head to head

Penumbra: Black Plague cover artvsThe Legend of Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate cover art

Penumbra: Black PlaguevsThe Legend of Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate

Penumbra: Black Plague leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); The Legend of Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).

EXECUTION2 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE5 /10OPTIMIZATION7 /10
Penumbra: Black PlagueThe Legend of Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate

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 5

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization7 vs 6

Penumbra: Black Plague leans harder on optimization: Physics puzzles and evasion routes are fully 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

Penumbra: Black Plague

full breakdown

The Legend of Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate