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 Trackmania

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

Super Meat Boy

2010 · Team Meat · ~12h

6.0STEEP

The purest execution test on this list and also one of the gentlest, because the retry is faster than your regret.

UnratedEXE 7.9REA 7.0CRV 5.5
EXE 7.9REA 7.0STR 0.5PUZ 1.5PUN 1.3OBS 1.0CRV 5.5 — you asked for forgiving

osu!

2007 · ppy · ~100h

6.0PUNISHING

The purest execution test in the catalogue and one of the cheapest failures — nothing is lost when a run ends, which is exactly why people attempt the same map four hundred times.

UnratedEXE 7.5REA 7.0GRD 6.2
EXE 7.5REA 7.0STR 0.5PUZ 0.8PUN 1.0CRV 4.4 — you asked for forgivingOBS 4.6 — you asked for forgiving

Cuphead

2017 · Studio MDHR · ~12h

5.9STEEP

Each boss is a fixed piece of choreography that you learn by dying to its second phase forty consecutive times.

UnratedEXE 7.5REA 7.5CRV 7.0
EXE 7.5REA 7.5STR 2.0PUZ 0.8PUN 3.2OBS 2.5CRV 7.0 — you asked for forgiving

Hotline Miami

2012 · Dennaton Games · ~8h

6.0STEEP

Instant death in both directions and an instant restart. The difficulty is entirely in how quickly you commit to a floor plan you have already memorised.

UnratedREA 8.5EXE 7.2CRV 4.0
EXE 7.2REA 8.5STR 3.0PUZ 2.0PUN 2.9CRV 4.0OBS 2.5

Katana ZERO

2019 · Askiisoft · ~6h

6.0STEEP

One hit kills you and one hit kills them, and the retry is instant. Each room is a plan you rehearse at speed, not an endurance test.

UnratedREA 8.2EXE 7.4CRV 4.5
EXE 7.4REA 8.2STR 3.5PUZ 2.5PUN 3.4OBS 3.0CRV 4.5 — you asked for forgiving

Rocket League

2015 · Psyonix · ~100h

6.4PUNISHING

Nothing is hidden and nothing is easy: every technique in the game is visible from the first match and takes hundreds of hours in the hands.

UnratedEXE 7.4REA 7.8CRV 7.0
EXE 7.4REA 7.8PUZ 1.0PUN 3.0STR 4.5 — you asked for forgivingCRV 7.0 — you asked for forgivingOBS 4.3 — you asked for forgiving

Black Myth: Wukong

2024 · Game Science · ~40h

6.1PUNISHING

Aggressive rather than punishing — dying costs you almost nothing, so the walls are boss-shaped and the rest is spectacle.

UnratedREA 7.6EXE 6.5OBS 6.3
EXE 6.5REA 7.6STR 3.6PUZ 1.4PUN 3.4CRV 5.8 — you asked for forgivingOBS 6.3 — you asked for forgiving

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

2013 · PlatinumGames · ~8h

6.1PUNISHING

There is no block button — parrying is a direction plus an attack, aimed at the incoming blow, and the game tells you this once and then assumes it.

UnratedREA 7.6EXE 6.9CRV 7.2
EXE 6.9REA 7.6STR 2.0PUZ 1.2PUN 4.1 — you asked for forgivingCRV 7.2 — you asked for forgivingOBS 5.5 — you asked for forgiving

Thumper

2016 · Drool · ~8h

6.5PUNISHING

Rhythm violence at speeds that stop being readable. The later levels are memorised rather than reacted to, whatever it feels like at the time.

UnratedREA 8.8EXE 7.2PUN 5.5
EXE 7.2REA 8.8STR 0.5PUZ 0.8OBS 2.5PUN 5.5 — you asked for forgivingCRV 4.8 — you asked for forgiving

Fortnite

2017 · Epic Games · ~60h

6.1PUNISHING

Building is a second game bolted to the first, played at a speed that looks like a bug, and the mode that removes it is where most people should start.

UnratedCRV 7.2REA 7.0EXE 6.7
EXE 6.7REA 7.0PUZ 1.0STR 4.5 — you asked for forgivingPUN 4.5 — you asked for forgivingCRV 7.2 — you asked for forgivingOBS 5.0 — you asked for forgiving