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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Stealth Bastard Deluxe Armed with only your wits and a pair of Stealthing Goggles, it’s your job to sneak your way through a deadly facility that’s determined to extinguish your fragile little life.

Price -89% 0.99€
Rating 8.4
Release 28 Nov 2012
Super Hexagon Super Hexagon is a minimal action game by Terry Cavanagh, with music by Chipzel.

Price -65% 1.05€
Rating 9.5
Release 27 Nov 2012
Hitman: Absolution™ The original assassin is back! Betrayed by the Agency and hunted by the police, Agent 47 finds himself pursuing redemption in a corrupt and twisted world.

Price -96% 0.82€
Rating 9.1
Release 19 Nov 2012
Fly'N Somewhere between a platformer, a puzzle game and a great big dollop of pure fun, Fly’N will challenge your skills through more than forty levels set in a luxuriant world. Experiment with the four Buds to save the World-Trees from Dyer, the loony hair-dryer who intends to destroy their Helys!

Price -91% 0.97€
Rating 8.1
Release 09 Nov 2012
Sine Mora Sine Mora is a horizontal shoot'em up that provides a unique take on challenge, where time is the ultimate factor.

Price -93% 2.09€
Rating 7.8
Release 09 Nov 2012
Pid You are stranded on a strange and peculiar planet. It’s time to embark on your journey and find your way home! Explore a gravity defying and challenging platformer with striking visuals and a captivating story that transports you to a world beyond ours.

Price -88% 2.50€
Rating 8.0
Release 31 Oct 2012
Divinity II: Developer's Cut Dragons: they have been hunted, they have been slain, but now the hour to strike back has come.

Price 19.99€
Rating 8.2
Release 29 Oct 2012
Lucius Equipped with supernatural powers, take control of Lucius as he begins his blood filled tour of horror through his own house.

Price -78% 2.23€
Rating 7.9
Release 26 Oct 2012
Hotline Miami Hotline Miami is a high-octane action game overflowing with raw brutality, hard-boiled gunplay and skull crushing close combat.

Price -92% 0.84€
Rating 9.6
Release 23 Oct 2012
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a blistering hardcore platformer with contrasting worlds.

Price -97% 0.50€
Rating 7.5
Release 22 Oct 2012
Unity of Command: Stalingrad Campaign Unity of Command is an innovative and refreshing operational-level wargame that covers the entire 1942/43 Stalingrad Campaign on the Eastern Front.

Price -97% 0.34€
Rating 7.5
Release 17 Oct 2012
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare Besiege castles and raid villages in Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, a fast-paced medieval first person slasher with a focus on multiplayer battles

Price -84% 3.69€
Rating 8.1
Release 16 Oct 2012
Of Orcs And Men You have been appointed to fulfill an extremely dangerous mission, deep in enemy territory: to kill one man... the Emperor himself. Lead the revolution of the Orcs and Goblins!

Price -96% 0.66€
Rating 7.2
Release 11 Oct 2012
XCOM: Enemy Unknown The XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Slingshot Pack is Now Available!

Price -95% 0.87€
Rating 9.2
Release 11 Oct 2012
Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit A crazy action-adventure platformer... In Hell.

Price 12.99€
Rating 8.2
Release 03 Oct 2012
Cortex Command Choose between different factions, with their own set of expendable soldiers, mechas, and weapons. Protect your brain, mine gold, and destroy the enemy cortex in his bunker complex!

Price -98% 0.44€
Rating 7.0
Release 28 Sep 2012
FTL: Faster Than Light This "spaceship simulation roguelike-like" allows you to take your ship and crew on an adventure through a randomly generated galaxy filled with glory and bitter defeat.

Price -90% 1.09€
Rating 9.4
Release 14 Sep 2012
Intrusion 2 "This is some of the most fun I've had with a game so far this year, and it will go down as one of the best side-scrolling shooters of all time." - 9/10, Destructoid

Price -75% 2.00€
Rating 8.5
Release 11 Sep 2012
The Basement Collection A collection of 9 award winning indie games from the creator of "Binding of isaac" and "Super Meat Boy"!

Price -82% 0.72€
Rating 8.2
Release 31 Aug 2012
Super Crate Box Vlambeer's SUPER CRATE BOX is coming to bring back the glory of the golden arcade age, when all that really mattered was getting on that high score list. Grab your baseball cap and loosen your pants, it's time to fight endless hordes of enemies and collect every weapon crate you can.

Price Free to play
Rating 8.6
Release 29 Aug 2012
They Bleed Pixels They Bleed Pixels is a fiendishly difficult action platformer inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and classic horror.

Price -92% 0.87€
Rating 8.0
Release 29 Aug 2012
Counter-Strike 2 For over two decades, Counter-Strike has offered an elite competitive experience, one shaped by millions of players from across the globe. And now the next chapter in the CS story is about to begin. This is Counter-Strike 2.

Price Free to play
Rating 8.6
Release 21 Aug 2012
Tower Wars Tower Wars combines elements of tower defense, RTS, and all-out multi-player mayhem to bring you a completely unique experience, delivered with a fun and funny not-so-old world style!

Price -52% 3.87€
Rating 7.0
Release 14 Aug 2012
English Country Tune English Country Tune is a luxuriant abstract 3D puzzle game containing more than a hundred levels situated throughout 17 worlds.

Price -91% 0.49€
Rating 7.5
Release 09 Aug 2012
Kung Fu Strike - The Warrior's Rise Taking its inspiration from ancient Chinese tales of revenge and retribution and then adding a dash of over-the-top martial arts and old school arcade fun, Kung Fu Strike features 28 stages of fast-paced combo-based fighting.

Price 9.99€
Rating 7.5
Release 24 Jul 2012
Hard Reset Extended Edition Over-the-top destruction, loads of enemies & a beautifully realized cyberpunk setting. Hard Reset is here to shake up the shooter scene. Try the demo now.

Price -84% 2.43€
Rating 7.9
Release 12 Jul 2012
Source Filmmaker The Source Filmmaker (SFM) is the movie-making tool built and used by us here at Valve to make movies inside the Source game engine. Because the SFM uses the same assets as the game, anything that exists in the game can be used in the movie, and vice versa.

Price Free to play
Rating 9.1
Release 10 Jul 2012
Tribes: Ascend This edition packages weapon DLC from ten previous expansions as well new featured content.

Price Free to play
Rating 7.9
Release 27 Jun 2012
Quantum Conundrum Find and rescue your uncle by using his newest invention to work your way through a crazy complex mansion as you switch between dimensions and solve puzzles!

Price -92% 0.74€
Rating 8.1
Release 21 Jun 2012
Ys Origin The perfect mix of action, exploration and story with screen-filling bosses, unique platforming elements, and innovative puzzles.

Price -94% 1.00€
Rating 8.9
Release 31 May 2012
Blades of Time Ayumi, the gorgeous gun and sword-wielding treasure hunter, sets out on a journey to an ancient island in search of new adventures. While rich in bounty, the island is also filled with the magic of Chaos, being at the same time home to blood thirsty monsters.

Price -39% 5.99€
Rating 7.6
Release 20 Apr 2012
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition A time of untold chaos has come. Mighty forces clash behind the scenes in a struggle for power and influence. The Northern Kingdoms mobilize for war. But armies on the march are not enough to stop a bloody conspiracy...

Price 19.99€
Rating 8.8
Release 16 Apr 2012
Legend of Grimrock Use the Dungeon Editor to build entirely new adventures and challenges for other players to solve.

Price -87% 2.05€
Rating 9.1
Release 11 Apr 2012
Lunar Flight A modern take on the classic arcade game, Lunar Lander, Lunar Flight extends the experience to a fully fictionalized and accessible lunar module simulator

Price -53% 7.05€
Rating 7.7
Release 10 Apr 2012
Rayman® Origins Experience the magical universe of Rayman with legendary 2D gameplay that has captured the hearts of millions of fans!

Price 9.99€
Rating 9.1
Release 29 Mar 2012
Waveform Navigate the beauty and hazards of the solar system while riding a wave of light through 100+ levels in this innovative action-puzzle game!

Price 0.99€
Rating 8.0
Release 20 Mar 2012

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