Best Value Difficult Games Under $20
The Difficult games on Steam games under $20 that deliver the most playtime per dollar: median reviewer hours divided by current price.
All Indie Action Adventure Simulation RPG Strategy Co-op Open World Story Rich Casual Funny Survival Difficult Pixel Graphics PvP Horror Anime Puzzle Rogue-like Relaxing Turn-Based Strategy Local Co-Op Psychological Horror Hack and Slash Platformer MMO RTS Immersive Sim Post-apocalyptic Action Roguelike City Builder Life Sim Zombies Sports Racing Survival Horror Stealth Bullet Hell Dungeon Crawler Visual Novel JRPG Deckbuilding Grand Strategy Cyberpunk Tower Defense Clicker Fighting Open World Survival Craft Boomer Shooter Colony Sim Farming Sim Cozy Auto Battler Cooking Twin Stick Shooter Metroidvania 4X Souls-like Dating Sim MMORPG
By price
Price divided by median reviewer playtime — how much you pay per hour of gameplay. Lower is better. Reviewers tend to sink more hours in than the average owner, so treat this as an optimistic estimate. Free games are excluded because there's no price to divide by.
- 1Geometry Dash$0.05/1hr92h92.91%93.04%
- 2Dead by Daylight$0.06/1hr343h78.50%78.43%
- 3Gothic II: Gold Edition$0.08/1hr62h90.63%93.84%
- 4The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition$0.09/1hr35h89.42%89.92%
- 5Rock 'N' Roll Defense$0.09/1hr6h85.52%86.98%
- 6Planes, Bullets and Vodka$0.09/1hr6h84.98%85.13%
- 7Risen$0.10/1hr39h86.94%88.80%
- 8Darksiders Warmastered Edition$0.12/1hr25h86.92%87.98%
- 9Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game$0.12/1hr20h91.59%94.24%
- 10Outward Definitive Edition$0.14/1hr35h75.66%72.69%
- 11ELEX$0.15/1hr51h77.93%74.35%
- 12FINAL FANTASY XIII$0.15/1hr43h78.27%75.03%
- 13Nioh: Complete Edition$0.15/1hr49h80.23%79.02%
- 14SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising$0.15/1hr32h90.00%93.87%
- 15Monster Sanctuary$0.15/1hr32h88.34%91.24%
- 16Gothic 1$0.15/1hr32h89.83%92.52%
- 17Bomber Crew$0.16/1hr15h86.54%87.57%
- 18Dungeon of the ENDLESS$0.16/1hr19h85.14%85.27%
- 19Soccer Online: Ball 3D$0.17/1hr6h84.66%84.41%
- 20FTL: Faster Than Light$0.17/1hr59h93.96%95.11%
- 21Terraforming Mars$0.17/1hr41h78.90%70.54%
- 22Peggle Deluxe$0.17/1hr6h92.41%97.65%
- 23UnderRail$0.17/1hr86h85.42%86.08%
- 24Pathologic 2$0.17/1hr40h88.63%91.68%
- 25Hero Siege$0.18/1hr45h70.28%67.15%
- 26Elite Dangerous$0.18/1hr112h77.96%77.31%
- 27A Dance of Fire and Ice$0.18/1hr33h93.09%94.07%
- 28Across the Obelisk$0.18/1hr110h82.38%80.42%
- 29Going Under$0.19/1hr13h86.46%90.15%
- 30The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth$0.19/1hr78h96.66%96.92%
- 31The Long Dark$0.19/1hr103h88.64%88.94%
- 32Motorsport Manager$0.20/1hr98h88.91%91.71%
- 33Bean Battles$0.20/1hr5h89.41%93.83%
- 34Kerbal Space Program$0.21/1hr48h94.89%95.57%
- 35Nothing$0.21/1hr5h89.52%94.15%
- 36Quake Live$0.21/1hr14h85.90%86.51%
- 37Hollow Knight$0.21/1hr71h96.70%96.91%
- 38Tales of Maj'Eyal$0.21/1hr33h89.01%94.50%
- 39Crypt of the NecroDancer$0.23/1hr13h92.54%95.51%
- 40Barotrauma$0.23/1hr77h93.10%94.02%
- 41Stoneshard$0.24/1hr68h76.91%74.63%
- 42Skul: The Hero Slayer$0.24/1hr42h92.02%93.26%
- 43Rocksmith 2014 Edition REMASTERED LEARN & PLAY$0.24/1hr42h87.10%87.96%
- 44Party Hard$0.24/1hr8h87.85%90.16%
- 45Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition$0.24/1hr83h87.04%87.45%
- 46Elin$0.24/1hr82h88.96%93.39%
- 47LIMBO$0.25/1hr5h91.21%92.22%
- 48Darksiders III$0.25/1hr24h79.13%75.93%
- 49Bloons TD 6$0.25/1hr56h96.88%97.19%
- 50Golf With Your Friends$0.26/1hr9h87.06%87.35%
- 51Desperados III$0.26/1hr38h92.16%96.52%
- 52Noita$0.27/1hr75h94.11%95.15%
- 53Descenders$0.27/1hr23h91.63%94.45%
- 54The Evil Within$0.27/1hr18h85.14%85.20%
- 55DOOM$0.28/1hr14h95.06%95.52%
- 56Blasphemous$0.28/1hr31h89.19%89.83%
- 57Voidigo$0.28/1hr18h88.75%96.54%
- 58Monstrum$0.31/1hr12h86.30%90.62%
- 59Tiny Rogues$0.31/1hr32h90.60%96.14%
- 60RUINER$0.32/1hr6h87.22%89.05%
- 61Gloomhaven$0.32/1hr31h83.11%81.97%
- 62CrossCode$0.32/1hr62h89.77%92.39%
- 63My Summer Car$0.32/1hr47h94.14%94.93%
- 64Muse Dash$0.32/1hr9h91.00%91.50%
- 65STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor$0.33/1hr32h72.42%70.95%
- 66XCOM: Enemy Unknown$0.34/1hr45h92.00%93.21%
- 67Balatro$0.34/1hr35h97.22%97.84%
- 68DOOM + DOOM II$0.34/1hr12h93.55%96.63%
- 69Remnant: From the Ashes$0.34/1hr24h84.37%84.27%
- 70Bloons TD 5$0.35/1hr29h90.23%94.66%
- 71Dungreed$0.35/1hr28h88.90%93.31%
- 72Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 (2003 re-release)$0.35/1hr6h88.59%93.18%
- 73Ostranauts$0.36/1hr44h83.44%79.22%
- 74Blasphemous 2$0.36/1hr31h88.73%90.68%
- 75Spelunky 2$0.37/1hr54h90.26%92.80%
- 76Don't Starve Together$0.37/1hr40h94.75%94.93%
- 77The Escapists 2$0.37/1hr13h89.29%90.58%
- 78Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander$0.38/1hr52h90.12%94.37%
- 79Don't Starve$0.38/1hr26h95.61%96.55%
- 80Banished$0.39/1hr51h89.40%90.43%
- 81Subsistence$0.39/1hr35h77.42%71.95%
- 82Brigador: Up-Armored Edition$0.40/1hr16h87.83%93.25%
- 83Spelunky$0.40/1hr38h89.44%92.14%
- 84Kingdom Rush - Tower Defense$0.40/1hr25h92.69%97.27%
- 85The Binding of Isaac$0.41/1hr12h93.30%94.64%
- 86Kingdom Rush Frontiers - Tower Defense$0.42/1hr24h91.02%96.74%
- 87Wolfenstein 3D$0.42/1hr4h87.47%93.32%
- 88Enter the Gungeon$0.42/1hr36h94.10%95.12%
- 89Turbo Overkill$0.43/1hr14h88.66%93.99%
- 90ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights$0.45/1hr22h92.17%93.76%
- 91DOOM Eternal$0.46/1hr22h91.10%91.38%
- 92Lost Castle / 失落城堡$0.46/1hr21h85.96%86.50%
- 93Death's Gambit: Afterlife$0.47/1hr24h83.49%81.16%
- 94Hyper Light Drifter$0.47/1hr11h90.12%92.97%
- 95Nuclear Throne$0.47/1hr26h92.29%96.02%
- 96Quasimorph$0.47/1hr35h83.87%82.39%
- 979 Kings$0.48/1hr42h90.19%92.50%
- 98Shogun Showdown$0.50/1hr30h89.14%95.16%
- 99Clustertruck$0.52/1hr6h90.53%93.56%
- 100Exanima$0.52/1hr29h82.07%80.18%
How the math works: we sample each game’s Steam reviewers, take the median of their total recorded playtime (lifetime hours, not hours at the time of review), and divide it by the game’s current price in your selected currency. Reviewers usually sink more hours in than the average owner, so the numbers run generous. Free games aren’t listed because there’s no price to divide by, and a game needs playtime data from at least 20 reviewers before it qualifies. All prices are Steam’s own regional prices, never exchange-rate conversions.