head to head
vs
Hollow KnightvsOri and the Blind Forest
Hollow Knight leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Ori and the Blind Forest leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Hollow KnightOri and the Blind Forest
Axis by axis
Execution8 vs 7
Hollow Knight leans harder on execution: Precise platforming and pogo timing dominate hard content.
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance1 vs 1
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization6 vs 4
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.