head to head
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians demands more execution; Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas demands more optimization.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Navigating hand-painted levels in rhythm with fixed musical hazard patterns.

Optimization · Practiced Mastery
A sprawling open-world crime epic with RPG-style character stats across a whole state.
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians leans clearly harder on execution.
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians
Moving and dodging on the beat carries every section
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Flying school and drive-bys need decent hands
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians
Hazards pulse to fixed musical patterns
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Gang AI is scripted, never adaptive
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians
Levels and rhythms are fully deterministic
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Territory wars and traffic add light randomness
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas leans clearly harder on optimization.
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians
Puzzle rooms and route memory add a light systems layer
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Stats, gym, weapon skill, and routes reward systematic play
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.