Building comparison
head to head
Life is Strange 2vsThe Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Life is Strange 2
Variance · Light / Casual
A road-trip narrative adventure about two brothers fleeing across America.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Optimization · Light / Casual
A gorgeous first-person mystery about piecing together a boy's disappearance.
Life is Strange 2 leans Variance (Light / Casual); The Vanishing of Ethan Carter leans Optimization (Light / Casual).
Life is Strange 2The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 1
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Life is Strange 2
No mechanical challenge
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Walking and looking, nothing more
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Life is Strange 2
No opponents
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
No opponent
Variance2 vs 2
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Life is Strange 2
Branching consequences unknown until seen
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
The mystery is hidden only until discovered
Optimization2 vs 3
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Life is Strange 2
Light optimal-choice layer toward preferred endings
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Reconstructing event sequences is light deduction
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.