1015 PC games ranked by difficulty

One scale, every game: how much operating skill, system understanding and failure a player without prior experience of the game needs to get through its main path on the default difficulty. 10 is a game that punishes experts on the main path; 1 is a game with no failure pressure at all. Scores are the editorial judgments the comparison pages print, shown only where the research has reached the game.

Brutal 9–10

Expert mastery expected; the main path itself punishes.

Demanding 7–8.9

Timing, routing or builds have to be learned; repeated attempts are normal.

Moderate 5–6.9

Mistakes cost something; most players will retry a few times.

Relaxed 3–4.9

The core loop must be learned, but failure rarely sets you back.

Cozy 0–2.9

Little or no failure pressure.

How the number is made

Each score is set by the person researching the game against a written scale: what a player who knows the genre but not this game needs in order to finish the main path on the default or recommended difficulty. Games with several difficulty settings are scored on the default; official assist modes are noted on the game page rather than used to lower the score. It is a judgment, not a measurement, and it is the same judgment the head-to-head pages show. The underlying data is open.