head to head

Dead Island cover artvsZombiU cover art

Dead IslandvsZombiU

Dead Island leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); ZombiU leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).

EXECUTION5 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10
Dead IslandZombiU

Axis by axis

Execution5 vs 5

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 4

ZombiU leans harder on variance: Permadeath runs face unknown spawn placements

Optimization6 vs 6

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

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

Dead Island

full breakdown

ZombiU