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.

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.
  1. 1Dead by Daylight$0.05/1hr
  2. 2Geometry Dash$0.06/1hr
  3. 3FTL: Faster Than Light$0.06/1hr
  4. 4Hunt: Showdown 1896$0.07/1hr
  5. 5Styx: Master of Shadows$0.07/1hr
  6. 6Wall World$0.07/1hr
  7. 7Monster Hunter: World$0.07/1hr
  8. 8Soccer Online: Ball 3D$0.07/1hr
  9. 9Rock 'N' Roll Defense$0.09/1hr
  10. 10Bean Battles$0.09/1hr
  11. 11Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen$0.09/1hr
  12. 12The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos$0.10/1hr
  13. 13Valheim$0.10/1hr
  14. 14Death Road to Canada$0.10/1hr
  15. 15The Surge$0.10/1hr
  16. 16Souldiers$0.11/1hr
  17. 17UBERMOSH$0.11/1hr
  18. 18Elite Dangerous$0.12/1hr
  19. 19Timberman$0.12/1hr
  20. 20Hacknet$0.13/1hr
  21. 21Iratus: Lord of the Dead$0.13/1hr
  22. 22Slay the Spire$0.14/1hr
  23. 23Enter the Gungeon$0.15/1hr
  24. 24The Surge 2$0.15/1hr
  25. 25Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun$0.15/1hr
  26. 26Lost Castle / 失落城堡$0.16/1hr
  27. 27Across the Obelisk$0.17/1hr
  28. 28Planes, Bullets and Vodka$0.18/1hr
  29. 29Hades$0.19/1hr
  30. 30SKYHILL$0.19/1hr
  31. 31FlatOut$0.20/1hr
  32. 32CODE VEIN$0.20/1hr
  33. 33Motorsport Manager$0.20/1hr
  34. 34Frostpunk$0.21/1hr
  35. 35Muse Dash$0.21/1hr
  36. 36Hollow Knight$0.21/1hr
  37. 37Voidigo$0.21/1hr
  38. 38UnderRail$0.21/1hr
  39. 39Resident Evil 4 (2005)$0.21/1hr
  40. 40Hero Siege$0.22/1hr
  41. 41Tales of Maj'Eyal$0.22/1hr
  42. 42Elin$0.22/1hr
  43. 43Celeste$0.22/1hr
  44. 44Insurgency: Sandstorm$0.23/1hr
  45. 45Curse of the Dead Gods$0.23/1hr
  46. 46Endzone - A World Apart$0.23/1hr
  47. 47Laika: Aged Through Blood$0.24/1hr
  48. 48Ratopia$0.24/1hr
  49. 49The Long Dark$0.25/1hr
  50. 50Subsistence$0.25/1hr
  51. 51Far Cry$0.25/1hr
  52. 52Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander$0.25/1hr
  53. 53Resident Evil$0.26/1hr
  54. 54Noita$0.26/1hr
  55. 55Tiny Rogues$0.26/1hr
  56. 56Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight$0.27/1hr
  57. 57The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth$0.28/1hr
  58. 58Titan Souls$0.29/1hr
  59. 59Shogun Showdown$0.29/1hr
  60. 60Nothing$0.30/1hr
  61. 61Resident Evil 0$0.30/1hr
  62. 62EVERSPACE$0.30/1hr
  63. 63Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager$0.30/1hr
  64. 64A Dance of Fire and Ice$0.30/1hr
  65. 65Game Dev Tycoon$0.31/1hr
  66. 66Bloons TD 6$0.31/1hr
  67. 67CrossCode$0.33/1hr
  68. 68DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT$0.33/1hr
  69. 69Barotrauma$0.33/1hr
  70. 70Rocksmith 2014 Edition REMASTERED LEARN & PLAY$0.34/1hr
  71. 71Guacamelee! 2$0.34/1hr
  72. 72Trials Rising$0.34/1hr
  73. 73LONESTAR$0.35/1hr
  74. 74Bloons TD 5$0.35/1hr
  75. 75Resident Evil 2$0.36/1hr
  76. 76XCOM: Enemy Unknown$0.36/1hr
  77. 77Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition$0.36/1hr
  78. 78SULFUR$0.36/1hr
  79. 79Gothic II: Gold Edition$0.36/1hr
  80. 80My Summer Car$0.37/1hr
  81. 81Dead Cells$0.37/1hr
  82. 82Axiom Verge$0.37/1hr
  83. 83Rain World$0.37/1hr
  84. 84Don't Starve Together$0.38/1hr
  85. 85FINAL FANTASY XIII$0.38/1hr
  86. 86ScourgeBringer$0.38/1hr
  87. 87Dungreed$0.38/1hr
  88. 88Absolver$0.39/1hr
  89. 89Ostranauts$0.40/1hr
  90. 90Nuclear Throne$0.40/1hr
  91. 91Wildfrost$0.40/1hr
  92. 92Balatro$0.40/1hr
  93. 93Risen$0.42/1hr
  94. 94Banished$0.42/1hr
  95. 95The Binding of Isaac$0.42/1hr
  96. 96Nine Sols$0.43/1hr
  97. 97Ultra Street Fighter IV$0.43/1hr
  98. 98Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game$0.44/1hr
  99. 99PAYDAY The Heist$0.46/1hr
  100. 100Kingdom Rush Frontiers - Tower Defense$0.47/1hr

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.