head to head
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.

Execution · Practiced Mastery
Robot-dinosaur hunting that rewards weak-point study and ranged precision.

Optimization · Practiced Mastery
Open-world Hyrule built on physics puzzles and exploration over reflex tests.
Horizon Zero Dawn leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Horizon Zero Dawn leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Bow aiming and dodge timing matter.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Parry timing and aiming matter but forgiving.
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Machines follow fixed patterns, not adapting.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Enemies follow fixed scripted behaviors.
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Some loot and patrol randomness.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Weapon drops and weather lightly randomized.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Weak points, traps, builds fully solvable.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Shrines, cooking, traversal routes fully solvable.
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.