Name: This is Hard
Item: This is Hard
Author: Retro Replay

This is Hard

This is Hard earns its blunt name almost immediately. You guide an angry-looking blue man across compact side-scrolling stages, trying to reach one safe room from another without brushing against the dense spread of hazards in between. The simple goal makes every failure easy to understand, even when actually executing the solution is anything but easy.

Its smartest concession is the option to skip a stage that has turned from a challenge into a wall. Time tracking and per-stage challenge times also give skilled players a reason to come back and shave attempts down, while the calming classical soundtrack creates a pleasantly strange contrast with the game’s severe demands.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few minutes tell you exactly what kind of bargain This is Hard is offering: a clean, immediately understood objective and a lot of opportunities to fail at it. Every stage starts in a safe room and asks you to reach the next one without touching the hazards packed into the route. There is no confusion about what you are meant to do. The difficulty comes from doing it cleanly when the level has very little interest in giving you breathing room.

That directness is a strength. Because the goal never gets muddy, a failed run feels like an invitation to reassess your movement rather than a punishment for misreading an objective. The game sits comfortably between platforming and puzzle solving: getting through is not merely about pushing ahead, but about working out a safe path through the obstacle layout and then having the nerve to carry it out.

The title is also honest enough to include a pressure valve. If one stage stops being an engaging problem and becomes a stubborn roadblock, you can skip it. That keeps the game from demanding that every player conquer every obstacle in order to see more of it. It is a welcome choice for anyone who enjoys difficult platformers in bursts but does not want a single nasty stage to end the session.

For the more competitive-minded, recorded best times and a separate challenge time for each stage turn completion into only the first step. Replaying for a faster route gives the levels a useful second life, especially once simply surviving their hazards starts to feel manageable. If you want a forgiving adventure, this will test your patience. If you enjoy a compact level daring you to improve one attempt at a time, its severity is the point.

Graphics

The game keeps the view side-on and puts its angry-looking blue protagonist against stages crowded with hazards. That straightforward framing suits a precision platformer: you can concentrate on the route ahead and the space between your character and the next danger rather than fight an awkward camera.

Story

This is Hard is built around a premise rather than a sweeping narrative. You are an angry-looking blue man moving from one safe room to the next, and the obstacles between them supply the game’s conflict.

That sparseness fits the arcade-minded structure. Each stage is a self-contained test, so the motivation is immediate: get through the current room, then see whether you can handle what follows.

The title itself supplies much of the game’s personality. It makes a blunt promise about the experience, and the level design is meant to answer it rather than distract you with a larger plot.

Overall Experience

This is Hard is a small, unapologetically demanding platformer with a good understanding of why difficulty can be satisfying. It does not hide the challenge behind complicated goals. You know where safety is, you know what will ruin the attempt, and the tension comes from closing that gap.

The classical music is an especially amusing counterpoint to the intensity. While you are repeatedly trying to avoid a stage full of hazards, the soundtrack aims for calm rather than panic. That contrast gives the game a distinct tone: frustrating in the moment, but not needlessly aggressive.

The skip option is what makes the whole package easier to recommend than its name might suggest. You can push for completion, chase the challenge times, or leave an especially hostile stage behind and return when you feel like proving something. Give it a chance if you like exacting side-scrollers that respect a quick retry mindset and let you set your own threshold for suffering.