head to head
Neither is harder. They score identically on all four axes, so the difference between them is in kind, not degree.

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

Optimization · Pure Optimization
Cross-referencing hidden clues into deductions about a fixed murder mystery.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Tangle Tower leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Trivial inputs.
Tangle Tower
Pointing and clicking, nothing physical
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.
Tangle Tower
Suspects are written characters, not adaptive minds
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.
Tangle Tower
The murder's facts are hidden until clues surface
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Turnips, layout, and time-routing reward planning.
Tangle Tower
Cross-referencing clues into deductions is the test
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.