Building comparison
head to head
God of War IIIvsSuper Mario Odyssey
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
God of War III
Execution · Pure Mechanics
Spectacle hack-and-slash where reflexes and combo flow drive every fight.
Super Mario Odyssey
Execution · Pure Mechanics
A 3D platformer whose joy lives in tight movement and capture-driven traversal.
God of War III leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Super Mario Odyssey leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
God of War IIISuper Mario Odyssey
Axis by axis
Execution7 vs 8
Super Mario Odyssey leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
God of War III
Combo execution and QTE timing carry combat.
Super Mario Odyssey
Precise platforming and capture-move tech ceiling.
Reads1 vs 0
God of War III leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
God of War III
Bosses fully scripted spectacle.
Super Mario Odyssey
No adaptive opponents whatsoever.
Variance1 vs 1
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
God of War III
Almost no randomness.
Super Mario Odyssey
Almost no randomness in level design.
Optimization4 vs 5
Super Mario Odyssey leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
God of War III
Upgrade paths short and obvious.
Super Mario Odyssey
Moon routes and movement tech learnable.
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.