The Easiest Games Ever Made, Ranked by Player Votes
Last updated: October 2026
Based on difficulty ratings submitted by real players on How Difficult Is It?. Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Animal Crossing lead the current rankings. Updated monthly. Every score is genuine, every vote counts.
The easiest games ever made share one trait: they have no interest in stopping you. Stardew Valley takes the top spot at 2.04/10, and the games around it are built the same way. They reward showing up. This is the other end of the hardest games ever made, drawn from the same catalogue under the same rules.
Nothing Here Can Kill You
4 Animal Crossing games sit in the top 25, and not one of them has a way to lose. The worst thing that happens when you neglect your town is weeds. Stardew Valley adds combat and a calendar, then softens both until passing out in a mine costs you a few items and nothing else. Players rate these games low because the only pressure in them is the pressure you bring.
Pokémon Owns the Middle of the List
13 of the 25 entries are Pokémon games, spanning every generation from Gold and Silver to Scarlet. The formula explains it. Any fight can be won by grinding in tall grass, and the modern games share experience across your whole party by default. Pokémon Shield is the lowest-rated mainline entry, with the Exp. Share locked on and raid rewards that hand out levels in bulk.
Mario Made It Too
Platformers rarely land on an easiest list, but 3D Mario is the exception. Super Mario Odyssey charges ten coins for a death and needs a fraction of its Power Moons to roll credits. Super Mario Galaxy is just as generous with health and checkpoints. Both hide their hardest content in the post-game, and most raters scored the journey to the ending, not the optional gauntlets after it.
The Odd Ones Out
Watch Paint Dry is exactly what it sounds like, and it works as a floor for everything else. Roblox is a platform averaged across millions of user-made experiences, most of them social hangouts. One game was removed by hand. Ninja Gaiden III, among the hardest games on the NES, had collected a handful of very low votes that do not reflect the game, and it is held out until its sample says otherwise.
Full Rankings: Top 25 Easiest Games
- 1
Stardew Valley
There is no fail state worth the name. Pass out at 2am and you lose a little gold; get knocked out in the mines and you drop a few items. The real difficulty is a calendar that is too short for everything you want to do, and the game forgives you for that too, because next spring always arrives.
- 2
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
You are the mayor, which mostly means you decide where the benches go. Nothing in New Leaf can hurt you except a wasp sting, and the worst consequence of ignoring the game for a month is some weeds and a few villagers asking where you have been.
- 3
Animal Crossing
The GameCube original set the template: a town that runs on the real-time clock, a debt with no deadline, and neighbours who are happy to see you. Mr. Resetti yelling at you for not saving is the closest thing it has to a punishment.
- 4
Cookie Clicker
Click the cookie. Buy a grandma. Click again. The game plays itself the moment you stop paying attention, and leaving the tab open overnight is a legitimate strategy. Ascension and the late-game minigames add depth, but nothing here ever asks for skill.
- 5
Animal Crossing: Wild World
The DS entry put the town in your pocket and changed almost nothing else. Fish, dig up fossils, pay off Tom Nook at whatever pace you like. The stylus controls are the only mechanical demand, and they are gentle.
- 6
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Wild World with a bus to the city added. City Folk is the most conservative sequel the series ever shipped, and it inherits the series' complete lack of pressure along with everything else.
- 7
Pokémon Snap
An on-rails photography game where the track moves for you and the Pokémon perform on cue. Professor Oak grades your pictures, and a bad grade just means another lap. Finding every hidden pose takes curiosity rather than reflexes.
- 8
Pokémon Stadium
Rental teams, a battle system built for children, and minigames that last thirty seconds each. The Round 2 cup and the Gym Leader Castle can bite if you bring weak rentals, but transferring your own team from Red or Blue flattens most of it.
- 9
A Short Hike
A small island, a mountain to climb, and a golden feather system that lets you glide almost anywhere once you have collected a few. Falling costs you nothing but the walk back, and most players see the summit in about an hour and a half.
- 10
Pokémon Shield
Experience Share is permanently on, Max Raid rewards rain candy on you, and the gym leaders field teams you outlevel without trying. Sword and Shield are routinely singled out as the series at its least challenging, and the ratings agree.
- 11
Watch Paint Dry
The game is in the title. You watch paint dry. Players rated its difficulty, and the results are as low as you would hope, which makes it a useful reference point for everything else on this list.
- 12
Pokémon X
X and Y hand you a Kanto starter halfway through the first act, a Lucario right after the third gym, and a Mega Evolution system that makes your strongest Pokémon stronger still. The Exp. Share pushes your whole party past every gym leader by default.
- 13
Roblox
A platform rather than a game, so its score is an average across millions of user-made experiences. Most of them are social hangouts and tycoon games built for younger players. The obbies are the exception, and they are not enough to drag the number up.
- 14
Pokémon Scarlet
The open world lets you tackle gyms in any order, and the gyms do not scale to your level. Wander the wrong way first and the next fight is trivial. Ride Koraidon past anything you do not want to deal with.
- 15
Super Mario Odyssey
Losing a life costs ten coins and nothing else. Odyssey hands out Power Moons for nearly anything, needs only a fraction of them to reach the credits, and saves the real challenge for optional post-game content that most of its ratings clearly did not count.
- 16
Pokémon Sapphire Version
The Hoenn games are a step up from Kanto in team-building options, but the main story remains a stroll for anyone with a type chart in their head. Wallace and his Milotic are the one wall that catches out players who coasted on a single starter.
- 17
Sayonara Wild Hearts
A rhythm game album you play in about an hour. Fail a section a few times and the game offers to skip it for you, no penalty attached. Chasing gold ranks is optional, and the music carries you through everything else.
- 18
Pokémon Sword
The same Galar region as Shield with different version exclusives and the same lack of resistance. Leon is the one battle that demands a bit of planning, and by then your team is usually far enough ahead that it does not matter.
- 19
Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!
Wild battles are replaced by Pokémon Go-style catching, which hands out experience to your whole team every time you throw a ball. Kanto's gym leaders never stood a chance against a party that levels this fast.
- 20
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!
Identical to Let's Go, Eevee! in every way that matters for difficulty. Catch combos boost your odds of rare and strong Pokémon, and the catch-based experience system keeps the whole party ahead of the curve.
- 21
Pokémon Gold Version
Johto's level curve is flat in the middle and Kanto arrives as a second region with trainers who never caught up. The famous difficulty spike is Whitney's Miltank, and it is a speed bump compared to anything outside this list.
- 22
Super Mario Galaxy
Galaxy is generous with health, generous with checkpoints, and adds a second player who can stun enemies with the Wii pointer. Purple Coin challenges and the Luigi run are where it pushes back, but the main route to the credits is gentle.
- 23
Pokémon Ruby Version
The other half of the Hoenn pair, with Groudon on the cover and Team Magma as the villains. The difficulty is the same, which is to say a type-advantage puzzle most players solve on autopilot.
- 24
Pokémon Silver Version
Gold's twin, with Lugia on the cover. Same two regions, same flat level curve, same Miltank. The final battle against Red on Mt. Silver is the series' first real optional superboss, and most of its players never went up to find him.
- 25
Pokémon Go
Flick a ball at the screen. Gym battles are tap-to-attack, and raids are designed for groups of strangers to clear together. The only demanding thing about Pokémon Go is how far it wants you to walk.
How This List Is Built
Every game on this list was rated by real players on How Difficult Is It?. The order matches the easiest-first view of the rankings page: each game's ratings are blended with five neutral 5/10 votes, so a game with a handful of 1/10 scores cannot top the list on a thin sample. That is why a game with a lower average can sit below one with more votes. This list is a monthly snapshot.
- Source: Player-submitted difficulty ratings on How Difficult Is It?
- Minimum ratings: At least 5 player ratings required to appear
- Sort method: Weighted difficulty score, lowest first. Rating count breaks ties.
- Exclusions: Disqualified or flagged ratings are removed. Fan games, romhacks, and mods are excluded, as is Ninja Gaiden III while its low votes look unreliable.
- Update frequency: Monthly snapshot
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest game according to player ratings?
As of October 2026, Stardew Valley is ranked the easiest game with an average difficulty score of 2.04/10 based on 25 player ratings on How Difficult Is It?.
How is this ranking calculated?
Games are ranked by a weighted difficulty score, the same one the live rankings page uses. Each game's player ratings are blended with five neutral 5/10 votes, so a game with only a handful of very low ratings cannot jump to the top on a thin sample. Only games with at least 5 ratings are included, and disqualified or spam ratings are excluded. The score shown next to each game is its plain average.
Why are there so many Pokémon games on this list?
As of October 2026, 13 of the 25 easiest games are mainline or spin-off Pokémon titles. The series is built for young players, levels your whole team at once in most modern entries, and lets you overlevel any fight by spending a little time in tall grass.
Is Animal Crossing the easiest game series?
By average score, it is the strongest candidate. As of October 2026, 4 Animal Crossing games rank among the 25 easiest, and none of them has a way to lose.
Are fan games and romhacks included?
No. This list covers commercially released games only, matching the hardest games ranking. Fan games, romhacks, and mods are excluded from both.
Can I add my own difficulty rating?
Yes. Create a free account on How Difficult Is It? and rate any game you have played. Your rating is included in the community average and updates the live rankings within the hour.
