Building comparison
head to head
Escape from Monkey IslandvsPortal
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Escape from Monkey Island demands more variance; Portal demands more execution.
Escape from Monkey Island
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A comedic point-and-click adventure of pirate puzzles with fixed solutions.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
Escape from Monkey Island leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Escape from Monkey IslandPortal
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 4
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Escape from Monkey Island
Pointing and walking only
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Escape from Monkey Island
No opponent
Portal
No adversary modeling player.
Variance2 vs 0
Escape from Monkey Island leans clearly harder on variance.
Escape from Monkey Island
Puzzle solutions hidden until discovered
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Optimization6 vs 8
Portal leans clearly harder on optimization.
Escape from Monkey Island
Once known, every puzzle has one fixed answer
Portal
Pure puzzle-solving optimization.
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.