Building comparison
head to head
Bad NorthvsDistrust
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
Bad North
Optimization · Systems & Chaos
A minimalist real-time tactics roguelite about defending tiny procedural islands.
Distrust
Optimization · Systems & Chaos
A survival puzzle of rationing resources while mapping randomised anomaly rules.
Bad North leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); Distrust leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
Bad NorthDistrust
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.
Bad North
Real-time orders need only light micro.
Distrust
Isometric clicking under time pressure, never twitch demands
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Bad North
Viking waves random, not adaptive.
Distrust
Anomalies follow random rules, not adaptive minds
Variance5 vs 6
Distrust leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Bad North
Procedural islands and enemy compositions.
Distrust
Procedural stations, hidden anomaly rules and sanity warps dominate
Optimization7 vs 7
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Bad North
Unit positioning and upgrade choices solvable.
Distrust
Resource triage and sleep management are solvable systems
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.