head to head
Neither is harder. They score identically on all four axes, so the difference between them is in kind, not degree.

Optimization · Pure Optimization
A compulsive grind-and-automate sandbox where optimizing the resource loop is the whole game.

Optimization · Pure Optimization
Gentleman puzzler solves a village full of standalone brainteasers.
Forager leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Professor Layton and the Curious Village leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
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
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Stylus taps only; no dexterity pressure at all
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Forager
No opponents
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
No opponent, adaptive or otherwise
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
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Puzzle answers are hidden until reasoned out, then fixed
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
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Every brainteaser has one clean solvable answer
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.