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 Stardew Valley

The same shape, one rung harder. The next thing, not the hardest thing.

Death Stranding

2019 · Kojima Productions · ~40h

4.8STEEP

The difficulty is logistics — weight, terrain and route planning — with combat as an interruption you are usually allowed to walk around.

UnratedOBS 5.9GRD 5.7STR 5.5
EXE 2.5REA 1.8PUZ 2.5PUN 2.8STR 5.5 — you asked for forgivingGRD 5.7 — you asked for demandingCRV 4.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 5.9 — you asked for forgiving

Persona 5 Royal

2019 · P Studio · ~100h

4.9STEEP

Weakness targeting is the whole of combat, and the calendar is the real difficulty: a day spent wrong in November cannot be spent again.

UnratedSTR 6.2OBS 5.3GRD 5.2
EXE 1.3REA 1.1PUZ 2.5CRV 4.0STR 6.2 — you asked for forgivingGRD 5.2 — you asked for demandingPUN 4.0 — you asked for forgivingOBS 5.3 — you asked for forgiving

Cities: Skylines

2015 · Colossal Order · ~60h

5.4STEEP

Nothing fails quickly. A road laid in the first hour becomes unfixable in the twentieth, and that delay is the only real difficulty in it.

UnratedSTR 6.8OBS 6.0CRV 5.0
EXE 0.5REA 0.3PUZ 3.5PUN 2.6STR 6.8 — you asked for forgivingGRD 5.0 — you asked for demandingCRV 5.0 — you asked for forgivingOBS 6.0 — you asked for forgiving

Gran Turismo 7

2022 · Polyphony Digital · ~60h

5.2STEEP

Two games in one box. The campaign is forgiving and will hand you wins on assists; the licence golds and the online time trials are a precision game with a tenth of a second between grades.

UnratedGRD 6.6OBS 5.5STR 5.2Not on your platforms
REA 3.7PUZ 0.8GRD 6.6PUN 1.4EXE 4.5 — you asked for forgivingSTR 5.2 — you asked for forgivingCRV 4.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 5.5 — you asked for forgiving

Subnautica

2018 · Unknown Worlds · ~30h

4.7MODERATE

Depth and darkness rather than combat. It is careful never to tell you where to go, which is either the appeal or the wall depending on the player.

UnratedOBS 5.9PUN 4.4STR 4.5
EXE 1.8REA 2.7PUZ 3.5STR 4.5 — you asked for forgivingGRD 3.8 — you asked for demandingPUN 4.4 — you asked for forgivingCRV 4.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 5.9 — 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 3.0PUN 0.7PUZ 7.1 — you asked for forgivingGRD 2.0 — you asked for demandingCRV 5.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 4.5 — you asked for forgiving

Monster Hunter Wilds

2025 · Capcom · ~50h

5.1STEEP

The friendliest the series has been — focus strikes, a mount that finds the monster for you — and the tempered fights at the end still ask for the matchup knowledge Monster Hunter always did.

UnratedGRD 6.2REA 5.5STR 4.8
PUZ 0.8GRD 6.2PUN 3.5EXE 4.5 — you asked for forgivingREA 5.5 — you asked for forgivingSTR 4.8 — you asked for forgivingCRV 4.2 — you asked for forgivingOBS 4.3 — you asked for forgiving

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

1997 · Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo · ~12h

5.6STEEP

Straightforward once you find the right weapon, and famously obtuse about its second half — the difficulty is knowing that half exists at all.

UnratedOBS 8.2EXE 4.2REA 4.0
REA 4.0STR 2.5PUZ 2.5PUN 3.5CRV 3.0EXE 4.2 — you asked for forgivingGRD 4.0 — you asked for demandingOBS 8.2 — you asked for forgiving

Deep Rock Galactic

2020 · Ghost Ship Games · ~40h

4.7MODERATE

Hazard 5 with four dwarves is a coordination problem. Solo with Bosco is a slower, different game that the hazard tiers do not really account for.

UnratedREA 5.2OBS 5.0GRD 4.7
PUZ 2.0EXE 4.2 — you asked for forgivingREA 5.2 — you asked for forgivingSTR 4.5 — you asked for forgivingGRD 4.7 — you asked for demandingPUN 4.1 — you asked for forgivingCRV 4.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 5.0 — you asked for forgiving

EA Sports FC 25

2024 · EA Vancouver · ~50h

4.9STEEP

Single-player is as gentle as you set it; Ultimate Team online is a different game where defending is manual and everyone else has practised it.

UnratedSTR 5.5CRV 5.5OBS 5.5
PUZ 0.8PUN 2.7EXE 4.9 — you asked for forgivingREA 4.9 — you asked for forgivingSTR 5.5 — you asked for forgivingGRD 4.3 — you asked for demandingCRV 5.5 — you asked for forgivingOBS 5.5 — you asked for forgiving