Building comparison
head to head
CSI: Deadly IntentvsPortal
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. CSI: Deadly Intent demands more variance; Portal demands more execution.
CSI: Deadly Intent
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A forensic point-and-click about collecting evidence and matching it to scripted suspects.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
CSI: Deadly Intent leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
CSI: Deadly IntentPortal
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 4
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
CSI: Deadly Intent
Pointing and clicking, no twitch demand
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
Reads1 vs 0
CSI: Deadly Intent leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
CSI: Deadly Intent
Suspects give scripted responses, not adapting
Portal
No adversary modeling player.
Variance2 vs 0
CSI: Deadly Intent leans clearly harder on variance.
CSI: Deadly Intent
Evidence locations unknown until scenes are searched
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Optimization7 vs 8
Portal leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
CSI: Deadly Intent
Collecting and matching evidence to suspects solves cases
Portal
Pure puzzle-solving optimization.
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.