head to head
Penumbra: Black PlaguevsPokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
Penumbra: Black Plague leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
Penumbra: Black PlaguePokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
Axis by axis
Execution2 vs 1
Penumbra: Black Plague leans harder on execution: Physics-grab interactions need only basic mouse control
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance5 vs 6
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness leans harder on variance: Procedural floors, item spawns and monster houses drive runs
Optimization7 vs 7
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

