Building comparison
head to head
Black & White 2vsPortal 2
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Black & White 2 demands more variance; Portal 2 demands more optimization.
Black & White 2
Optimization · Pure Optimization
God game blending city building, creature training and conquering by awe or force.
Portal 2
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A first-person puzzle game where seeing the solution is the whole skill.
Black & White 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Black & White 2Portal 2
Axis by axis
Execution2 vs 3
Portal 2 leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Black & White 2
Gesture casting and creature handling need mild dexterity.
Portal 2
Portal placement requires some precision but timing is lenient.
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Black & White 2
Creature learning is trainable, not adversarially adaptive.
Portal 2
No opponent; puzzles are static.
Variance2 vs 0
Black & White 2 leans clearly harder on variance.
Black & White 2
Creature behaviour quirks add some unpredictability.
Portal 2
Puzzles are deterministic with no randomness.
Optimization7 vs 9
Portal 2 leans clearly harder on optimization.
Black & White 2
City impressiveness versus army economy is the solvable choice.
Portal 2
Solving the puzzle's logic 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.