head to head
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Axiom Verge demands more optimization; Grand Theft Auto V demands more reads.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
A glitch-themed metroidvania built on exploration routing and pattern bosses.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Sandbox crime playground spanning shooting, driving, and a persistent online economy.
Axiom Verge leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Grand Theft Auto V leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Axiom Verge leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Axiom Verge
Boss dodging and platforming reward precision.
Grand Theft Auto V
Driving and shooting demand decent inputs.
Grand Theft Auto V leans clearly harder on reads.
Axiom Verge
No adaptive opposition.
Grand Theft Auto V
Online PvP exists but mostly gear/positioning, not modeling.
Grand Theft Auto V leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Axiom Verge
World fixed and explorable.
Grand Theft Auto V
Some mission and lobby randomness.
Axiom Verge leans clearly harder on optimization.
Axiom Verge
Item routing and sequence breaks deeply learnable.
Grand Theft Auto V
Heists, money loops, builds learnable.
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.