head to head
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.

Variance · Systems & Chaos
Calm tile-laying puzzle balancing draws against placement.

Optimization · Systems & Chaos
Planning movement and resource routes across randomised wilderness weather against condition decay.
Dorfromantik leans Variance (Systems & Chaos); The Long Dark leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
The Long Dark leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Dorfromantik
no twitch
The Long Dark
Rifle aim and wolf struggles need minimal twitch
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Dorfromantik
no adversary
The Long Dark
Wildlife behaves via scripted threat logic, not player modelling
Dorfromantik leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Dorfromantik
hand of tiles drawn
The Long Dark
Blizzard timing, condition decay, and loot spawns are heavily random
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Dorfromantik
placement to maximize quest tiles
The Long Dark
Route planning, calorie budgeting, and item condition management are solvable
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.