Building comparison
head to head
ForagervsPotion Craft
Neither is harder. They score identically on all four axes, so the difference between them is in kind, not degree.
Forager
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A compulsive grind-and-automate sandbox where optimizing the resource loop is the whole game.
Potion Craft
Optimization · Pure Optimization
An alchemy sim where mapping the potion-crafting system is the entire game.
Forager leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Potion Craft leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
ForagerPotion Craft
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 1
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Forager
Click-and-walk inputs, no dexterity ceiling
Potion Craft
no reflex skill, mostly menu-based crafting
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Forager
No opponents
Potion Craft
customers aren't adaptive opponents
Variance2 vs 2
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Forager
Minor drop randomness, quickly irrelevant
Potion Craft
ingredient rolls add some unpredictability
Optimization8 vs 8
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Forager
Pure economy loop: automate, expand, compound
Potion Craft
potion-map navigation is a solvable system
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.