Best Difficult Games on Steam

Unlike generic lists, our strategy game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated difficult games. For those who prefer not to search, check out lists of the most played, top deals and best free to play Difficult games on Steam.

Filters & Lists
Super Sanctum TD Super Sanctum TD is a retro-styled Tower Defense game that focuses on strategy, customization and replayability. Build advanced mazes and construct powerful towers to prevent alien hordes from reaching the Core!

Price -90% 0.50€
Rating 8.3
Release 09 May 2013
Receiver Receiver was created for the 7-day FPS challenge to explore gun handling mechanics, randomized levels, and unordered storytelling. Armed only with a handgun and an audio cassette player, you must uncover the secrets of the Mindkill in a building complex infested with automated turrets and hovering shock drones.

Price -77% 1.16€
Rating 7.7
Release 29 Apr 2013
Don't Starve Don’t Starve is an uncompromising wilderness survival game full of science and magic. Enter a strange and unexplored world full of strange creatures, dangers, and surprises. Gather resources to craft items and structures that match your survival style.

Price -19% 6.67€
Rating 9.5
Release 23 Apr 2013
Eador. Masters of the Broken World Eador is a universe made of countless shards of land drifting in the Great Nothing. Each of the shards is a little world unto itself, with geography and denizens of its own. The power over the shards is bitterly contested by Masters, the immortal beings mortals believe to be gods.

Price 18.99€
Rating 6.7
Release 19 Apr 2013
Surgeon Simulator Surgeon Simulator is an over-the-top operation sim, stitching together pitch-black humour with life-saving surgery. Become Dr. Burke, a would-be surgeon with a less than conventional toolkit, as he performs procedures on patients including the Heavy from TF2! ...is that a hammer?

Price 9.75€
Rating 8.1
Release 19 Apr 2013
La-Mulana LA-MULANA is an “Archaeological Ruin Exploration Action Game,” bringing the classic appeal of adventure with the punishing difficulty of retro-inspired gaming. Search inside ancient ruins, seeking out the “Secret Treasure of Life” – which sleeps in the sprawling ruins of “LA-MULANA” and is said to be the beginning of all civilization.

Price -75% 3.74€
Rating 7.7
Release 15 Apr 2013
Another World – 20th Anniversary Edition Also known as Out Of This World™, Another World is a pioneer action/platformer that released across more than a dozen platforms since its debut in 1991. Along the years, Another World™ has attained cult status among critics and sophisticated gamers alike.

Price -69% 3.18€
Rating 8.0
Release 04 Apr 2013
Ms. Splosion Man You got a problem? Yo, she’ll splode it. At the Big Science after-party celebrating the capture of Splosion Man, a spill of champagne shorts out the safety protocols on the splosionatrix and from it emerges Ms. Splosion Man. The latest creation from Twisted Pixel Games, the creators of Splosion Man, The Maw, and Comic Jumper, Ms.

Price 9.99€
Rating 7.4
Release 03 Apr 2013
Trials Evolution: Gold Edition Trials Evolution: Gold Edition marks the Trials franchise’s triumphant return to the PC gaming platform. RedLynx’s signature franchise, the Trials series first made its mark in gaming with the 2008 release of Trials 2 SE for the PC.

Price 19.99€
Rating 7.3
Release 21 Mar 2013
Ultratron Experience the addictive gameplay of old-school arcade favourites, updated and improved for the 21st century! Unique retro-futuristic sound and graphics, player responsive difficulty, and a subtle system of tactics combined with classic gameplay make Ultratron a fun and hypnotic arcade blast.

Price 10.79€
Rating 8.3
Release 18 Mar 2013
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 takes the bulls-eye precision of its predecessor to new and exciting heights!

Price -90% 1.02€
Rating 7.4
Release 11 Mar 2013
TrackMania² Canyon TrackMania² Canyon will let you experience the fun and adrenaline of racing stunning cars on sensational tracks in a major enhanced sequel to Nadeo Studio’s online racing phenomenon TrackMania, already enjoyed by millions of players.

Price -59% 8.28€
Rating 7.8
Release 27 Feb 2013
BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien Step into rhythmic bliss with Runner2! Best Indie Game winner, Guinness World Record holder, and narrated by Charles Martinet. Unleash vibrant moves and beats in 120 levels!

Price -96% 0.63€
Rating 8.8
Release 26 Feb 2013
The Bridge The Bridge is a logic puzzle game that forces you to reevaluate your preconceptions of physics and perspective. It is Isaac Newton meets M. C. Escher. Manipulate gravity to redefine the ceiling as the floor while venturing through impossible architectures.

Price -93% 0.74€
Rating 8.4
Release 22 Feb 2013
Super House of Dead Ninjas Super House of Dead Ninjas is an action arcade game with roguelite elements. Race against a 30 second timer as you descend floor after foe-filled floor and attempt to unlock the secrets of this deadly tower!Play as the fearsome Crimson Ninja, wielding an arsenal of deadly ninja weapons and attacks.

Price 17.94€
Rating 9.1
Release 18 Feb 2013
Ys I & II Chronicles+ Long, long ago, there was an ancient kingdom called Ys which prospered under the auspices of two heavenly Goddesses. Over time, the kingdom came to be known as Esteria, and its divine history was largely forgotten by all but the descendants of those who once preached the Goddesses’ will.

Price -85% 1.80€
Rating 8.5
Release 14 Feb 2013
RaceRoom Racing Experience RaceRoom is the premier free-to-play racing simulation on PC and home to official race series like DTM, WTCR, the WTCC and ADAC GT Masters. Enter RaceRoom and enter the world of a professional race car driver.

Price Free to play
Rating 7.4
Release 12 Feb 2013
Antichamber Antichamber is a mind-bending psychological exploration game where nothing can be taken for granted. Discover an Escher-like world where hallways wrap around upon each other, spaces reconfigure themselves, and accomplishing the impossible may just be the only way forward.

Price -42% 11.16€
Rating 9.3
Release 31 Jan 2013
Tomb Raider II (1997) The second instalment in the Tomb Raider series invites you to join Lara as she travels around the globe to retrieve a precious artefact before it falls into the wrong hands. The legendary artefact, the Dagger of Xian, is said to give its possessor the power of a fire breathing dragon.

Price 6.99€
Rating 8.3
Release 28 Nov 2012
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 -94% 0.79€
Rating 8.4
Release 28 Nov 2012
Tomb Raider III (1998) Thousands of years ago a meteor crashed into Antarctica and the shockwaves of its impact are being felt in the modern age. Lara Croft will follow clues leading to a deadly secret, boldly leaping chasms and blasting monsters that no one has leaped or blasted before. This time she faces a mystery that's from way out of this world.

Price 6.99€
Rating 8.0
Release 28 Nov 2012
Super Hexagon Super Hexagon is a minimal action game by Terry Cavanagh, with music by Chipzel.

Price -77% 0.71€
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 19.99€
Rating 9.1
Release 19 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 -92% 2.20€
Rating 7.8
Release 09 Nov 2012