head to head
vs
Half-LifevsThe Darkness II
Half-Life leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); The Darkness II leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Half-LifeThe Darkness II
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads0 vs 1
The Darkness II leans harder on reads: Brotherhood enemies attack on fixed scripts
Variance2 vs 2
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization6 vs 5
Half-Life leans harder on optimization: Resource routing and encounter knowledge for speedruns
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.