head to head

Dark Arcana: The Carnival cover artvsThe Dig cover art

Dark Arcana: The CarnivalvsThe Dig

Dark Arcana: The Carnival leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); The Dig leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION5 /10
Dark Arcana: The CarnivalThe Dig

Axis by axis

Execution1 vs 0

Dark Arcana: The Carnival leans harder on execution: Clicking hidden objects needs no dexterity

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 3

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization5 vs 6

The Dig leans harder on optimization: Machine puzzles have single fixed solutions to deduce.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Dark Arcana: The Carnival

full breakdown

The Dig