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 PowerWash Simulator

Nearest fingerprints in the catalogue. The same demands, a different game.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

2020 · Nintendo EPD · ~70h

3.6MODERATE

Barely a difficulty at all — the only obstacle is the calendar, which hands out content one real-world day at a time and cannot be argued with.

UnratedGRD 5.5OBS 3.0STR 2.0Not on your platforms
EXE 0.5REA 0.4STR 2.0PUZ 0.8PUN 0.3CRV 1.2OBS 3.0

A Short Hike

2019 · adamgryu · ~2h

1.4TRIVIAL

About as hard as deciding to take the long way round — the summit is never in doubt, only when you get there.

UnratedOBS 2.0EXE 1.2PUZ 1.2
EXE 1.2REA 0.8STR 0.6PUZ 1.2PUN 0.3CRV 0.8OBS 2.0

What Remains of Edith Finch

2017 · Giant Sparrow · ~2h

1.0TRIVIAL

There is nothing here to fail. It is in the catalogue because the bottom of the scale has to mean something for the top of it to.

UnratedOBS 1.4PUZ 1.2EXE 0.8
EXE 0.8REA 0.7STR 0.5PUZ 1.2PUN 0.2CRV 0.5OBS 1.4

Spiritfarer

2020 · Thunder Lotus · ~30h

3.6MODERATE

A management game with no failure state. What it asks for is patience and a ferry schedule, not skill.

UnratedGRD 5.5OBS 2.9STR 2.5
EXE 1.9REA 1.5STR 2.5PUZ 2.0PUN 0.4CRV 1.5OBS 2.9

Firewatch

2016 · Campo Santo · ~4h

1.3TRIVIAL

Map and compass navigation with no waypoint marker is the only thing in it that asks anything of you at all.

UnratedOBS 1.9PUZ 1.5STR 0.8
EXE 0.6REA 0.4STR 0.8PUZ 1.5PUN 0.3CRV 0.6OBS 1.9

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 1.0PUZ 2.4PUN 0.2CRV 0.8OBS 1.5

Journey

2012 · thatgamecompany · ~2h

1.8TRIVIAL

Effectively unloseable, and built that way on purpose — the only thing you can fail to do is look up.

UnratedOBS 2.8PUZ 1.5EXE 0.8
EXE 0.8REA 0.5STR 0.3PUZ 1.5PUN 0.4CRV 0.5OBS 2.8

The Sims 4

2014 · The Sims Studio · ~60h

3.2GENTLE

Needs decay on a timer and nothing else really threatens you. The depth is in what the systems let you build rather than in anything they demand.

UnratedOBS 4.3GRD 4.3STR 3.0
EXE 0.4REA 0.4STR 3.0PUZ 1.5PUN 1.2CRV 1.5OBS 4.3 — you asked for forgiving

Stardew Valley

2016 · ConcernedApe · ~60h

4.2MODERATE

The only real pressure is the clock: every day you spend without a plan is a day the season quietly takes back.

UnratedGRD 6.2OBS 3.8STR 3.5
EXE 0.8REA 0.5STR 3.5PUZ 1.5PUN 0.8CRV 2.5OBS 3.8

Slime Rancher

2017 · Monomi Park · ~15h

3.3GENTLE

Largos and tarrs will wreck a careless corral overnight, which is as close as this gets to a fail state.

UnratedGRD 4.5STR 3.0OBS 2.9
EXE 2.1REA 2.5STR 3.0PUZ 1.5PUN 1.7CRV 1.8OBS 2.9