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

Variance · Light / Casual
A narrative thriller testing whether you can untangle scripted unreliable memories.

Optimization · Light / Casual
A gorgeous first-person mystery about piecing together a boy's disappearance.
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo leans Variance (Light / Casual); The Vanishing of Ethan Carter leans Optimization (Light / Casual).
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo
Light interaction in a narrative framework
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Walking and looking, nothing more
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo
Characters follow a script, not your behaviour
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
No opponent
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo
Unreliable memories hide the true sequence of events
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
The mystery is hidden only until discovered
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo
Cross-checking timelines is a fixed solvable puzzle
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Reconstructing event sequences is light deduction
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.