Building comparison
head to head
Bad NorthvsState of Decay 2
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Bad North
Optimization · Systems & Chaos
A minimalist real-time tactics roguelite about defending tiny procedural islands.
State of Decay 2
Optimization · Systems & Chaos
Managing a survivor community's economy and risk under permadeath randomness.
Bad North leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); State of Decay 2 leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
Bad NorthState of Decay 2
Axis by axis
Execution2 vs 3
State of Decay 2 leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Bad North
Real-time orders need only light micro.
State of Decay 2
Combat is forgiving; stealth and swings need modest timing
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.
State of Decay 2
Zombies and hostile NPCs follow randomised scripts
Variance5 vs 5
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Bad North
Procedural islands and enemy compositions.
State of Decay 2
Permadeath, infestations and survivor traits randomise each community
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.
State of Decay 2
Base building, resource routing and survivor management drive survival
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.