head to head

Empire: Total War cover artvsWar for the Overworld cover art

Empire: Total WarvsWar for the Overworld

Empire: Total War leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); War for the Overworld leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION2 /10READS3 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
Empire: Total WarWar for the Overworld

Axis by axis

Execution2 vs 2

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads3 vs 3

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 2

Empire: Total War leans harder on variance: Campaign AI and battle dice noise

Optimization8 vs 8

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

Empire: Total War

full breakdown

War for the Overworld