Building comparison
head to head
BanishedvsGemCraft
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.
GemCraft
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A tower defense game about engineering optimal gem combinations against scripted waves.
Banished leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); GemCraft leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
BanishedGemCraft
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 2
GemCraft leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Banished
no mechanical layer
GemCraft
Placing gems and towers has no twitch demand
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
GemCraft
Monster waves are scripted, never adapting to player
Variance3 vs 2
Banished leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Banished
weather, disease events
GemCraft
Wave composition is fixed once a level is known
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
GemCraft
Combining gems for optimal tower output is the entire game
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.