"difficult"

2017 · Action Adventure / Metroidvania · PC / Steam

Hollow Knight is a masterclass in what a small team can accomplish with focus and ambition. Team Cherry built a world that rewards every hour you pour into it, backed by combat that stays sharp from the first swing to the last boss. Navigation frustrations and a punishing difficulty curve will drive some players away, and that's a fair response to a game that refuses to hold your hand. But for those willing to get lost in Hallownest, there's nothing else quite like it in the genre. Four free content expansions and a price tag that borders on absurd for the amount of game you get only make the case stronger.

2018 · Precision Platformer · PC / Steam

Celeste is a precision platformer that manages to be both punishingly hard and deeply compassionate. The controls are some of the tightest in the genre, the level design introduces and discards mechanics at a pace that keeps every chapter feeling fresh, and the story about Madeline's climb hits harder than most people expect from a game about jumping. Assist Mode ensures nobody gets locked out, even if the intended experience involves dying thousands of times. It's a short game that leaves a long impression, and the B-side and C-side chapters ensure that players looking for a real challenge will find one waiting.

2011 · Action RPG · PC / Steam

Dark Souls defined a genre and earned its reputation through brilliant world design, punishing but fair combat, and an atmosphere that rewards patience and curiosity. The PC version has had a rough history, but the Remastered edition fixed most of those problems. If you can accept its demands, very few games deliver this kind of satisfaction.

2019 · Puzzle · PC / Steam

Baba Is You is one of the most original puzzle games ever made. The mechanic of rewriting the rules by pushing words around is so clever that it makes everything else in the genre feel static by comparison. Difficulty will wall some players out entirely, and the lack of any hint system means getting stuck is a matter of when, not if. But the moments where a solution clicks, where you suddenly see the level in a completely different way, are among the most satisfying feelings in gaming. If you love puzzles, this is essential.

2014 · Action Roguelite · PC / Steam

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is the game that defined modern roguelites for a generation of players, and it's only gotten bigger since 2014. The item pool is staggering, the synergy system creates runs that feel wildly different from each other, and the unlock progression keeps revealing new layers long after you think you've seen everything. Some of that bloat has made the game harder to parse for newcomers, and certain design decisions in the later expansions push difficulty in directions not everyone appreciates. But the core loop of exploring, collecting, and discovering how items interact remains one of the most compelling in all of gaming.

2020 · Action Roguelite · PC / Steam

Noita is a game built on a single wild idea, that every pixel on screen should be physically simulated, and it follows that idea to its logical extreme. The wand-crafting system offers some of the deepest build customization in the roguelite genre, and the interactions between spells, materials, and environments create moments no other game can replicate. It asks for patience and a willingness to fail over and over before the pieces click into place, and lots of players never make it past that wall. Those who do find one of the most rewarding and creative sandboxes in modern gaming.

2022 · Action Adventure · PC / Steam

Tunic is a game about discovery, and it delivers on that promise better than almost anything in its genre. The in-game instruction manual, the hidden paths, the language you gradually decode: all of it creates a sense of genuine wonder that's hard to find elsewhere. Combat can frustrate, and the hands-off approach to guidance will lose some players entirely. But for those who click with its philosophy of figuring things out for yourself, Tunic offers the kind of secrets-within-secrets experience that rewards curiosity like few games do. Andrew Shouldice spent seven years building this, and every hidden corner reflects that dedication.

2016 · Turn-Based RPG · PC / Steam

Darkest Dungeon is a game that wants you to feel the cost of every decision, and its stress system, atmospheric art, and punishing combat deliver on that promise completely. Red Hook Studios built something that feels fundamentally different from other dungeon crawlers, where managing your heroes' mental state matters as much as their hit points. The grind through the mid-game and the occasional run-ending RNG streak are real weaknesses that test player patience. But the atmosphere is unmatched, the narrator alone is worth experiencing, and the moments where a desperate gamble pays off create the kind of stories that keep players talking about this game years after release.

2017 · Survival Platformer · PC / Steam

Rain World is one of the most unique and uncompromising games on PC. Its procedurally driven ecosystem creates a living world where you're not the protagonist but the prey, and surviving in it demands patience, observation, and a willingness to accept that the game won't hold your hand. The difficulty and opaque design will turn many players away, and the early hours can be genuinely miserable before the game's beauty reveals itself. But for those who push through, Rain World offers an experience that nothing else replicates. It's a game that earns its devoted following the hard way.

2022 · Beat 'em Up · PC / Steam

Sifu is a martial arts game that demands mastery and rewards it generously. The combat system is deep, responsive, and built to make you feel like a kung fu expert once you put in the hours to actually become one. The aging mechanic gives death real consequences without making the game feel unfair, and the level design is packed with shortcuts and secrets that reward repeated runs. Difficulty will push away players looking for a casual brawler, and the structure requires replaying content more than some people will tolerate. But for anyone who wants a game that makes earning skill feel meaningful, this is one of the best action games of the decade.