head to head

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge cover artvsThe Excavation of Hob's Barrow cover art

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's RevengevsThe Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Excavation of Hob's Barrow leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's RevengeThe Excavation of Hob's Barrow

Axis by axis

Execution1 vs 1

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance2 vs 3

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow leans harder on variance: Dread comes from unknowns that vanish on replay

Optimization8 vs 7

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge leans harder on optimization: Multi-step puzzle chains reward systematic item and dialogue mapping

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

full breakdown

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow