head to head

Day of the Tentacle cover artvsThe Secret of Monkey Island cover art

Day of the TentaclevsThe Secret of Monkey Island

Day of the Tentacle leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Secret of Monkey Island leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10
Day of the TentacleThe Secret of Monkey Island

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

The Secret of Monkey Island leans harder on variance: Some hidden items require exploration but solutions are invariant

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.

full breakdown

Day of the Tentacle

full breakdown

The Secret of Monkey Island