I'm not trying to be obtuse, but how can the enemies overpower you 10x while still having the exact same tools you do?
Exact in the sense of, to pull an example from final fantasy, if your stuff can use a limit break, then the enemy can use a limit break. If you have access to items, the enemy has the same access. Symmetrical capabilities in terms of type if not intensity.
As for the rest of it... stuff like RTS/4x scaling isn't really what I'm looking for -- they
could do that, but I've probably played something approaching either a plurality or slim majority of either genre over the years, and none of them do their
cheating difficulty like I'm looking for. It's... well, generally they cheat, have access to resources you don't, get units stronger than you
can (again, the symmetry is important, that if I really felt like it I could take a small forever and get my level 100 guys up to level 1500
and then fight a level 22,500 group but that's neither here nor there), stuff like that. Occasionally there'll be a one-off scenario or somethin' that's pretty close, but it's (very) rare. Similarly, design like disgaea where you'll be offsetting the disparity by things like jacked up weapons, isn't it (it's closer than most, though, and iirc some of the fights where you leverage map features or skill combos/interactions to deal with something that's just outright beyond you in terms of direct confrontation is closer still). As well as the beefgate stuff... I'm not looking for something where this is being used to limit or direct the player, that they're not very much intended to be going up against. Not an optional challenge or come back later type thing, basically, but rather part and parcel to the base game.
Monster hunter's a thought (as would something like shadow of the colossus) and definitely in the right direction, but it's got more asymmetry going than I'd like. Not looking for boss fights, looking for Shadow Link style things except Shadow Link starts at Super Saiyan 50 and you at SSJ1.
Another point would be that if the game *expects* you to do this, it's unlikely that the enemies really do overpower you when you take everything (including player skill vs the limits of AI) into account.
It's more or less explicitly a "break the system" kind of thing, and having challenges that outright require it, though not so much "expects you to" as "lets you". Siralim, which is where I'm coming from looking for similar things, is based around party composition and special ability interaction, and leveraging it to overcome the enemy. The sigil fights I mentioned, they're things where if you've got close to a single thing out of place, you're going to die, and brutally. You can't just use "things that handles the normal parts of the game" in these fights, you have to put a fair chunk of thought into what you're actually doing and how you're going to use it to deal with an enemy that's not just a
bit stronger than you, but drastically so.