Explore video games that demand exceptional dedication and commitment to master or complete. This list covers titles requiring hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of gameplay, as well as those with extremely high skill ceilings. From massive content RPGs to competitive strategy and fighting games, discover which experiences will test your patience and skill. Ideal for players seeking the ultimate challenge and a long-term investment in their digital hobbies.
379100% verified
1
Europa Universalis V
139 Global Votes
Allows players to dominate five centuries of history
(+4)
Europa Universalis V demands considerable dedication due to its intricate historical simulation and multiple interconnected gameplay systems. Players must master warfare, trade, and diplomacy across centuries of history, requiring significant time investment to understand and exploit its mechanics. Its strategic depth and the freedom to guide any nation in a living, complex world ensure hundreds of hours of gameplay.
This title demands significant dedication due to its immersive open-world RPG nature and complex narrative. Players must invest time to master its mechanics and thoroughly explore its detailed medieval setting, making it a difficult experience to put down. Its deep story and captivating side quests require continuous exploration and engagement.
Baldur's Gate III demands significant dedication due to its extensive branching narrative and complex tactical combat system. Players invest hundreds of hours exploring its three acts, making choices that profoundly impact the story, and managing a team of companions with their own storylines. The depth of its RPG mechanics and the inherent replayability from its multiple paths and endings ensure an experience that rewards time investment.
This title demands significant dedication, with players investing between 40 and 60 hours just to complete the main story, and over 60 hours for additional content. Its gameplay focuses on exploration and route management across a vast continent, requiring a long-term commitment to master its mechanics and uncover all its secrets.
Crimson Desert demands significant dedication due to its vast open world and complex progression systems. Players must invest time in exploration, faction quests, and artifact collection to enhance their stats, fostering deep and prolonged immersion. Its design encourages thorough exploration and mastery of its mechanics for a complete experience, extending beyond the main storyline.
Thousands of verified votes to discover the best. Your vote here counts
6
Elden Ring
32 Global Votes
Offers a huge and varied adventure
(+4)
Elden Ring demands significant dedication due to its expansive open world and inherent difficulty, which encourages players to explore and power up for hundreds of hours. The game offers an immersive experience with numerous hidden secrets and optional bosses, greatly extending playtime for those seeking full completion.
This title demands significant dedication, with a main campaign ranging from 30 to 40 hours, and a playtime that can double to around 80 hours for players aiming to complete most side content. Those striving for 100% completion can expect to invest approximately 99 to 140 hours, making it a very extensive gaming experience. Its vast open world and the depth of its missions invite prolonged exploration.
Grand Theft Auto VI demands significant dedication due to its immense open world, packed with over 500 activities and 700 explorable locations. The depth of its realistic details, advanced physics, and cinematic storytelling invite players to invest hundreds of hours to uncover everything it offers.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is renowned for its relentless difficulty and challenging sections, such as Bilewater and the High Halls gauntlet, which demand significant dedication and skill. The game requires players to master its combat and navigation mechanics to overcome complex obstacles and demanding bosses, offering a deep and rewarding experience for those willing to invest time.
Crusader Kings III demands considerable dedication due to its profound complexity in managing dynasties, vassals, and domains across centuries. Players must master intricate systems of intrigue, warfare, and diplomacy to build a lasting empire, requiring a significant time investment to understand and execute effective strategies.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond demands considerable dedication due to its non-linear level design and the depth of its exploration, requiring players to scan objects and lifeforms for crucial information. The combination of complex puzzles, frantic combat, and the need to master Samus's abilities ensures a gameplay experience that rewards investment of time and effort.
Blue Prince demands significant dedication due to its complex blend of intricate puzzles and roguelike exploration within a constantly shifting mansion. The game challenges players' curiosity and problem-solving abilities, with mysteries that require time and effort to unravel. Its 'room drafter' nature and procedurally generated layouts ensure each playthrough offers new challenges, encouraging players to invest many hours to master its secrets.
This ranking evaluates video games that demand significant player dedication, whether due to a steep learning curve, the time required for 100% completion, the difficulty of their achievements, or the depth of their mechanics.
You can participate by sharing your experiences with video games you believe demand significant dedication, either through comments, votes, or by suggesting titles you think should be included. Your input helps enrich the list.
The results should be interpreted as a guide to video games that the community considers to require the most time and skill commitment. It is not a scientific measure, but rather a reflection of players' collective perception.
Dedication is considered in terms of hours of gameplay for completion, mastery of complex mechanics, achieving extremely difficult accomplishments, or long-term investment to master the game.
How we built this ranking and what to consider when choosing
Our methodology for ranking video games requiring the most dedication is based on gathering experiences and opinions from the gaming community, as well as analyzing inherent game features that demand high commitment.
We consider the average reported playtime to complete the game, especially for those seeking 100% completion.
The game's learning curve is evaluated, prioritizing those with deep mechanics and complex systems that require practice and study.
The difficulty of the game's achievements or trophies is a key factor, including those that demand exceptional skill or a massive time investment.
The game's longevity and its ability to keep players engaged long-term, such as games with expansive content or an active community, are taken into account.
Player community opinions and consensus are fundamental in identifying titles that truly resonate as the most demanding.
The game must have a notably steep learning curve, challenging players to invest time to understand its systems.
It must offer extensive content or a difficulty level that requires hundreds of hours for substantial or total completion.
The game must include achievements or challenges that are widely recognized for their extreme difficulty or the time they entail.
Game mechanics must be deep and allow for a high degree of mastery, rewarding consistent practice and skill.
There must be a consensus within the gaming community regarding the high dedication required to fully enjoy or master the title.
