Building comparison
head to head
Harvest Moon DSvsPortal
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Harvest Moon DS demands more variance; Portal demands more execution.
Harvest Moon DS
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Farm scheduling and economy optimisation across seasons and relationships.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
Harvest Moon DS leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Harvest Moon DSPortal
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 4
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Harvest Moon DS
Daily chores have no twitch component
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Harvest Moon DS
Villagers run fixed schedules, never adapt
Portal
No adversary modeling player.
Variance3 vs 0
Harvest Moon DS leans clearly harder on variance.
Harvest Moon DS
Weather, festivals and sprite unlocks hide some information
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Optimization7 vs 8
Portal leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Harvest Moon DS
Crop rotations, scheduling and money loops are the whole game
Portal
Pure puzzle-solving optimization.
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.