head to head

No Man's Sky cover artvsRecettear: An Item Shop's Tale cover art

No Man's SkyvsRecettear: An Item Shop's Tale

No Man's Sky leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION3 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
No Man's SkyRecettear: An Item Shop's Tale

Axis by axis

Execution3 vs 3

Even - both lean on execution about the same.

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 4

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale leans harder on variance: Market price swings and dungeon loot rolls.

Optimization8 vs 9

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale leans harder on optimization: Pricing margins, stock, and debt schedule are nearly solvable.

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

No Man's Sky

full breakdown

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale