Building comparison
head to head
Fallout SheltervsPlague Inc.
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
Fallout Shelter
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A vault management sim about optimising dwellers, rooms, and resource loops.
Plague Inc.
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Strategy sim about evolving a pathogen to outpace the world's cure effort.
Fallout Shelter leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Plague Inc. leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Fallout ShelterPlague Inc.
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 0
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Fallout Shelter
Tapping menus only
Plague Inc.
Tapping menus only
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Fallout Shelter
No opponent
Plague Inc.
World response is algorithmic, not adaptive to you
Variance4 vs 3
Fallout Shelter leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Fallout Shelter
Incident spawns and lunchbox loot rolls
Plague Inc.
Spread events and cure pace fluctuate
Optimization7 vs 8
Plague Inc. leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Fallout Shelter
Dweller stats and room layout are fully solvable
Plague Inc.
Evolution-point timing strategies are largely solved
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.