head to head
vs
Hollow KnightvsMicro Mages
Hollow Knight leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Micro Mages leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Hollow KnightMicro Mages
Axis by axis
Execution8 vs 8
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance1 vs 2
Micro Mages leans harder on variance: Fixed level layouts with little randomness once learned
Optimization6 vs 5
Hollow Knight leans harder on optimization: Charm builds and boss routes are fully learnable.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.