Building comparison
head to head
Harvest Moon DSvsPortal 2
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Harvest Moon DS demands more variance; Portal 2 demands more execution.
Harvest Moon DS
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Farm scheduling and economy optimisation across seasons and relationships.
Portal 2
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A first-person puzzle game where seeing the solution is the whole skill.
Harvest Moon DS leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Harvest Moon DSPortal 2
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 3
Portal 2 leans clearly harder on execution.
Harvest Moon DS
Daily chores have no twitch component
Portal 2
Portal placement requires some precision but timing is lenient.
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 2
No opponent; puzzles are static.
Variance3 vs 0
Harvest Moon DS leans clearly harder on variance.
Harvest Moon DS
Weather, festivals and sprite unlocks hide some information
Portal 2
Puzzles are deterministic with no randomness.
Optimization7 vs 9
Portal 2 leans clearly harder on optimization.
Harvest Moon DS
Crop rotations, scheduling and money loops are the whole game
Portal 2
Solving the puzzle's logic IS the entire game.
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.