Building comparison
head to head
BanishedvsSurviving Mars
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
Banished
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Harsh village-builder; balance population, food, and winter.
Surviving Mars
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Colonize Mars by stacking dome layouts and supply chains.
Banished leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Surviving Mars leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
BanishedSurviving Mars
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 1
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Banished
no mechanical layer
Surviving Mars
pausable, no reflex
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
Surviving Mars
no adversary
Variance3 vs 4
Surviving Mars leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Banished
weather, disease events
Surviving Mars
disasters, sponsor traits
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
Surviving Mars
dome layouts and supply chains
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.