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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Jamestown
Jamestown: Legend Of The Lost Colony is a neo-classical top-down shooter for up to 4 players, set on 17th-century British Colonial Mars. It features all the intensity, depth, and lovingly handcrafted pixels of a classic arcade shooter, with a modern twist: deeply-integrated cooperative gameplay.
Frozen Synapse
Brings the simultaneous turn-based strategy genre up-to-date and lets you give detailed, accurate orders to your squad.
DETOUR
A true test your wits and spatial reasoning. Detour combines highway-building fun with the excitement of a competitive real-time strategy game. Construct a path for your convoy to reach its destination in this incredibly addictive title. With online multiplayer!
Capsized
Capsized is a fast paced 2D platformer focused on intense action and exploration. As a intrepid space traveler, your ship has crash landed on a mysterious alien planet. You must navigate through the perilous environment and fight off blood-thirsty creatures to save your crewmates and escape with your lives!
Sanctum
You think Tower Defense games are all about building? You thought wrong. Sanctum is not your average Tower Defense title. When the havoc starts, you get to join the fray! As one of the world’s first First Person Shooter - Tower Defense games, Sanctum has taken the best of both worlds to deliver an epic, one-of-a-kind experience.
Anomaly: Warzone Earth
Lead an armored squad through the perils of this reversed tower defense action-strategy game!
Revenge of the Titans
The ultimate mash-up of Real-time Strategy and Tower Defense!
SpaceChem
Zachtronics is back with an ambitious new design-based puzzle game. Take on the role of a Reactor Engineer working for SpaceChem, the leading chemical synthesizer for frontier colonies. Construct elaborate factories to transform raw materials into valuable chemical products!
Fate of the World
Fate of the World is a dramatic global strategy game that puts all our futures in your hands. The game features a dramatic set of scenarios based on the latest science covering the next two centuries. You must manage a balancing act of protecting the Earth’s resources and climate versus the needs of an ever-growing world population, who...
BIT.TRIP RUNNER
Experience the rhythmic thrill of BIT.TRIP RUNNER! With its retro charm, simple controls, and award-winning visuals, this classic sets the standard for rhythm gaming. Don't miss the game that started it all in the acclaimed runner series.
Magicka
Magicka is a satirical action-adventure game set in a rich fantasy world based on Norse mythology. The player assumes the role of a wizard from a sacred order tasked with stopping an evil sorcerer who has thrown the world into turmoil, his foul creations besieging the forces of good.
STAR WARS™: The Force Unleashed™ II
The Star Wars® Saga continues with Star Wars®: The Force Unleashed™ II, the highly anticipated sequel to the fastest-selling Star Wars game ever created.
Super Meat Boy
The infamous, tough-as-nails platformer comes to Steam with a playable Head Crab character (Steam-exclusive)!
BIT.TRIP BEAT
From gameplay to visuals to music and imagination, BIT.TRIP BEAT is inspired by classic games in every way. Get sucked into a whole new world of sight and sound as you juggle beats and ride the vibe in this modern look at the beginning of it all. BIT.
Lugaru HD
Follow Turner, a rebel bunny rabbit with impressive combat skills in his quest to find those responsible for slaughtering his village. Uncover a far-reaching conspiracy involving the corrupt leaders of the rabbit republic and the wolves of the nearby lands. Streamlined Combat: Gone are the days of combo memorization and button mashing.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Take control of Lara and her new partner Totec, a Mayan tribesman, and uncover the ancient artifact known as the "Mirror of Smoke" in this all new action adventure game.
Hacker Evolution
Hacker Evolution is a hacking simulation game, featuring unparalleled graphics and features. You play the role of a former intelligence agent, specializing in computer security. When a chain of events sets off worldwide, leaving critical service disabled, you assume the role a computer hacker to find out what happened and attempt to stop...
Riven (1997)
Released in 1997 as the original sequel to Myst, one of the best-selling puzzle adventure games of all time. Prepare to enter a world "torn asunder" by timeless, unresolved conflicts -- a world of incomparable beauty, intrigue, and betrayal.
Chaser
Mars, 2044. The UN establishes MARSCORP (Martian Security and Economics Committee) under the leadership of Samuel Longwood. In the years that follow, the UN gradually loses control of MARSCORP, mainly due to the non-transparent licence policy of its director.
Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead
Three years after the conflict in Chernarus, portrayed in the original Arma 2, a new flashpoint explodes in the Green Sea Region. Coalition forces led by the US Army are deployed to Takistan to quickly restore peace and prevent further civilian casualties.
eversion
The Princess of the Flower Kingdom has vanished! She was taken by the Ghulibas of the north, and it is up to brave Zee Tee to rescue her. On his quest, he - and you - will discover the hidden lands behind the peaceful kingdom, and come face to face with secrets that will set you on edge!
Gothic II: Gold Edition
Gothic II: Gold Edition brings together the excitement of Gothic II and the add-on Night of the Raven to your fingertips!
The Void
Only brought to life by scarce sparks of Color, the bleak, grey Void is a peculiar place. The player gets to explore it, get to know the Sisters, Brothers, and other weird creatures inhabiting it, and learn the ways of Color, harvesting it and drawing sigils that change the world around them.
STAR WARS™ - The Force Unleashed™ Ultimate Sith Edition
A game that will show gamers the deepest, darkest side of the Force in a story that puts them on a collision course with Luke Skywalker himself.
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is a visually upgraded and fully Steam supported remake version of the original high-adrenaline single-play and 16-player co-operative arcade-action FPS which was Gamespot's Game of the Year 2001 and which scored overall of 87% on Metacritic!
Gratuitous Space Battles
The first ever auto-battler game, from way back in 2009Who needs backstory? Who needs resource-gathering? Diplomacy is so last year. Gratuitous Space Battles cuts right to the chase of sci-fi strategy games, and deals with large, completely unjustified space battles between huge opposing space fleets.
Hammerfight
Hammerfight is about 2D battles of flying machines equipped with various slashing, piercing and blunt weaponry.A unique combat system is based on realistic physics simulation, and it ties the movements of the rider to the movements of your mouse. As you wave the mouse, your rider swings his warhammer, smashing the foe into the wall!
AI War: Fleet Command
"You are outgunned. You are massively outnumbered. You must win." These are your orders. Humanity has already fought its war against the machines -- and lost. AI death squads stand watch over every planet and every wormhole, the few remaining human settlements are held captive in orbiting bubbles, and the AIs have turned their...
Risen
Delve into a gritty, raw and atmospheric fantasy world in which every action has a consequence. In the epic world of Risen, filled with mysterious earthquakes, fearsome monsters and unimaginable treasures, forge your path with the sword, learn the art of staff fighting or become a powerful mage.
Majesty 2
In the world of Majesty, you are the ruler of the kingdom Ardania. At your service are your loyal and somewhat obnoxious subordinates, who have their own minds about how things should be done. In fact, Majesty is the only game where your heroes decide on their own what should be done and when, leaving you to try to control them through...
STAR WARS™ Dark Forces (Classic, 1995)
Behind a veil of secrecy the evil Empire is creating a doomsday army - one that, if finished, will become the final cog in the Empire's arsenal of terror and domination. Your Mission? Join the Rebel Alliance's covert operations division, infiltrate the Empire.
Zuma's Revenge!
An irresistible force has taken our fearless frog to an island where the puzzle-action of Zuma has evolved in amazing ways… but evil spirits and tenacious tiki bosses rule the land! Survive by firing stone spheres to destroy the deadly stream of balls. Conquer over 60 levels!
Osmos
Enter the ambient world of Osmos: elegant, physics-based gameplay, dreamlike visuals, and a minimalist, electronic soundtrack. Your objective is to grow by absorbing other motes. Propel yourself by ejecting matter behind you. But be wise: ejecting matter also shrinks you. Relax - good things come to those who wait.