Best Value Difficult Games Under $40
The Difficult games on Steam games under $40 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.
- 1Dead by Daylight$0.05/1hr404h78.51%78.44%
- 2Geometry Dash$0.06/1hr86h92.92%93.05%
- 3FTL: Faster Than Light$0.06/1hr54h93.96%95.11%
- 4Hunt: Showdown 1896$0.07/1hr166h74.10%73.70%
- 5Styx: Master of Shadows$0.07/1hr28h84.03%83.21%
- 6Wall World$0.07/1hr14h88.17%90.73%
- 7Monster Hunter: World$0.07/1hr106h88.70%88.77%
- 8Soccer Online: Ball 3D$0.07/1hr7h84.68%84.39%
- 9Rock 'N' Roll Defense$0.09/1hr6h85.53%86.94%
- 10Bean Battles$0.09/1hr6h89.42%93.80%
- 11Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen$0.09/1hr52h87.85%88.44%
- 12The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos$0.10/1hr53h85.96%87.17%
- 13Valheim$0.10/1hr96h93.83%93.99%
- 14Death Road to Canada$0.10/1hr21h88.93%92.73%
- 15The Surge$0.10/1hr18h79.31%74.62%
- 16Souldiers$0.11/1hr28h81.27%69.22%
- 17UBERMOSH$0.11/1hr5h88.35%92.26%
- 18Elite Dangerous$0.12/1hr170h77.95%77.29%
- 19Timberman$0.12/1hr8h89.26%93.09%
- 20Hacknet$0.13/1hr12h91.16%93.54%
- 21Iratus: Lord of the Dead$0.13/1hr23h85.23%85.54%
- 22Slay the Spire$0.14/1hr44h96.94%97.49%
- 23Enter the Gungeon$0.15/1hr31h94.12%95.14%
- 24The Surge 2$0.15/1hr20h80.35%75.46%
- 25Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun$0.15/1hr26h93.74%96.02%
- 26Lost Castle / 失落城堡$0.16/1hr19h86.06%86.51%
- 27Across the Obelisk$0.17/1hr120h82.48%80.56%
- 28Planes, Bullets and Vodka$0.18/1hr6h84.99%85.02%
- 29HELLDIVERS 2$0.18/1hr217h75.24%75.16%
- 30Hades$0.19/1hr40h97.61%98.02%
- 31SKYHILL$0.19/1hr5h82.52%78.23%
- 32FlatOut$0.20/1hr8h87.44%91.18%
- 33CODE VEIN$0.20/1hr30h83.38%83.12%
- 34Motorsport Manager$0.20/1hr99h88.92%91.71%
- 35Frostpunk$0.21/1hr22h92.20%92.73%
- 36Muse Dash$0.21/1hr14h91.02%91.51%
- 37Hollow Knight$0.21/1hr72h96.70%96.91%
- 38Voidigo$0.21/1hr12h88.76%96.53%
- 39UnderRail$0.21/1hr71h85.46%86.12%
- 40Resident Evil 4 (2005)$0.21/1hr23h93.27%94.12%
- 41Hero Siege$0.22/1hr36h70.29%67.16%
- 42Tales of Maj'Eyal$0.22/1hr32h89.05%94.56%
- 43Elin$0.22/1hr90h88.99%93.43%
- 44Celeste$0.22/1hr22h96.60%97.40%
- 45Insurgency: Sandstorm$0.23/1hr33h84.85%84.85%
- 46Curse of the Dead Gods$0.23/1hr17h84.27%83.50%
- 47Endzone - A World Apart$0.23/1hr11h80.88%76.75%
- 48Laika: Aged Through Blood$0.24/1hr21h87.59%91.57%
- 49Ratopia$0.24/1hr54h85.89%87.80%
- 50The Long Dark$0.25/1hr79h88.66%88.96%
- 51Subsistence$0.25/1hr42h77.44%71.95%
- 52Far Cry$0.25/1hr12h83.27%81.81%
- 53Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander$0.25/1hr56h90.26%94.39%
- 54Resident Evil$0.26/1hr19h90.70%92.30%
- 55Noita$0.26/1hr77h94.13%95.17%
- 56Tiny Rogues$0.26/1hr38h90.76%96.18%
- 57Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight$0.27/1hr7h89.42%93.17%
- 58The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth$0.28/1hr54h96.69%96.96%
- 59Titan Souls$0.29/1hr5h81.45%78.89%
- 60Shogun Showdown$0.29/1hr26h89.15%95.19%
- 61Dwarf Fortress$0.29/1hr102h92.41%94.79%
- 62Nothing$0.30/1hr3h89.53%94.14%
- 63Resident Evil 0$0.30/1hr17h81.81%80.16%
- 64EVERSPACE$0.30/1hr7h81.41%78.29%
- 65Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager$0.30/1hr13h82.67%78.54%
- 66A Dance of Fire and Ice$0.30/1hr20h93.09%94.07%
- 67Game Dev Tycoon$0.31/1hr13h93.33%95.19%
- 68Bloons TD 6$0.31/1hr45h96.89%97.19%
- 69Oxygen Not Included$0.31/1hr80h95.97%96.74%
- 70CrossCode$0.33/1hr61h89.83%92.48%
- 71DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT$0.33/1hr46h91.97%93.18%
- 72Wargame: Red Dragon$0.33/1hr90h87.32%88.51%
- 73Barotrauma$0.33/1hr60h93.10%94.02%
- 74Rocksmith 2014 Edition REMASTERED LEARN & PLAY$0.34/1hr30h87.12%87.97%
- 75Guacamelee! 2$0.34/1hr15h86.54%91.19%
- 76Trials Rising$0.34/1hr12h79.58%62.30%
- 77LONESTAR$0.35/1hr17h86.16%91.03%
- 78Bloons TD 5$0.35/1hr28h90.25%94.66%
- 79Stoneshard$0.35/1hr71h76.92%74.62%
- 80Resident Evil 2$0.36/1hr23h96.52%97.05%
- 81XCOM: Enemy Unknown$0.36/1hr42h92.01%93.21%
- 82Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition$0.36/1hr11h88.04%92.38%
- 83SULFUR$0.36/1hr35h86.12%87.32%
- 84Gothic II: Gold Edition$0.36/1hr55h90.65%93.85%
- 85My Summer Car$0.37/1hr41h94.15%94.94%
- 86Dead Cells$0.37/1hr34h96.41%97.04%
- 87Axiom Verge$0.37/1hr14h87.04%90.19%
- 88BATTLETECH$0.37/1hr108h84.20%83.97%
- 89Rain World$0.37/1hr30h92.43%93.77%
- 90Don't Starve Together$0.38/1hr40h94.76%94.95%
- 91FINAL FANTASY XIII$0.38/1hr42h78.40%75.06%
- 92ScourgeBringer$0.38/1hr7h85.29%86.25%
- 93Library Of Ruina$0.38/1hr79h92.71%94.47%
- 94Dungreed$0.38/1hr26h89.05%93.30%
- 95Absolver$0.39/1hr16h77.55%72.52%
- 96Ostranauts$0.40/1hr51h84.04%80.58%
- 97Nuclear Throne$0.40/1hr30h92.31%96.03%
- 98Wildfrost$0.40/1hr30h83.96%82.81%
- 99Balatro$0.40/1hr38h97.22%97.85%
- 100Monster Train 2$0.41/1hr61h90.14%95.32%
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.