head to head

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura cover artvsMonster Rancher 2 cover art

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuravsMonster Rancher 2

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Monster Rancher 2 leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).

EXECUTION2 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraMonster Rancher 2

Axis by axis

Execution2 vs 2

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance5 vs 6

Monster Rancher 2 leans harder on variance: CD-generated monsters and hidden stats define the discovery game.

Optimization9 vs 8

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura leans harder on optimization: Magic versus technology stat split and schematic discovery are deeply optimizable

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

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

full breakdown

Monster Rancher 2