Building comparison
head to head
Plague Inc: EvolvedvsPortal
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Plague Inc: Evolved demands more variance; Portal demands more execution.
Plague Inc: Evolved
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Engineer a pandemic; evolution order is the puzzle.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
Plague Inc: Evolved leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Plague Inc: EvolvedPortal
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 4
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Plague Inc: Evolved
no reflex
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
Reads1 vs 0
Plague Inc: Evolved leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Plague Inc: Evolved
world response scripted
Portal
No adversary modeling player.
Variance4 vs 0
Plague Inc: Evolved leans clearly harder on variance.
Plague Inc: Evolved
country event timing
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Optimization9 vs 8
Plague Inc: Evolved leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Plague Inc: Evolved
evolution order heavily solved
Portal
Pure puzzle-solving optimization.
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.