Building comparison
head to head
BanishedvsFrostpunk
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Banished
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Harsh village-builder; balance population, food, and winter.
Frostpunk
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A survival city builder driven by harsh resource and law optimization.
Banished leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Frostpunk leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
BanishedFrostpunk
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 0
Banished leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Banished
no mechanical layer
Frostpunk
Pausable strategy with no input precision.
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Banished
no opponent
Frostpunk
No adaptive opponent in the survival city.
Variance3 vs 3
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Banished
weather, disease events
Frostpunk
Scenario events and weather pulses add tension.
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Banished
population ratios and food planning
Frostpunk
Resource routing, laws, and heat are solvable.
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.