head to head

Outer Wilds cover artvsTIS-100 cover art

Outer WildsvsTIS-100

Outer Wilds leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); TIS-100 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION2 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION9 /10
Outer WildsTIS-100

Axis by axis

Execution2 vs 0

Outer Wilds leans harder on execution: Light piloting, mostly forgiving

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance1 vs 0

Outer Wilds leans harder on variance: Loop is deterministic once understood

Optimization9 vs 10

TIS-100 leans harder on optimization: Pure program optimisation against cycle histograms

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

Outer Wilds

full breakdown

TIS-100