To Be or Not to Be… a Trophy Hunter: 7 Nightmares Every Hunter Knows

Trophy hunting can turn finishing a game into something much bigger. From impossible platinums to RNG, bugged trophies and dead multiplayer, these are seven nightmares every trophy hunter knows too well.

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TimeTraveler2719

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If you are reading this, it might already be too late for you. It might mean that you have already fallen into the trophy hunting trap, into a never ending journey that has changed, or is already changing, the way you play games. So what is it about trophy hunting? And what does it actually mean to be a trophy hunter? There was a time before trophies and achievements became part of gaming. The days of the Commodore, Atari or Amiga looked different. Games were shared with friends on the same screen, using two joysticks, controllers or even the same keyboard. Players changed seats, took turns, competed for high scores and argued over who was better. Gaming was competitive even then, but there was no permanent checklist attached to a profile, recording everything that had and had not been completed. Gaming wasn't better or worse. It was simply different. When trophies and achievements arrived, they added another layer to the experience. Gaming could become not only about reaching the end of a story, but also about a challenge, a plan, a strategy, a destination, a path and sometimes a very long journey. Completion percentages, platinum trophies, rare and ultra rare achievements and leaderboards created another way to look at games. In a way, trophy hunting became another game inside the game, and it could completely change the meaning of the word finished. For many players, the credits are a natural ending. The story is over, the controller goes down and the next game waits. Maybe the experience stays in the mind for a while, just like a good film or a book, or gets discussed with friends before eventually moving on. For a trophy hunter, the credits are not always the ending. Sometimes they are simply another checkpoint. The story might be complete and the final boss defeated, but if the trophy list still shows 87%, there is work left to do. There is also a difference between earning the platinum and reaching 100%. The platinum might be the main destination, but additional trophy lists and DLC can mean that it is only another major step towards complete completion. Some hunters care primarily about the platinum, while others need to see the full 100%. In games with DLC or additional trophy lists, some hunters prefer to secure the platinum and complete the main game first, before moving on to the extra trophies required for the full 100%. That planning can begin before New Game is even pressed, with trophy difficulty, estimated completion time, multiplayer requirements, missable trophies, additional playthroughs, DLC and trophies that can no longer be earned all becoming part of the decision. For some trophy hunters, the game itself still has to come first. A prestigious platinum means very little if the world, gameplay, story or idea behind the game holds no interest. For others, however, the trophy itself may be the attraction. Completing something regarded as one of the hardest platinums available and joining that tiny group of people who have managed it can be enough of a reason to play. Neither approach is more legitimate than the other. Trophy hunting becomes personal, and so does the strategy behind it. One approach is to tackle the hardest, most irritating trophies first, especially those that require the most time or involve multiplayer. Once those are gone, a certain calm appears. The biggest obstacles have been removed, the platinum suddenly feels within reach and everything that remains can feel like the easier part of the journey. At least, that is how it is supposed to work. Because sometimes the trophy list has other ideas.

1. Server Shutdowns A difficult trophy can be beaten. A trophy requiring hundreds of hours can eventually be earned, and one demanding incredible skill can be practised until it finally falls. A server shutdown is different. Once an online service disappears and a trophy depends on it, skill, patience and determination no longer matter. The opportunity itself is gone. Games such as Driveclub, Mad Max and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst are examples of how this can happen. Driveclub lost its online functionality when its servers closed in March 2020, while Mad Max became impossible to platinum for players who had not completed the online requirements for Up to the Task before its services disappeared. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst joined that list after its online services were shut down in December 2023. There are many more, and trophy hunting communities are full of players talking about the platinum they missed simply because they arrived too late. Sometimes that unfinished game was added to the profile years before trophy hunting even became important. A single trophy earned while casually trying a game can remain there permanently. Starting a completely new PSN account might technically remove the problem, but after ten or fifteen years that profile is more than a percentage. It is a history of games, platinums and thousands of hours spent playing them. Sometimes the effect goes even further. A game can be genuinely appealing, but knowing from the start that its platinum is already impossible can be enough to stop a trophy hunter from ever playing it. 2. The Missing Collectible There is a particular confidence that comes with picking up what should be the final collectible. The guide has been followed, every location seems to have been checked and the trophy should be seconds away. Then nothing happens. No pop. At first there is usually just a random search. Checking the map, running around nearby areas, fast travelling between locations and opening menus to check item counts. Then the guide comes back out, videos are checked, notes are revisited and the real search begins for that one tiny item that somehow slipped through. If luck is on your side, the missing collectible is still somewhere accessible. A quick fast travel, a return to an old location and the problem is solved. But sometimes there is no shortcut back. The item was sitting on a one way path, hidden inside an area that can no longer be revisited, or tied to a moment that has already passed. That is when the realisation hits: there is no road back to it. The only road goes all the way back to the beginning and into another playthrough. It can happen even when playing with a guide. One line gets overlooked, one collectible is assumed to have already been collected or one requirement is misunderstood. The nightmare is not simply missing something. It is believing everything has been done, waiting for that trophy to pop, and slowly realising that one tiny mistake may have just added another full run to the journey. 3. Another Full Playthrough A second playthrough is not automatically a bad thing. Sometimes returning to a great game on a harder difficulty, trying another build or experiencing the story again can be genuinely enjoyable. But for some players there comes a point when another full playthrough is simply too much. The game already feels exhausted. The collectibles are done, the side content is complete, almost every trophy has been earned, and the only thing standing between the player and the platinum is a requirement to finish the entire game one more time. At that point, it can become less of a challenge and more of an obligation created by the trophy requirements. Nothing meaningful necessarily remains to discover. There may be no new experience waiting at the end, only another twenty, thirty or forty hours because completing the game again was added as one of the conditions for the trophy. For someone who still loves the game, that may be welcome. For someone who already feels finished with it, it can feel like being asked to clock back into a shift that was supposed to be over. 4. RNG Hell Then there is RNG, where effort and skill can suddenly become secondary to luck. One of the clearest examples can be found in Monster Hunter: World and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, where crown trophies require monsters of particular sizes and can turn hunting into a very long wait for the right one to appear. The same monster can be hunted dozens of times, perhaps far more, not because it cannot be defeated or because the strategy is wrong, but simply because it is not the size needed for the trophy. That is what makes RNG so different from normal difficulty. There may be nothing left to learn and nothing obvious to improve. The player repeats the same action over and over, and over again, hoping that this time the game will finally give them what they need. After enough attempts, it is no longer you versus the monster. It is you versus fate, destiny, and perhaps even the developer who thought making this part random would be fun. Eventually, even the monster has probably had enough of seeing the same hunter again and again. At that point it might as well look back and say, "bro, I feel you, I'm tired of this too". There is no real threat anymore, just the terror of endless disappointment. Kill the monster, check the result, no crown. Better luck next time. It starts to feel less like hunting and more like playing the lottery. 5. The Bugged Trophy A bugged trophy starts with confusion. You do what the trophy asks and nothing happens. You try again, then again, maybe one more time. Still nothing. Then the search starts. Guides, forums, old posts, videos. Eventually you find the answer: the trophy is bugged. A good example is The Long Dark and its Faithful Cartographer trophy, which at one point had problems and required a fix. Sometimes the worst part is that the bug is not even new. Other players know about it, communities know about it, sometimes even the developers know about it, but nobody tells you before you start the game. And now the game has to be put away. Not because it is too difficult. Not because you do not have the skill. Not because you gave up. There is simply nothing you can do. And of course, the bug keeps bugging you. That unfinished trophy is still there, sitting on the list. You know about it, you know what needs to be done, but there is no way to do it. All you can do is wait and hope that somebody fixes it. That is probably one of the biggest frustrations in trophy hunting. Games are often the place where you go to finish something, compete, achieve something and complete a challenge. In real life there are moments when nothing can be done and you simply have to accept it. Games are supposed to be different. They are the place where there is usually a way forward, where effort, persistence and skill can eventually get you there. And then you hit exactly the same wall there. There is no next attempt, no better strategy and no extra bit of skill that can help. You just stop. That is more than disappointment. It can kill the spirit completely, like somebody decided to switch off the last light of hope right before the finish line. 6. Dead Multiplayer Multiplayer trophies create another problem because the platinum suddenly stops depending entirely on the person holding the controller. Matchmaking, player population, specific game modes and cooperation with other people become part of the requirement. Returning to an older title years later can mean finding servers that technically still work but lobbies that feel almost abandoned. For anyone who prefers solo trophy hunting, that can be one of the biggest barriers on a trophy list. Games such as Uncharted or Tomb Raider, where multiplayer was only one part of a much bigger single player experience, can become especially difficult years later. The servers may still exist, but the majority of players have already moved on. A trophy that once required nothing more than joining a few matches can suddenly require searching for boosting groups or finding people willing to reinstall an old game and spend their time helping somebody else complete it. And this is where trophy hunting communities can make an enormous difference. Places like The Hunter's Cabin bring together players who are willing to organise sessions, help each other with difficult requirements and keep older multiplayer trophies within reach. It's worth mentioning that the value of the trophy hunting community is not limited to dead or dying games either. In a very active game like Marvel Rivals, some multiplayer trophies can still feel out of reach for players who do not feel confident in competitive games. That is where having the right community can completely change the experience. Sometimes a trophy does not require more skill. It simply requires the right people beside you. 7. The DLC Surprise The final nightmare is perhaps the most bittersweet. A game has been completed, the platinum earned and the trophy list finally shows 100%. It is mentally filed away as finished, only for that percentage to suddenly change months later because a new DLC or update has introduced another set of trophies. Sometimes this is great news. A game that was genuinely loved suddenly offers a reason to return, and new trophies become an excuse to spend more time in a world that was missed. Other times the reaction is very different. That 100% was already earned, the experience already felt complete, and now there is another list of requirements waiting. The first thought becomes not only what was added?, but what are they going to make me do this time? If the answer is another difficult challenge or yet another large section of the game, excitement can disappear very quickly. That is what makes the DLC surprise so unpredictable. It can feel like an invitation back to an old favourite or like somebody has quietly added another page to a checklist that had already been signed off. Either way, the lesson is the same: in trophy hunting, even 100% is not always permanent. And perhaps that is part of what makes trophy hunting so addictive in the first place. It can be frustrating, demanding, unfair and occasionally completely outside the player's control. It can mean repeating the same hunt endlessly, replaying an entire game for one requirement, searching for people willing to boost an old multiplayer mode or waiting for a developer to fix something that should already work. But it is also planning, persistence, skill, community and that very particular satisfaction when the trophy finally pops. If every platinum came easily, perhaps none of them would feel quite as special. And if you reached the end of this article while already thinking about the next platinum you want to earn, then yes, it was probably already too late for you.

Why It Matters

This update matters to trophy hunters because new releases, platform changes, subscription drops, and community trends can affect what players choose to play, complete, and discuss next.