head to head
vs
Day of the TentaclevsSam & Max: Hit the Road
Day of the Tentacle leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Sam & Max: Hit the Road leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Day of the TentacleSam & Max: Hit the Road
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 1
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance1 vs 2
Sam & Max: Hit the Road leans harder on variance: Carnival mini-games add slight randomness but are trivial
Optimization9 vs 8
Day of the Tentacle leans harder on optimization: Cross-era cause-and-effect chains form a tightly solvable logic puzzle
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.