Building comparison
head to head
Fallout: New VegasvsRusty Lake: Roots
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Fallout: New Vegas demands more execution; Rusty Lake: Roots demands more variance.
Fallout: New Vegas
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A faction-driven RPG-shooter where build and route planning shape every ending.
Rusty Lake: Roots
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A surreal point-and-click puzzle game tracing a family's dark history across generations.
Fallout: New Vegas leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Rusty Lake: Roots leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Fallout: New VegasRusty Lake: Roots
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 1
Fallout: New Vegas leans clearly harder on execution.
Fallout: New Vegas
Shooter inputs with VATS assist
Rusty Lake: Roots
Clicking hotspots; occasional timing, nothing demanding.
Reads1 vs 0
Fallout: New Vegas leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Fallout: New Vegas
Scripted factions and enemies
Rusty Lake: Roots
Scripted surreal events, never adaptive.
Variance2 vs 4
Rusty Lake: Roots leans clearly harder on variance.
Fallout: New Vegas
Some loot and crit RNG
Rusty Lake: Roots
Obtuse hidden logic is unknown until discovered; fully convergent.
Optimization8 vs 8
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Fallout: New Vegas
Faction routing, perks, builds heavily rewarded
Rusty Lake: Roots
Cracking fixed item-and-clue chains drives every scene.
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.