Building comparison
head to head
Cataclysm: Dark Days AheadvsFTL: Faster Than Light
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Optimization · Systems & Chaos
An enormous open-world survival roguelike simulating everything from crafting to vehicle building after the apocalypse.
FTL: Faster Than Light
Optimization · Systems & Chaos
Spaceship roguelike of crew management and desperate sector hops.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); FTL: Faster Than Light leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
Cataclysm: Dark Days AheadFTL: Faster Than Light
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 2
FTL: Faster Than Light leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Turn-based; only patience required
FTL: Faster Than Light
Pause-and-play tactics, no input precision.
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Zombies and factions follow mappable behaviour
FTL: Faster Than Light
Scripted enemy ship AI.
Variance7 vs 7
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Procedural world and scavenging luck shape early survival
FTL: Faster Than Light
Sector events and shop rolls drive runs.
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Crafting, vehicles, and base systems reward near-endless mastery
FTL: Faster Than Light
Power management and ship builds are deeply solvable.
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.