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.

Optimization · Pure Optimization
A cozy island life-sim about building a community at your pace.

Optimization · Systems & Chaos
A survival adventure about a mother fox protecting cubs through ecological collapse.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Endling: Extinction is Forever leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
Endling: Extinction is Forever leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Trivial inputs.
Endling: Extinction is Forever
Light stealth and chase inputs
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
NPCs are scripted.
Endling: Extinction is Forever
Human hunters follow scripted routines
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Daily visitors and fossils randomize.
Endling: Extinction is Forever
Food and danger spots shift night to night
Animal Crossing: New Horizons leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Turnips, layout, and time-routing reward planning.
Endling: Extinction is Forever
Territory routing and cub care are plannable
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.