head to head
vs
Astalon: Tears of the EarthvsHollow Knight
Astalon: Tears of the Earth leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Hollow Knight leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Astalon: Tears of the EarthHollow Knight
Axis by axis
Execution7 vs 8
Hollow Knight leans harder on execution: Precise platforming and pogo timing dominate hard content.
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance2 vs 1
Astalon: Tears of the Earth leans harder on variance: Unknown tower layout on first ascent
Optimization6 vs 6
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.