head to head
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.

Variance · Light / Casual
A relaxing hidden-object game finding 100 cats in alien scenes.

Optimization · Light / Casual
A gentle daily-life village sim about decorating, collecting, and chatting with animal neighbors.
100 Aliens Cats leans Variance (Light / Casual); Animal Crossing: New Leaf leans Optimization (Light / Casual).
100 Aliens Cats leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
100 Aliens Cats
Pointing and clicking needs no dexterity
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
No dexterity demands beyond menu navigation
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
100 Aliens Cats
Solo hidden-object game with no opponent
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
No opponents at all
100 Aliens Cats leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
100 Aliens Cats
Cat positions are hidden until found
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Daily RNG visitors, fossils, turnip prices
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
100 Aliens Cats
Methodical searching speeds completion
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Turnip market and town planning lightly reward optimizing
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.