Building comparison
head to head
Castlevania III: Dracula's CursevsDOOM (2016)
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Execution · Pure Mechanics
The hardest NES Castlevania, with branching routes and switchable partner characters.
DOOM (2016)
Execution · Pure Mechanics
Push-forward arena FPS where movement and aim are the whole game.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); DOOM (2016) leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Castlevania III: Dracula's CurseDOOM (2016)
Axis by axis
Execution9 vs 8
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Brutal platforming and tight whip timing throughout
DOOM (2016)
Aim, movement, glory-kill timing all peak.
Reads0 vs 1
DOOM (2016) leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Scripted enemies and bosses only
DOOM (2016)
Demons scripted attack patterns.
Variance1 vs 1
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Minor enemy spawn wobble
DOOM (2016)
Minimal encounter randomness.
Optimization6 vs 5
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Partner choice, route branching, pattern memory
DOOM (2016)
Rune and weapon mod picks meaningful.
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.