head to head

Gothic II cover artvsPirates! Gold cover art

Gothic IIvsPirates! Gold

Gothic II leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Pirates! Gold leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION4 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
Gothic IIPirates! Gold

Axis by axis

Execution4 vs 4

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 4

Pirates! Gold leans harder on variance: Treasure locations and world state are hidden until discovered

Optimization8 vs 8

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Gothic II

full breakdown

Pirates! Gold