head to head

Baldur's Gate cover artvsSerious Sam: The Random Encounter cover art

Baldur's GatevsSerious Sam: The Random Encounter

Baldur's Gate leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Serious Sam: The Random Encounter leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION2 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
Baldur's GateSerious Sam: The Random Encounter

Axis by axis

Execution2 vs 2

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance5 vs 4

Baldur's Gate leans harder on variance: AD&D dice rolls throughout.

Optimization8 vs 7

Baldur's Gate leans harder on optimization: Party builds and encounter prep solvable.

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

Baldur's Gate

full breakdown

Serious Sam: The Random Encounter