Graded games
Every game on the Difficulty Depth Chart, ranked by how hard it is to learn, D1 (Surface) to D5 (Abyss). Well-known games anchor the scale; submitted games get the full Dive Plan. Search or filter below to find your next dive.
No games match. Try a different search or depth, or submit one.
D1 · Surface
2048
one rule, learned in a single swipe.
D1 · Surface
A Hat in Time
a charming, gentle 3D platformer anyone can pick up.
D1 · Surface
Among Us
do tasks or lie; the social game is deep, the rules are nothing.
D1 · Surface
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
no goals, no fail; the coziest on-ramp in games.
D1 · Surface
Balatro
poker hands plus jokers; instantly graspable, endlessly deep.
D1 · Surface
Beat Saber
slash to the beat; instantly intuitive, especially in VR.
D1 · Surface
Bejeweled
swap to match; pure pick-up-and-play.
D1 · Surface
Bloons TD 6
pop balloons; the depth is opt-in, the start is trivial.
D1 · Surface
Brotato
pick a weapon and survive waves; instant to grasp.
D1 · Surface
Candy Crush Saga
match three; the most frictionless on-ramp in games.
D1 · Surface
Chrono Trigger
a timeless, beginner-perfect turn-based RPG.
D1 · Surface
Cooking Mama
follow the prompts; built for total beginners.
D1 · Surface
Cut the Rope
slice ropes with simple physics; built for everyone.
D1 · Surface
Detroit: Become Human
branching choices and quick-time prompts; easy to follow.
D1 · Surface
Dragon Quest XI
classic, gentle turn-based comfort food.
D1 · Surface
Fall Guys
run, jump, flop; pure accessible chaos.
D1 · Surface
Firewatch
walk and talk through a story; no mechanics to learn.
D1 · Surface
Forza Horizon 5
an open, forgiving arcade racer with assists that meet you where you are.
D1 · Surface
Friday Night Funkin'
press arrows on beat; easy to grasp, tough to perfect.
D1 · Surface
Gang Beasts
floppy brawling; the clumsiness is the joke.
D1 · Surface
Goose Goose Duck
social deduction with simple tasks; the mind games are the depth.
D1 · Surface
Guitar Hero Live
hit the notes in time; the basics are immediate.
D1 · Surface
Hades
dash, attack, and go.
D1 · Surface
House Flipper
clean, paint, renovate; relaxing and forgiving.
D1 · Surface
Human: Fall Flat
wobbly physics puzzles; the comedy is the point, not the challenge.
D1 · Surface
Inside
move right and solve; wordless and intuitive.
D1 · Surface
It Takes Two
co-op designed to teach two players gently as they go.
D1 · Surface
Jackbox Party Pack
use your phone and play; built for any living room.
D1 · Surface
Left 4 Dead 2
point, shoot, survive together; about as approachable as shooters get.
D1 · Surface
Life is Strange
choose and rewind; the story carries you.
D1 · Surface
Limbo
a stark, trial-and-error puzzle-platformer; simple to control.
D1 · Surface
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
press accelerate and steer; the most welcoming racer there is.
D1 · Surface
Mario Party Superstars
roll, move, minigame; the friendliest board in gaming.
D1 · Surface
Minesweeper
click and deduce; one rule, instantly graspable.
D1 · Surface
Monument Valley
rotate impossible architecture; calm and wordless.
D1 · Surface
Moving Out
co-op furniture chaos; built for laughs, not mastery.
D1 · Surface
Need for Speed Heat
arcade driving with instant fun; drift and nitrous are the whole skill.
D1 · Surface
Outlast
run and hide; nothing to master, everything to dread.
D1 · Surface
Overcooked! 2
simple inputs, frantic coordination; the chaos is the challenge, not the controls.
D1 · Surface
Pac-Man
eat dots, dodge ghosts, done explaining.
D1 · Surface
Pentiment
a reading-led historical drama; choices, not mechanics.
D1 · Surface
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
read, investigate, object; logic puzzles with a gentle pace.
D1 · Surface
Picross
logic grids that teach themselves one clue at a time.
D1 · Surface
Pictorbit
open it and you are creating in seconds.
D1 · Surface
Plague Inc
evolve a pathogen; one simple loop, learned in a single playthrough.
D1 · Surface
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet
the friendliest RPG on-ramp; type matchups are the only real lesson.
D1 · Surface
Portal 2
a masterclass in teaching itself; you learn portals as you play.
D1 · Surface
PowerWash Simulator
point and spray; meditative and impossible to fail.
D1 · Surface
Pummel Party
a chaotic party board; easy to grasp, friendship-ending.
D1 · Surface
Rayman Legends
bright, forgiving, pick-up-and-play platforming.
D1 · Surface
Solitaire
if you know a deck of cards, you already know it.
D1 · Surface
Spiritfarer
a gentle, no-fail caretaking game; pure comfort.
D1 · Surface
Stray
be a cat in a neon city; relaxed and guided.
D1 · Surface
Stumble Guys
a mobile wipeout race; instantly playable.
D1 · Surface
Sudoku
one rule of logic; learnable in a single grid.
D1 · Surface
Super Mario Odyssey
move, jump, capture; a joyful, gentle on-ramp.
D1 · Surface
Tetris
you understand it in one piece, and spend a lifetime mastering it.
D1 · Surface
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
walk and listen; nothing to learn, everything to discover.
D1 · Surface
Torchlight Infinite
a breezy, accessible ARPG; pure click-and-loot comfort.
D1 · Surface
Undertale
simple to play; its cleverness is in choices, not difficulty.
D1 · Surface
Unpacking
unpack boxes and place things; quiet and impossible to lose.
D1 · Surface
Untitled Goose Game
honk and cause mischief; instantly understood.
D1 · Surface
Vampire Survivors
move and the game shoots for you; the easiest roguelite to pick up.
D1 · Surface
What Remains of Edith Finch
a short story you walk through; nothing to fail.
D1 · Surface
Wii Sports
swing the controller; designed for absolute beginners.
D1 · Surface
Wreckfest
demolition racing; floor it and crash, the joy is immediate.
D2 · Shallow
Amnesia: The Bunker
run, hide, manage fear; little to learn, much to dread.
D2 · Shallow
Astroneer
a charming, low-stress planetary sandbox.
D2 · Shallow
Axiom Verge
retro exploration with deliberately obscure secrets.
D2 · Shallow
Baba Is You
rules you literally rewrite; simple inputs, profound puzzles.
D2 · Shallow
Blasphemous
a soulslike metroidvania; cryptic and punishing but learnable.
D2 · Shallow
Borderlands 3
a friendly PvE looter-shooter; shoot, loot, level, with co-op carrying you.
D2 · Shallow
Brawlhalla
a free, friendly platform fighter; easy to start with a high ceiling.
D2 · Shallow
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
a genre-defining classic that leaves you to find your own way.
D2 · Shallow
Celeste
simple controls and kind teaching, but the precision platforming gets genuinely tough; assist mode helps.
D2 · Shallow
Cities: Skylines II
zone and build; traffic mastery is the deep end, the basics are gentle.
D2 · Shallow
Civilization
deep, but the tutorial and endless wikis get you competent fast.
D2 · Shallow
Core Keeper
a cozy mining sandbox; dig, build, fight, gently.
D2 · Shallow
Crypt of the NecroDancer
move to the beat through a roguelike; doing two things at once is the hump.
D2 · Shallow
Cult of the Lamb
part roguelite, part cult management; both halves are friendly.
D2 · Shallow
Cuphead
shoot, dash, parry, that is the whole kit.
D2 · Shallow
Cyberpunk 2077
an open-world RPG that eases you in; build depth is optional.
D2 · Shallow
Dead Cells
fast, fair roguevania; the basics click quickly, mastery is the depth.
D2 · Shallow
Dead Space Remake
strategic dismemberment; methodical and approachable.
D2 · Shallow
Death Stranding
a deliberate delivery sim; unusual but patiently taught.
D2 · Shallow
Deep Rock Galactic
a welcoming co-op shooter; mining and shooting with friends, gently taught.
D2 · Shallow
Diablo IV
click to smash; the build depth is opt-in and the on-ramp is smooth.
D2 · Shallow
Disco Elysium
no combat, just reading and choices; dense but never mechanically hard.
D2 · Shallow
Dragon Age: Inquisition
a big RPG with a slow, guided opening.
D2 · Shallow
Dyson Sphere Program
galaxy-scale automation; relaxing to start, vast by the end.
D2 · Shallow
EA Sports FC 24
anyone can kick a ball; skill moves and tactics are the deep end.
D2 · Shallow
Enshrouded
survival-RPG building; a smooth, modern opening.
D2 · Shallow
Enter the Gungeon
a bullet-hell dungeon crawler; dodge-roll and learn the hard way.
D2 · Shallow
F1 24
assists make it accessible; without them, real prep and racecraft are required.
D2 · Shallow
FTL: Faster Than Light
manage a ship under pressure; readable but punishing.
D2 · Shallow
Factorio
the ideas are big, but the in-game tutorial and community carry you in.
D2 · Shallow
Fallout 4
explore, shoot, build; the RPG systems sit lightly on top.
D2 · Shallow
Farming Simulator 22
realistic and machine-heavy; the menus and equipment are the barrier.
D2 · Shallow
Final Fantasy VII Remake
a guided action-RPG; combat opens up gradually with plenty of hand-holding.
D2 · Shallow
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
a friendly tactical RPG; permadeath optional, systems taught gradually.
D2 · Shallow
Five Nights at Freddy's
watch cameras, manage power; simple rules, pure panic management.
D2 · Shallow
Frostpunk
a harsh survival-city sim; brutal choices but a guided opening.
D2 · Shallow
Geometry Dash
one tap to jump; rhythmic memorization turns punishing fast, but learning is trivial.
D2 · Shallow
Going Medieval
a 3D colony sim in the RimWorld spirit; cozy but systems-heavy.
D2 · Shallow
Gran Turismo 7
realistic but assisted; tuning and racecraft add depth once you're past the basics.
D2 · Shallow
Grounded
shrunk-down backyard survival; approachable co-op fun.
D2 · Shallow
Guild Wars 2
one of the friendlier MMOs to start; depth is opt-in.
D2 · Shallow
Gwent
a thinky, round-based card game with real bluffing depth.
D2 · Shallow
Hearthstone
easy to play a card; deckbuilding and meta knowledge are the real game.
D2 · Shallow
Helldivers 2
simple to play, with friendly-fire chaos and stratagems as the real learning.
D2 · Shallow
Hollow Knight
move and attack in minutes; it just does not hold your hand about where to go next.
D2 · Shallow
Inscryption
a card game wrapped in a mystery; approachable and inventive.
D2 · Shallow
Into the Breach
perfect-information puzzle-tactics; approachable but deep.
D2 · Shallow
Last Epoch
the friendlier ARPG, but crafting and skill trees still run deep.
D2 · Shallow
Legends of Runeterra
a generous, well-taught card game with real strategic depth.
D2 · Shallow
Lethal Company
scavenge and survive with friends; chaos is the teacher.
D2 · Shallow
Loop Hero
an unusual auto-battler-builder; odd at first, then clicks.
D2 · Shallow
MLB The Show 24
pick-up-and-play modes hide a deep simulation.
D2 · Shallow
Madden NFL 24
the playbooks and controls are a real barrier for newcomers.
D2 · Shallow
Marvel Snap
fast and friendly; the depth hides in timing and collection.
D2 · Shallow
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
cover-shooter RPG that teaches as it goes.
D2 · Shallow
Metroid Dread
tight controls and sparse direction, with a few sharp bosses.
D2 · Shallow
Minecraft
mine, craft, survive the first night.
D2 · Shallow
Monster Train
two-lane deckbuilding; a clean step up from its peers.
D2 · Shallow
Myst
no instructions at all; observation and patience are everything.
D2 · Shallow
NBA 2K24
deep controls and systems behind a simple-looking game.
D2 · Shallow
New World: Aeternum
action-combat MMO with a relatively gentle start.
D2 · Shallow
NieR: Automata
genre-shifting action that stays approachable throughout.
D2 · Shallow
No Man's Sky
a vast survival-explorer with a much-improved but still busy opening.
D2 · Shallow
Northgard
a streamlined Viking RTS; friendlier than most of its genre.
D2 · Shallow
Octopath Traveler
a gorgeous turn-based RPG with a clear, classic structure.
D2 · Shallow
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
fluid and well-taught, with a few sharp, demanding sequences.
D2 · Shallow
Outer Wilds
knowledge is the only progression; it explains almost nothing on purpose.
D2 · Shallow
Palworld
creature-collecting survival; busy but friendly to start.
D2 · Shallow
Persona 5 Royal
turn-based and well-taught; calendar and social systems unfold at a gentle pace.
D2 · Shallow
Phasmophobia
ghost-hunting with a lot of evidence rules to memorize, but mechanically simple.
D2 · Shallow
Pizza Tower
fast and expressive; easy to move, deep to combo and chain.
D2 · Shallow
Planet Coaster
creative park-building; the tools are deep but never punishing.
D2 · Shallow
Prison Architect
design and run a prison; clear systems with a gentle ramp.
D2 · Shallow
Raft
build out from a tiny raft; a gentle survival on-ramp.
D2 · Shallow
Resident Evil 4 Remake
aim and manage resources; tense but very learnable.
D2 · Shallow
Return of the Obra Dinn
deduce sixty fates from frozen moments; singular and demanding.
D2 · Shallow
Risk of Rain 2
third-person scaling chaos; simple to start, wild by the end.
D2 · Shallow
Rocket League
drive, jump, hit the ball, you are playing.
D2 · Shallow
Rogue Legacy 2
die, upgrade, repeat; a gentle, generous roguelite.
D2 · Shallow
RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic
a beloved tycoon classic with a dated but learnable interface.
D2 · Shallow
Satisfactory
first-person factory building; the tutorial and 3D space ease you in.
D2 · Shallow
Shovel Knight
classic, readable platforming with a fair but firm challenge.
D2 · Shallow
Slay the Spire
play a card, attack or block.
D2 · Shallow
Sonic Mania
hold right and go; momentum and routes are the deeper game.
D2 · Shallow
Sons of the Forest
craft and survive a hostile island; tense but learnable.
D2 · Shallow
Spelunky 2
simple controls, merciless depth; death teaches everything.
D2 · Shallow
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
souls-lite combat with accessible difficulty options.
D2 · Shallow
Stardew Valley
a few gentle systems, then it quietly opens up.
D2 · Shallow
Subnautica
explore and survive an alien ocean; tense but well-paced.
D2 · Shallow
Super Mario Bros
run, jump, and World 1-1 teaches you the rest.
D2 · Shallow
Super Meat Boy
one button to jump; brutal execution, but the learning itself is instant.
D2 · Shallow
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
anyone plays in minutes; the competitive tech is a different planet, but learning is gentle.
D2 · Shallow
Teamfight Tactics
auto-battling econ and positioning; easy to watch, tricky to master.
D2 · Shallow
Terraria
dig, build, fight.
D2 · Shallow
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
twin-stick simplicity with a mountain of cryptic synergies to discover.
D2 · Shallow
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
wander and swing a sword; the systems are forgiving and mostly optional.
D2 · Shallow
The Outlast Trials
co-op survival horror; learn the maps and the panic.
D2 · Shallow
The Sims
lots of buttons, but nothing you cannot safely poke at.
D2 · Shallow
The Talos Principle 2
thoughtful first-person puzzles with a steady, fair ramp.
D2 · Shallow
The Witcher 3
a few combat and sign basics, then a huge world that mostly explains itself as you go.
D2 · Shallow
The Witness
no words, all inference; gentle to start, brain-bending later.
D2 · Shallow
Thumper
a punishing rhythm-runner; simple inputs, intense execution.
D2 · Shallow
Timberborn
beaver city-building around water cycles; a clever, gentle puzzle.
D2 · Shallow
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
easy ollies, deep combo system; the basics are a joy.
D2 · Shallow
Trackmania
simple to drive, absurdly deep to master; the early hours are pure fun.
D2 · Shallow
Tunic
a Zelda-like that hides its own manual; cryptic by design.
D2 · Shallow
Two Point Hospital
a cheerful management sim that teaches as you go.
D2 · Shallow
Valheim
gather, build, survive; forgiving co-op but cryptic progression.
D2 · Shallow
WWE 2K24
a deep wrestling control scheme that takes real learning.
D2 · Shallow
Wargroove
accessible turn-based battles in the Advance Wars mold.
D2 · Shallow
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
a sprawling combat system buried under heavy menus; patience required.
D2 · Shallow
osu!
simple to start, but the precision ceiling is among the highest in games.
D3 · Midwater
7 Days to Die
craft by day, defend by night; systems-heavy with a rough opening.
D3 · Midwater
ARK: Survival Ascended
a sprawling, obtuse survival sim; taming and base systems overwhelm at first.
D3 · Midwater
Age of Empires IV
build, gather, fight; the multitasking and build orders take real practice.
D3 · Midwater
Age of Wonders 4
empire-building plus tactical battles; deep but reasonably taught.
D3 · Midwater
Albion Online
a full-loot sandbox MMO; deep, social, and unforgiving.
D3 · Midwater
Anno 1800
a deep production-chain city builder; logistics overwhelm at first.
D3 · Midwater
Apex Legends
movement and gunplay run deep and fast; you can drop in, but real competence takes serious aim and map sense.
D3 · Midwater
Assetto Corsa
deep sim physics with sparse onboarding; setup and modding are their own learning curves.
D3 · Midwater
Baldur's Gate 3
D&D 5e is a lot, but the game eases you in.
D3 · Midwater
Banished
a quiet, punishing town survival sim that explains little.
D3 · Midwater
Battlefield
huge sandbox battles; vehicles, classes, and map scale overwhelm new players at first.
D3 · Midwater
BeamNG.drive
a soft-body physics sandbox with little direction; you make your own goals.
D3 · Midwater
Black Desert Online
gorgeous and overwhelming; menus on menus with weak onboarding.
D3 · Midwater
Bloodborne
aggressive souls combat with no tutorial; the early hours are a true wall.
D3 · Midwater
Call of Duty: Warzone
the gunplay is approachable, but the movement, loadouts, and stacked lobbies punish newcomers.
D3 · Midwater
Company of Heroes 3
cover-based tactics with deep systems and harsh punishment.
D3 · Midwater
Conan Exiles
brutal survival with deep building and harsh PvP.
D3 · Midwater
Counter-Strike 2
the spray patterns, economy, and utility are a real curve the game barely explains.
D3 · Midwater
Crusader Kings III
a glorious mess of medieval systems; embrace failing your way to understanding.
D3 · Midwater
DOOM Eternal
a demanding combat puzzle; the resource loop and movement take real practice to flow.
D3 · Midwater
Dark Souls
the controls are simple, but it explains almost nothing and the first few hours are a genuine wall for newcomers.
D3 · Midwater
Dead by Daylight
asymmetric PvP with deep perk and map knowledge; the curve is real.
D3 · Midwater
Demon's Souls
the original unforgiving descent; learn by dying, with no guidance.
D3 · Midwater
Destiny 2
a sprawling looter-shooter with years of stacked systems and almost no onboarding.
D3 · Midwater
Diablo II: Resurrected
cryptic build and itemization knowledge that the game never explains.
D3 · Midwater
Divinity: Original Sin 2
deep, reactive systems and tough fights; rewards prep, punishes blind play.
D3 · Midwater
Don't Starve Together
deliberately cryptic survival; it tells you nothing and punishes everything.
D3 · Midwater
Dragon Ball FighterZ
flashy auto-combos hide a deep, fast three-on-three fighter.
D3 · Midwater
Elden Ring
the combat basics are simple, but it drops you in with almost no direction and punishes you hard while you are still learning the ropes.
D3 · Midwater
Endless Space 2
a stylish space 4X with the genre's usual mountain of systems.
D3 · Midwater
Final Fantasy XIV
one of the friendlier MMOs, yet still hundreds of hours of systems to absorb.
D3 · Midwater
Football Manager 2024
a spreadsheet ocean; the depth is the point and the menus are endless.
D3 · Midwater
Fortnite
the shooting is approachable, but building is a real skill wall and aiming under pressure is tough for most newcomers.
D3 · Midwater
Getting Over It
one strange control that takes hours to tame, designed to punish.
D3 · Midwater
Grim Dawn
deep dual-class build complexity with little explanation.
D3 · Midwater
Guilty Gear Strive
stylish but demanding; execution and system mechanics are a steep anime-fighter wall.
D3 · Midwater
Halo Infinite
pick-up-and-play on the surface, but the aim, grenade, and map game is a real ranked climb.
D3 · Midwater
Homeworld 3
full-3D fleet command; spatial control is a genuine hurdle.
D3 · Midwater
Hunt: Showdown
tense, slow PvPvE with permadeath stakes that punish newcomers hard.
D3 · Midwater
Kerbal Space Program
rocket science, but a forgiving sandbox and great guides meet you halfway.
D3 · Midwater
Lies of P
a polished soulslike; readable but genuinely punishing early.
D3 · Midwater
Lost Ark
flashy combat behind a maze of endgame systems.
D3 · Midwater
Magic: The Gathering Arena
the deepest card game there is; rules, formats, and deckbuilding are a genuine wall.
D3 · Midwater
Microsoft Flight Simulator
as deep as you let it be, but real flight systems and procedures are a steep climb.
D3 · Midwater
Monster Hunter Rise
a touch more welcoming, but weapon mastery is still a long road.
D3 · Midwater
Monster Hunter: World
obtuse systems and weapon depth with weak onboarding; the wall before the fun is real.
D3 · Midwater
Mortal Kombat 1
single hits are easy, but combos, krushing blows, and matchups take real study.
D3 · Midwater
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
sandbox medieval warfare with sprawling systems and weak guidance.
D3 · Midwater
Nioh 2
souls combat with deep loot and stances; brutal and systems-heavy.
D3 · Midwater
Old School RuneScape
ancient, sprawling, and obtuse; charming once you push past the dated systems.
D3 · Midwater
OpenTTD
deep logistics with an old-school interface and little hand-holding.
D3 · Midwater
Overwatch 2
pick a hero and you are shooting in seconds, but real competence means learning the whole roster.
D3 · Midwater
Oxygen Not Included
a delightful, brutal systems-puzzle; thermodynamics and gases with almost no guidance.
D3 · Midwater
PUBG: Battlegrounds
realistic gunplay and looting wrapped in a steep, unforgiving survival curve.
D3 · Midwater
Project Zomboid
deep, punishing zombie survival; you will die and learn, repeatedly.
D3 · Midwater
Rainbow Six Siege
destructible and knowledge-heavy; learning sixty-plus operators and every map is the real wall.
D3 · Midwater
Remnant 2
souls structure with guns; obtuse builds and tough bosses.
D3 · Midwater
Returnal
a bullet-hell roguelite with brutal runs and sparse explanation.
D3 · Midwater
RimWorld
managing colonists takes a little reading up, but its systems reward the prep quickly.
D3 · Midwater
Rust
brutally social and unforgiving; the wipe cycle and raiding punish newcomers hard.
D3 · Midwater
Sekiro
the parry-based combat is simple to understand but punishing, and takes real practice to internalize.
D3 · Midwater
Shadow Tactics
real-time stealth puzzles; methodical and demanding.
D3 · Midwater
Splitgate
arena shooting plus portals; the movement ceiling is high even if the basics come quick.
D3 · Midwater
StarCraft II
mechanically brutal; macro, micro, and build orders are a famous wall.
D3 · Midwater
Street Fighter 6
modern controls lower the bar, but combos, spacing, and matchups are a lifelong climb.
D3 · Midwater
Team Fortress 2
nine classes and decades of movement tech sit under a friendly surface.
D3 · Midwater
Tekken 8
movement and frame data run deep; you'll mash for a while before you truly play.
D3 · Midwater
They Are Billions
a tense survival RTS; one breach can end a whole run.
D3 · Midwater
Throne and Liberty
a big open-world MMO with the genre's usual learning load.
D3 · Midwater
Titanfall 2
the campaign eases you in, but pilot movement and titan play run deep.
D3 · Midwater
Total War: Warhammer III
two games in one, a campaign map and real-time battles, each deep.
D3 · Midwater
Valorant
aim, abilities, economy, and callouts add up.
D3 · Midwater
Victoria 3
an economic simulation so deep that even veterans debate how it works.
D3 · Midwater
Warcraft III: Reforged
heroes plus base-building; a dense classic with a real curve.
D3 · Midwater
Warframe
a fantastic game hidden behind one of gaming's most confusing openings.
D3 · Midwater
World of Warcraft
easy to start questing, but two decades of systems make true competence a long road.
D3 · Midwater
XCOM 2
turn-based tactics with permadeath; a few systems to learn and harsh punishment for mistakes.
D3 · Midwater
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel
an infamously complex rules engine with paragraph-long card text.
D3 · Midwater
iRacing
a serious sim with real-world physics, racecraft etiquette, and a steep practice curve.
D4 · Deep
Caves of Qud
a dense, systems-rich roguelike with a steep interface and very little hand-holding.
D4 · Deep
Dwarf Fortress
staggering depth and an arcane interface, but its legendary wiki keeps it out of the Abyss.
D4 · Deep
EVE Online
a genuine learning cliff, softened only by one of gamings deepest knowledge bases.
D4 · Deep
Escape from Tarkov
notoriously punishing; dense inventory, healing, and raids with no hand-holding and real loss on death.
D4 · Deep
Europa Universalis IV
a famously impenetrable wall of overlapping systems with brutal onboarding.
D4 · Deep
Hearts of Iron IV
WWII micromanaged down to divisions and supply; expect to read wikis for hours.
D4 · Deep
League of Legends
160-plus champions, items, and map knowledge make it one of the steepest games to actually learn.
D4 · Deep
Noita
the pixel physics and alchemy run deep and explain nothing.
D4 · Deep
Path of Exile
the passive tree and crafting are famously impenetrable.
D4 · Deep
Star Citizen
an unfinished, staggering sim; janky, deep, and barely explained.
D4 · Deep
Stellaris
a vast 4X of overlapping systems.
D5 · Abyss
Aurora 4X
brutal and alone.
D5 · Abyss
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
staggering depth, a brutal interface, and almost no onboarding.
Vote on what we grade next
These are in review. Vote on how hard each was to learn — at 10 confirmed votes a game's Player grade unlocks and it jumps the queue for our full evaluation. Players decide the order; no critic required.
PEAK
Co-op climbing that punishes early mistakes and leans on a friend who already knows the ropes.
Subnautica 2
Underwater survival where the deep literally is the difficulty. We're grading it while it's early access and the guides are still thin.
Also in the pool: The Powder Toy, Sandboxels. Know another underserved game? Submit it.