head to head

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura cover artvsPathfinder: Kingmaker cover art

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuravsPathfinder: Kingmaker

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Pathfinder: Kingmaker leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION2 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraPathfinder: Kingmaker

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 5

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization9 vs 10

Pathfinder: Kingmaker leans harder on optimization: Pathfinder feat chains and kingdom management routing have known optimal solutions

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

Pathfinder: Kingmaker