20 Video Games with the Most Complex Gameplay

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Ignacio Weil

Gaming - March 25th 2025, 19:45 GMT+1

Cropped Eve Online — EVE Online (2003)

Ah, *EVE Online*, the space opera that never ends. Released in 2003 and still plotting galactic betrayals two decades later, this is the game where spreadsheets and starships collide in glorious, player-driven chaos. Want to be a space pirate? A trader? A diplomat in a shadowy alliance of real-world lawyers? It’s all possible. You might log in for a quick mining session and emerge 6 years later as the CEO of a corporation with actual office politics. Few games ask for as much time – or reward it quite so deliciously. It’s not just a game; it’s a part-time job with better drama than most TV shows. | © CCP Games

Cropped Aurora 4x — Aurora 4X (2004)

If *Aurora 4X (2004)* were a person, it’d be the eccentric uncle who hands you a 500-page manual and says, “You’ll get it eventually.” It's a space simulation masterpiece built in a spreadsheet’s body, and yet, somehow, it works – once you surrender to its madness. Colonize planets, design ships atom by atom, and wage interstellar war, all through an interface last seen on Windows 95. It’s not flashy, but if you’re into deep strategy and sci-fi storytelling where *you* write the history, Aurora is your jam. Just clear your calendar and prepare for rabbit holes. Many, many rabbit holes. | © Steve Walmsley

Cropped Dwarf Fortress — Dwarf Fortress (2006)

*Dwarf Fortress (2006)* is the game that laughs in the face of simplicity. Forget graphics – it’s ASCII art, baby. But behind that cryptic screen lies the deepest, most intricate simulation of dwarves, death, and fort-building known to gaming. Every dwarf has a personality, every cat has a history, and every fort is one tantrum spiral away from a glorious collapse. No two games are the same, and “losing is fun” became a motto for a reason. The 2022 Steam version brought tiles and accessibility, but don’t be fooled – chaos still reigns. Proceed with caution… and a mug of mead. | © Bay 12 Games

Cropped Victoria 2 — Victoria II (2010)

Step aside, action games – *Victoria II (2010)* is here for the thinkers, the planners, the micromanagers who want to lead a 19th-century nation into glory through tariffs and tax policy. Want to industrialize the Ottoman Empire while juggling political reforms and European alliances? Of course you do. It's like playing Civilization on caffeine, but with more graphs and fewer nukes. The learning curve is brutal, the UI is clunky, and the AI… well, bless its heart. But once you “get it,” you’ll find a grand strategy gem that’s equal parts economic simulator and geopolitical sandbox. Just one more turn. | © Paradox Interactive

Cropped path of exile — Path of Exile (2013)

*Path of Exile (2013)*: where loot is king, skills are a sprawling constellation of madness, and builds are crafted like 400-page dissertations. It’s the kind of action RPG that grabs you by the hoodie and whispers, “Why not reroll… just one more time?” Seasons (called “Leagues”) bring regular fresh chaos, and the endgame is so dense it might have its own gravitational pull. You can spend hundreds of hours theorycrafting and still feel like you’re just scratching the surface. Also: it’s free! But your time? Oh, your time is the real currency here. | © Grinding Gear Games

Cataclysm dark days ahead msn — Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (2013)

If *Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (2013)* had a tagline, it would be: "The end of the world never felt so intricate." This roguelike survival game drops you into a post-apocalyptic hellscape and then politely hands you the keys to an absurdly detailed simulator of the human condition – plus zombies, giant insects, and weird lab abominations. There's no story rail here, just a sandbox of doom where duct tape and a shopping cart can be your salvation. Whether you're bionically enhancing yourself or crafting a mobile base from a school bus, every run is an unpredictable epic. ASCII has never been so terrifying. | © Community-driven (originally by Whales)

Cropped Kerbal Space Program — Kerbal Space Program (2015)

*Kerbal Space Program (2015)* is what happens when adorable green creatures get their grubby little mitts on rocket science – and the results are beautiful, explosive chaos. It's a game where “failure” often means watching your shuttle do cartwheels across the stratosphere, and success feels like inventing gravity. You’ll learn orbital mechanics the hard way, and you’ll love it. Every launch is a mixture of engineering triumph and cartoon mayhem, and the modding community? Oh, it’s a wormhole all its own. Just don’t be surprised when you look up at the night sky and start calculating delta-v in your head. | © Squad / Private Division

Cropped Hearts of Iron IV — Hearts of Iron IV (2016)

*Hearts of Iron IV (2016)* is not your average WWII game – it’s a global chess match with tanks, ideology trees, and the occasional alternate history where Canada invades Germany (yes, really). This grand strategy beast demands your full attention and then some. You’ll be managing logistics in Poland while trying to micromanage air superiority in France and realizing you forgot to produce rubber. Whoops. It’s a masterclass in military planning, political maneuvering, and accidentally triggering world wars too early. For lovers of flags, maps, and complicated feelings about supply lines. Just remember: history is optional, chaos is not. | © Paradox Interactive

Cropped Stellaris — Stellaris (2016)

*Stellaris (2016)* is a space opera generator where you’re less of a player and more of a galactic god-king with a flair for the dramatic. Want to play as a race of sentient mushrooms who believe in robot ascension? Go for it. The universe is procedurally generated and entirely yours to explore, exploit, or accidentally blow up. Diplomacy, war, xenophilia, or hive-mind doom cults – pick your poison. Updates and DLCs have made it deeper than the Marianas Trench, and every playthrough ends with you quietly narrating galactic history like a smug omniscient being. Pew pew never felt so cerebral. | © Paradox Interactive

Cropped Opus Magnum — Opus Magnum (2017)

*Opus Magnum (2017)* is a puzzle game for people who think programming and alchemy are natural bedfellows – and somehow, it makes that weird marriage utterly magical. You’re an engineer of transmutation machines, building increasingly complex contraptions to assemble reagents in elegant, or hilariously inefficient, loops. The moment you shave off a cycle or two from your design feels like you just cured a disease with gears. There’s no timer pressuring you, just your own ego pushing for perfection. It’s the kind of game that makes you say “just one more tweak” until the sun rises. Who knew automation could be so poetic? | © Zachtronics

Cropped Rimworld — RimWorld (2018)

*RimWorld (2018)* is the game that starts as a colony sim and ends as a psychological experiment – on both your colonists *and* you. One minute you're building a cozy little outpost on an alien planet, the next you're managing a pyromaniac chef who just broke up with your only doctor during a mechanoid siege. It’s a perfect storm of emergent storytelling and sandbox chaos, where every character has a backstory, every death is *somehow* your fault, and every plan goes gloriously wrong. It’s like Dwarf Fortress, but with graphics and even darker comedy. You won’t stop playing – you’ll just “pause” for five hours. | © Ludeon Studios

Cropped Kenshi — Kenshi (2018)

*Kenshi (2018)* is what happens when Mad Max meets Morrowind and throws in some post-apocalyptic existential dread for good measure. You start off weak – like, "die to a hungry goat" weak – and claw your way up to becoming a one-legged warlord with a squad of cyberninjas and a pet bone dog named Steve. It's an open-world sandbox with no hand-holding and no shame about kicking you in the teeth. But that freedom? Oh, it’s delicious. Build cities, steal from tech cults, or become a limbless monk-philosopher wandering the desert. This is the RPG for people who think tutorials are for cowards. | © Lo-Fi Games

Cropped Oxygen Not Included — Oxygen Not Included (2019)

*Oxygen Not Included (2019)* is a space-colony builder disguised as a casual cartoon – until your pipes explode, everyone's starving, and your only toilet becomes sentient. It’s a scientific sandbox where managing airflow feels like performing heart surgery on a hamster wheel. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll obsess over carbon dioxide pockets like a true gas-hoarding maniac. Dig, build, research, panic. Then realize your water supply is 87% polluted pee. Behind the cheery art is a hardcore survival sim of thermodynamics, plumbing, and slow emotional breakdowns. Bonus points if nobody dies of suffocation by cycle 20. | © Klei Entertainment

Cropped Factorio — Factorio (2020)

*Factorio (2020)* is what happens when your need for order becomes a game – and then an addiction. You crash-land on a planet and immediately decide to *optimize everything*, even if it means exterminating every native lifeform with walls and lasers. You’ll start with a coal burner and end with a fully automated spaghetti-factory of dreams. This is the kind of game where 10 hours fly by and you’re justifying conveyor belt loops to yourself like an evil genius. And if you touch mods? Oh no. You’ll never escape. This isn't just a game – it's industrial therapy with a side of alien genocide. | © Wube Software

Cropped Amazing Cultivation Simulator — Amazing Cultivation Simulator (2020)

*Amazing Cultivation Simulator (2020)* is a mystical, absurd, and gloriously dense management sim rooted in Taoist fantasy. Think: ancient China meets magical realism meets spreadsheets. You guide disciples through their spiritual journey, build a sect, and strive for immortality while dealing with cosmic karma, feng shui, demonic invasions, and the occasional poorly-timed qi imbalance. It's equal parts zen gardening and occult HR management. Nothing is simple, everything is weird, and somehow, it all *clicks*. If you’ve ever wanted to micromanage your way to enlightenment (and maybe explode someone with internal energy), this one’s for you. | © GSQ Games / Gamera Game

Cropped Noita — Noita (2020)

*Noita (2020)* is a physics-based roguelike where every pixel is simulated – and every death is 100% your fault. You’re a wizard in a destructible world where crafting the *perfect* spell is an artform, and blowing yourself up with it 10 seconds later is a rite of passage. It’s like if Minecraft and Dark Souls had a baby who inherited their chaos gene. One second you’re melting monsters with acid rain; the next you’ve turned yourself into a teleporting sheep. Expect glorious failure, baffling experiments, and endless “wait, what just happened?” moments. Welcome to wizard hell. It’s amazing. | © Nolla Games

Cropped Crusader Kings 3 — Crusader Kings III (2020)

*Crusader Kings III (2020)* isn’t a strategy game – it’s a medieval soap opera in disguise. Sure, you can manage kingdoms, raise armies, and form alliances… but you’re *really* here to seduce your cousin, imprison your brother, and plot your mother’s demise so your illegitimate heir can rise to power. It’s grand strategy with a heavy dose of telenovela drama, sprinkled with spreadsheets and a dash of divine judgment. No playthrough goes according to plan – and that’s the point. Your dynasty might crumble in scandal, but the stories you get? Pure gold. History class could never. | © Paradox Interactive

Cropped Microsoft Flight Simulator — Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)

*Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)* is what happens when someone says, “What if we recreated *the entire planet* in a game?” and nobody told them to stop. It’s breathtaking, educational, and the closest you’ll get to flying a 747 without needing a license (or a co-pilot who constantly asks for snacks). From storm-chasing to landing on remote dirt strips in Papua New Guinea, this sim offers meditative vibes one minute and white-knuckle landings the next. It’s also a time sink so deep, you may forget what walking feels like. Taxi to runway? More like taxi to time loss. | © Xbox Game Studios / Asobo Studio

Cropped Terra Invicta — Terra Invicta (2022)

*Terra Invicta (2022)* is the game for those who looked at *XCOM* and said, “Nice, but what if we controlled *every government on Earth* instead?” You’re leading a global organization responding to alien contact – but it’s less about shooting bugs and more about espionage, influence, and orbital chess. It’s political intrigue meets hard sci-fi, wrapped in a strategy sim so dense you might need a spreadsheet to track your factions. Want to form a united Earth defense? Or sell us out to our new alien overlords? The choice is yours. Just beware: it’ll eat your free time like it’s probing your soul. | © Pavonis Interactive / Hooded Horse

Cropped Workers Resources Soviet Republic — Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic (2024)

*Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic (2024)* is what happens when someone took SimCity, added full-blown logistics, then said, “Now do it in Eastern Europe, comrade.” It’s a brutalist ballet of planning, where every truck, train, and ton of gravel must be accounted for. Want a new factory? Better connect it to power, roads, workers, and – don’t forget – a vodka supply. The learning curve is steep, but when your republic hums along with efficient, glorious industry, the satisfaction is *real*. There’s no magic money here. Just concrete, sweat, and five-year plans. | © 3Division

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If you're a gamer who craves challenge, depth, and mastery, this list is for you. From intricate mechanics to steep learning curves, these 20 video games are known for offering the most complex gameplay experiences in the industry. Whether it's managing sprawling empires, surviving harsh environments, or mastering intricate combat systems, these titles push players to think critically, adapt constantly, and stay fully engaged.

In this guide, we’ll explore the most complex video games ever made – perfect for those who want more than just button-mashing or casual play. If you're looking for games that reward patience, planning, and perseverance, keep reading – this is where things get intense.