Building comparison
head to head
Monument Valley 2vsSam & Max: Beyond Time and Space
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Monument Valley 2
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Sequel that adds a mother-daughter pair to its impossible-architecture puzzles.
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A comedy point-and-click testing lateral inventory-puzzle logic and nothing else.
Monument Valley 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Monument Valley 2Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 0
Monument Valley 2 leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Monument Valley 2
Gentle touch controls, no reflexes
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space
Pointing and clicking has no dexterity bar
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Monument Valley 2
Nothing opposes you
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space
No adaptive opponent in a comedy adventure
Variance1 vs 1
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Monument Valley 2
Deterministic authored levels
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space
Puzzle states are visible or discoverable by poking
Optimization6 vs 5
Monument Valley 2 leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Monument Valley 2
Geometry manipulation puzzles with intended solutions
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space
Inventory-logic puzzles are the entire solvable test
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.