Building comparison
head to head
Kingdoms and CastlesvsPortal
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Kingdoms and Castles demands more variance; Portal demands more execution.
Kingdoms and Castles
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Cozy castle-builder with optimization-friendly layouts.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
Kingdoms and Castles leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Kingdoms and CastlesPortal
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 4
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Kingdoms and Castles
no reflex
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.
Kingdoms and Castles
scripted viking raids
Portal
No adversary modeling player.
Variance3 vs 0
Kingdoms and Castles leans clearly harder on variance.
Kingdoms and Castles
raid and disaster timing
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Optimization8 vs 8
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Kingdoms and Castles
layouts, taxes, defenses
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.