Building comparison
head to head
Armadillo RunvsOuter Wilds
Neither is harder. They score identically on all four axes, so the difference between them is in kind, not degree.
Armadillo Run
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A physics construction puzzler about building cost-efficient structures to guide an armadillo.
Outer Wilds
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A knowledge-based mystery solved by mapping a deterministic solar system.
Armadillo Run leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Outer Wilds leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Armadillo RunOuter Wilds
Axis by axis
Execution2 vs 2
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Armadillo Run
Building structures has no twitch requirement
Outer Wilds
Light piloting, mostly forgiving
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Armadillo Run
No opponent; pure physics sandbox
Outer Wilds
World is fixed; nothing adapts to you
Variance1 vs 1
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Armadillo Run
Physics is deterministic once a structure is built
Outer Wilds
Loop is deterministic once understood
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Armadillo Run
Designing efficient physics structures within budget is the whole game
Outer Wilds
Pure knowledge puzzle - solve the system
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.