Building comparison
head to head
Castlevania II: Simon's QuestvsMoonlighter
Neither is harder. They score identically on all four axes, so the difference between them is in kind, not degree.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Optimization · Pure Optimization
An infamously cryptic NES adventure where lying villagers obscure how to break Dracula's curse.
Moonlighter
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Roguelite about raiding dungeons by night and pricing the loot in your shop by day.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Moonlighter leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Castlevania II: Simon's QuestMoonlighter
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 4
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Modest whip combat; day-night enemies.
Moonlighter
Dodge-heavy dungeon combat
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
No adaptive opposition.
Moonlighter
Enemies are scripted patterns
Variance4 vs 4
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Deliberately false villager clues hide the real path.
Moonlighter
Random dungeon layouts and loot rolls
Optimization7 vs 7
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Once decoded, it is pure item-and-route knowledge.
Moonlighter
Price discovery and shop economy are the real 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.