Building comparison
head to head
Oxygen Not IncludedvsSurviving Mars
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
Oxygen Not Included
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Engineering precise gas, liquid, and power circuits to keep a subterranean colony alive indefinitely.
Surviving Mars
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Colonize Mars by stacking dome layouts and supply chains.
Oxygen Not Included leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Surviving Mars leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Oxygen Not IncludedSurviving Mars
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 1
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Oxygen Not Included
All inputs are build-order clicks; no twitch required
Surviving Mars
pausable, no reflex
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Oxygen Not Included
No adversary of any kind exists in the colony
Surviving Mars
no adversary
Variance5 vs 4
Oxygen Not Included leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Oxygen Not Included
Asteroid seed and geyser placement carry meaningful but bounded randomness
Surviving Mars
disasters, sponsor traits
Optimization10 vs 9
Oxygen Not Included leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Oxygen Not Included
Gas, liquid, and power engineering are essentially a solvable engineering puzzle
Surviving Mars
dome layouts and supply chains
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.