Building comparison
head to head
BoxBoxBoy!vsOuter Wilds
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
BoxBoxBoy!
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A minimalist puzzle platformer about deducing box-chain solutions.
Outer Wilds
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A knowledge-based mystery solved by mapping a deterministic solar system.
BoxBoxBoy! leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Outer Wilds leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
BoxBoxBoy!Outer Wilds
Axis by axis
Execution2 vs 2
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
BoxBoxBoy!
Box creation and movement need no precision
Outer Wilds
Light piloting, mostly forgiving
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
BoxBoxBoy!
Solo puzzle game with no opponent
Outer Wilds
World is fixed; nothing adapts to you
Variance0 vs 1
Outer Wilds leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
BoxBoxBoy!
Puzzles fully deterministic, nothing random
Outer Wilds
Loop is deterministic once understood
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
BoxBoxBoy!
Deducing box-chain shapes to clear obstacles is the game
Outer Wilds
Pure knowledge puzzle - solve the system
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.