What should I play next

Ask for the shape of the challenge.

Not “something hard” — something that leans on the axes you want leant on and stays out of the way everywhere else. Demanding on strategy, forgiving on execution, under twenty hours. Everything below is scored through your own calibration, so “demanding” means demanding for you.

You have not calibrated, so this is matching against an average player. It still works; it is just not about you yet.

Calibrate
Or from something you finished

Sign in and this can read the ask out of a game you have already beaten.

Execution
Reaction
Strategy
Puzzle
Grind
Punishment
Learning Curve
Obscurity
Clear

Read out of Portal

Its own neighbourhood, ordered by how close the difficulty actually sits.

Portal 2

2011 · Valve · ~9h

4.0MODERATE

Gentler than the first game and better taught. The co-op campaign is where the difficulty actually lives, because it needs two people to see the same solution at once.

UnratedPUZ 6.2CRV 3.0STR 2.5
EXE 2.1REA 1.5STR 2.5PUZ 6.2GRD 0.5PUN 0.6CRV 3.0OBS 1.4

Inside

2016 · Playdead · ~4h

3.4MODERATE

Death is frequent, instant and immediately retried, and every puzzle is solvable from what the room shows you. Nothing here is hidden from a patient player.

UnratedPUZ 4.5OBS 3.5REA 3.0
EXE 2.5REA 3.0STR 1.5GRD 0.5PUN 1.7CRV 2.5OBS 3.5PUZ 4.5 — you asked for demanding

Outer Wilds

2019 · Mobius Digital · ~22h

4.6MODERATE

The only thing gating progress is knowledge inside your own head, which makes it unspoilable once and unplayable if you look it up.

UnratedPUZ 6.2OBS 5.6CRV 3.0
EXE 2.9REA 2.0STR 1.5PUZ 6.2GRD 0.5PUN 2.0CRV 3.0OBS 5.6 — you asked for forgiving

The Talos Principle

2014 · Croteam · ~20h

5.2STEEP

Tool-based puzzles that stay scrupulously fair, while the optional stars quietly assume you will break the rules the tutorial spent an hour teaching.

UnratedPUZ 7.1CRV 5.5OBS 4.5
EXE 0.8REA 0.5STR 3.0PUZ 7.1GRD 2.0PUN 0.7CRV 5.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 4.5 — you asked for forgiving

Dorfromantik

2022 · Toukana Interactive · ~15h

3.1GENTLE

Gentle to look at and quietly ruthless to score — the tile you place carelessly on turn ten is the one that ends the run four hundred turns later.

UnratedSTR 4.2PUZ 4.0OBS 2.2
EXE 0.2REA 0.2GRD 1.1PUN 1.4CRV 1.8OBS 2.2STR 4.2 — you asked for forgivingPUZ 4.0 — you asked for demanding

Baba Is You

2019 · Hempuli · ~20h

6.4PUNISHING

The rules are the puzzle, so being stuck feels less like failing and more like simply not having had the thought yet.

UnratedPUZ 9.5CRV 4.5OBS 4.5
EXE 0.4REA 0.3STR 2.5PUZ 9.5GRD 0.8PUN 0.4CRV 4.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 4.5 — you asked for forgiving

Unpacking

2021 · Witch Beam · ~4h

1.6TRIVIAL

There is no fail state, only the quiet friction of guessing where somebody else would keep their mugs.

UnratedPUZ 2.4OBS 1.5STR 1.0
EXE 0.3REA 0.2STR 1.0GRD 0.5PUN 0.2CRV 0.8OBS 1.5PUZ 2.4 — you asked for demanding

Tetris Effect: Connected

2018 · Monstars / Resonair · ~10h

3.4MODERATE

A lullaby until the drop speed crosses whatever your reading threshold happens to be, at which point it becomes a pure reflex test with a very good soundtrack.

UnratedREA 4.6EXE 3.8STR 3.0
EXE 3.8STR 3.0GRD 1.9PUN 1.4CRV 2.2OBS 1.2REA 4.6 — you asked for forgivingPUZ 2.0 — you asked for demanding

Return of the Obra Dinn

2018 · Lucas Pope · ~10h

6.4PUNISHING

Deduction with no fail state and no hints beyond the ship itself. It only confirms an answer once three of them are right together, which keeps guessing expensive.

UnratedPUZ 8.8OBS 6.3CRV 5.5
EXE 0.3REA 0.2STR 3.0PUZ 8.8GRD 2.0PUN 0.4CRV 5.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 6.3 — you asked for forgiving

Prey

2017 · Arkane Studios · ~20h

4.1MODERATE

Difficulty as an inventory problem: every fight you choose to take is ammunition you will not have for the one you did not see coming.

UnratedSTR 4.8OBS 4.3CRV 4.0
EXE 3.0REA 3.7GRD 1.9PUN 3.6CRV 4.0STR 4.8 — you asked for forgivingPUZ 3.5 — you asked for demandingOBS 4.3 — you asked for forgiving