head to head

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness cover artvsThe Long Dark cover art

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of DarknessvsThe Long Dark

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); The Long Dark leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).

EXECUTION1 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE6 /10OPTIMIZATION7 /10
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of DarknessThe Long Dark

Axis by axis

Execution1 vs 2

The Long Dark leans harder on execution: Rifle aim and wolf struggles need minimal twitch

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance6 vs 6

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

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.

full breakdown

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness

full breakdown

The Long Dark