head to head
vs
Pixel DungeonvsSunless Sea
Pixel Dungeon leans Variance (Systems & Chaos); Sunless Sea leans Variance (Systems & Chaos).
Pixel DungeonSunless Sea
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 1
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance7 vs 7
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization7 vs 6
Pixel Dungeon leans harder on optimization: Upgrade allocation and item-identification logic decide who ascends
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.