting every level on realistic difficulty.
Sure, you can argue there are tougher campaigns in the FPS genre, butBO3on Realistic is a lesson in patience. Other challenges includeracking up thousands of kills.
Personal Decorator has a surprisingly high completion rating of 6.1%, according to Steam, which means manyCoDplayers are far more dedicated than I am!
8…Becomes The Master
Titanfall 2
If you thought Mile High Club was unfair, you’ve not seen anything yet.
…Becomes the Master inTitanfall 2tasks you with beating a training gauntlet andreaching the top 3 on the scoreboard. In practice, this means you mustconquer the course in 32.90 seconds, and those tenths of a second mean everything.
Your run must be flawless, with perfect execution of the game’s iconic wall-running mechanics, all the while managing your loadout. Arc Grenades are essential, and it wouldn’t hurt tograb the secret EPG-1 gunnear the start if you’re serious about going for the Achievement.
The good news is that while you must play flawlessly, you only have to do it for half a minute.You will quickly memorize every enemy spawn, and wall jump in the gauntlet, and the only thing standing in your way is execution.
7Fatal Florist
The Finals
I love gimmicky Achievements, andThe Finalsis home to one of my favorites.
To earn the Fatal Florist Achievement, you mustdefeat an opponent with a flower pot. The good news is that you can pick up and throw items easily inThe Finals.
The bad news isthe flower pot does barely any damage, and you’ll never beat a gun-wielding opponent by simply chasing them with a chunk of terracotta.
Fatal Florist requires some setup. you may use something like a mine or wait in high-traffic areas, hoping to pick off a straggler. If you’re patient and set a decent trap, you can score this unique Achievement with some luck.
There areplenty of variables to consider, and you’ll never get this to work against a group or a Heavy contestant. Fatal Florist has alow completion rate of 0.3%on Steam for a reason, but it’s doable if you persevere.
6Legendary Hunter of the Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thievesoffers aunique PvPvE experienceyou can’t find anywhere else. According to Steam, I’ve racked up 1200 hours on the game over the years, andI don’t even have this achievement.
The Legendary Hunter of the Sea of Thieves Achievement is locked behind an in-game award for completing57 Grade 5 Commendations for the Hunter’s Callfaction.
The grind to level up the Hunter’s Call is arduous and relies on you delivering tons of fish and gems to their outposts. The Achievement is tied to a shopping list of tasks, including50 fishing-specific quests.
Sea of Thieveshas anexcellent fishing mini-game, butother players are always a threat. You can easily lose hours of progress to a PvP scrap, and many elements are simply out of your control.
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5Throw Hammer or Run
Hunt Showdown
Hunt: Showdown 1896
Hunt Showdown’s Throw Hammer or Run sounds like an easy Achievement until you remember that the Baiyou is infested with some of thesweatiest players in the FPS scene.
If you want this rare Achievement, you mustkill an opponent by throwing a sledgehammerat them. The issue is that the sledgehammer won’t kill in a single hit, andyou need the Tomahawk Traitbefore you may even attempt it.
In a game where sound is king,good luck sneaking up on a wounded opponentand getting close enough to lob a hammer at them.
While Throw Hammer or Run is challenging, I am a big fan of gimmick Achievements like this. It’s doable; you just need to wait for the opportune moment.
4Mein Leben
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Achievements for conquering games on their hardest difficulties are nothing new, butWolfenstein II: The New Colossustakes this theme to the next level.
Mein Leben is a difficulty settingand is earned for completing the game the first time. The gameplay is identical to the hardest mode, “I am Death Incarnate,” but with one key difference.You must beat the game in a single sitting.
Saving is disabled, and there are no checkpoints. The lack of checkpoints also means a death will send you right back to the start.you may technically cheese the Achievementas you can pause and leave your console on.
Still, it doesn’t make the challenge much easier, asWolfenstein II: The New Colossusis a tough game regardless.
3LASO Master
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
LASO Master tickles me because it’sbased on a fanmade rulesetdesigned to make theHalocampaigns more difficult.
LASO stands for"Legendary All Skulls On." Legendary is the hardest difficulty, and Skulls bestow modifiers like removing the HUD and increasing enemy health.
Having every Skull active simultaneously is horrific, particularly onHalo 2, and you must defeat every campaign with the ruleset to earn LASO Master.
Needless to say, this challenge isimpossible without surgical knowledgeof every level and optimal strategies. Oh, and Skulls like Iron exist that send youback to the start of the level if you dieas a solo player. Ouch!
2Number One
Online achievements are the bane of any completionist’s existence, butQuake 4laughs at the usual complaints and slaps its player base with something much more sadistic.
Number One isa cruel achievementthat can only be earned by reaching thetop spot on a specific online leaderboard. Yes, you read that right. Not the top 100 or top 10; you must literallybe the highest-ranked playeron the planet.
Needless to say, Number One is from an era when developers were still figuring out how to make decent challenges for Trophies and Gamerscore.
One of my proudest achievements is reaching the top 10 on a rolling leaderboard in an indie game calledPix the Cat. ThisQuake 4challenge makes mine look like child’s play.
1Doom + Doom 2
Untouchable
Doom (1993)
TheDoom+ Doom 2collection is thedefinitive way to enjoy these classic shooters. There are just enough modern enhancements to please new players and tough-as-nails gameplay to satisfy veterans.
The Untouchable Achievement is a great example of the latter, tasking players withbeating eight levels on the Ultra-Violencedifficultyin sequence. You’re not allowed to die and mustfinish every level within “par time.”
For the uninitiated, the par time assumes you know your way around the levels and effectivelyrush to the finish line. The “sequential” part makes Untouchable so much harder as it means you’re able to’t just complete the first stage on repeat. Thanks to the eight-level requirement, you must play for an extended period flawlessly.
Even if you have low health,you’re forced to play aggressivelyif you want to make the par time, and a few unlucky dodges can kill your attempt.
The originalDoomgames are masterpiecessoaked in old-school difficulty, so you must embody the Doom Slayer if you want to claim the title of “Untouchable.”
