head to head

Bad North cover artvsBeholder cover art

Bad NorthvsBeholder

Bad North leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); Beholder leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION2 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION7 /10
Bad NorthBeholder

Axis by axis

Execution2 vs 1

Bad North leans harder on execution: Real-time orders need only light micro.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance5 vs 4

Bad North leans harder on variance: Procedural islands and enemy compositions.

Optimization7 vs 7

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.

full breakdown

Bad North

full breakdown

Beholder