Best Difficult Games on Steam
Unlike generic lists, our game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated difficult games.
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You Have to Win the Game
You Have to Win the Game is a free exploration platformer with a retro 1980s PC aesthetic.
DARK SOULS™ II
Developed by FROM SOFTWARE, DARK SOULS™ II is the highly anticipated sequel to the gruelling 2011 breakout hit Dark Souls. The unique old-school action RPG experience captivated imaginations of gamers worldwide with incredible challenge and intense emotional reward.
Vangers
Mind-altering sandbox game that can be described as a racing role-playing adventure game with a complicated storyline. You’ll find a unique atmosphere, complete freedom and lots of gameplay hours to figure out what’s the game is all about.
Trials Fusion™
Trials Fusion is the gold-standard platform racer for the next-generation of gaming. Built upon the Trials franchise’s proven gameplay foundations, Fusion challenges players endlessly in both classic and all-new ways.
Wargame: Red Dragon
The new reference in RTS at its best! The Wargame series returns to duty, larger, richer and more spectacular than ever before. In Wargame Red Dragon, you are engaged in a large-scale conflict where Western forces clash against the Communist bloc.
Yet Another Zombie Defense
Darkness is coming. How long can YOU survive? Build your base by day, defend it by night. Play in online or local co-op. Stay alive as long as you can.
Rogue's Tale
Rogue's Tale is a single player turn-based dungeon crawling game.
Quest of Dungeons
Quest of Dungeons is a turn based dungeon crawler game featuring a good old 16-bit retro artistic look. By playing as either a Warrior, Wizard, Assassin or Shaman you have to traverse dungeons, defeat enemies and loot everything you can in order to survive.
YAIBA: NINJA GAIDEN Z
Step into a living comic book in this new take on the Ninja Gaiden series. Brandishing his ninja sword and the mecha weapons in his cyber arm, Yaiba slaughters zombies with brutal, over-the-top abandon. Will you slice enemies to pieces, crush them with Yaiba's cyborg arm or just rip off a zombie’s arms to use as nunchucks?
Cloudbuilt
Rocket parkour your way through dizzying obstacles and lethal robot hazards, in this 3rd person action platformer with over 40 levels, and even more community levels.
Revolution Ace
A deep, tactical shoot'em up. With every takedown, you’ll earn cash and xp to upgrade your ship and unlock new abilities. Online and local co-op. Unique versus mode. Realistic physics and water simulation.
LUFTRAUSERS
The skies are aflame and the seas will overflow with wreckage in Vlambeer’s stylish arcade shooter LUFTRAUSERS! Take to the skies in customized fighter planes to battle battleships, submarines, and rival aces for glory, honor, and high scores.
TowerFall Ascension
TowerFall Ascension is the definitive version of the hit archery combat game. Inspired by classics from the golden age of couch multiplayer, it's a 4-player local party game centering around hilarious, intense versus matches. The core mechanics are simple and accessible, but hard to master and combat is fierce.
GIGANTIC ARMY
Side-scrolling mech-shooting bad-assery is BACK!GIGANTIC ARMY is a heartfelt homage to 16-bit era mech shooters such as Cybernator / Assault Suits Valken, Metal Warriors, and Front Mission: Gun Hazard, developed by the studio behind the acclaimed shooter SATAZIUS.
Diehard Dungeon
Combining its own unique take on the real-time roguelike genre, with a nostalgic 16-bit look and feel, Diehard Dungeon is a game that feels both familiar and quite different at the same time. Followed by a trusty, treasure collecting companion chest, you must make your way through the dungeons many randomly-generated rooms and levels.
10 Second Ninja
Ninjas are cool, this is an established fact of the universe. Nazi Robots from space are not cool, they are the complete opposite of cool, and Robot Hitler is out to get you, the world's first ninja. You have 10 seconds to destroy all Nazi Robots in your vicinity. IT. IS. ON.
Tower of Guns
Tower of Guns is a fast paced first-person-shooter for the twitch gamer... with a few randomized elements to keep it fresh with each playthrough. It's a short burst "Lunch Break FPS"... not unlike Binding of Isaac mixed with Doom 2. Tower of Guns was made by a guy named Joe (with his brother Mike composing the music).
One Finger Death Punch
Experience cinematic kung-fu battles in the fastest, most intense brawler the indie world has ever seen! With the unique 1:1 response system of One Finger Death Punch, players will feel the immediate feedback of every bone-crunching hit. Pay tribute to the masters using five classic kung-fu styles mixed with additional weapons.
Resident Evil 4 (2005)
(Release: 2014) Special agent Leon S. Kennedy is sent on a mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who has been kidnapped.
Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge
Ultionus is a love-letter to the home computer arcade games of the late 80s and early 90s, with colorful 2D visuals, catchy chiptune music by the legendary Jake 'Virt' Kaufman, and 7 stages of hard-as-nails gameplay.
Hexcells Plus
Hexcells Plus is an ambient logic puzzle game for PC, Mac and Linux.
Banished
In this city-building strategy game, you control a group of exiled travelers who decide to restart their lives in a new land. They have only the clothes on their backs and a cart filled with supplies from their homeland. The townspeople of Banished are your primary resource.
METAL SLUG 3
“METAL SLUG 3”, the masterpiece in SNK’s emblematic 2D run & gun action shooting game series, still continues to fascinate millions of fans worldwide to this day for its intricate dot-pixel graphics, and simple and intuitive game controls, heads out to the Steam gaming platform!
Graviteam Tactics: Operation Star
Graviteam Tactics: Operation Star is a sequel to Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943. It’s an Eastern Front war game with solid graphics and sprawling battlefields that really emphasizes the scope of WWII tank combat.Want to step into the role of a commander in the very heart of Kharkov’s defense?
Reaper - Tale of a Pale Swordsman
Enter the world ripe with magic and monsters. Become the Black Swordsman and slay thousands of enemies in an epic action RPG!
Jets'n'Guns Gold
Jets'n'Guns is a heavy piece of ground shaking rock blasting action with graphics and special effects that will blow you eyes out! Enjoy yourself in almost-insane action adventure of saving the universe from the deadly threat of more than 270 unique monsters in the campaign of 43 levels.
Oniken: Unstoppable Edition
When a global war nearly decimated humankind, an evil military organization called Oniken takes advantage of the situation to dominate and oppress the few remaining survivors. Even though any resistance to this organization seemed hopeless, a small rebel movement organizes strikes against Oniken.