head to head

A Short Hike cover artvsThe Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux cover art

A Short HikevsThe Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux

A Short Hike leans Optimization (Light / Casual); The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux leans Optimization (Light / Casual).

EXECUTION2 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION3 /10
A Short HikeThe Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux

Axis by axis

Execution2 vs 1

A Short Hike leans harder on execution: Gliding and climbing are gentle.

Reads0 vs 1

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux leans harder on reads: no adversarial opponent, narrative mystery

Variance1 vs 1

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization3 vs 3

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

A Short Hike

full breakdown

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux