Building comparison
head to head
Portal 2vsPushmo World
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Portal 2
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A first-person puzzle game where seeing the solution is the whole skill.
Pushmo World
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A block-pulling puzzle game about solving deterministic 3D climbing puzzles.
Portal 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Pushmo World leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Portal 2Pushmo World
Axis by axis
Execution3 vs 2
Portal 2 leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Portal 2
Portal placement requires some precision but timing is lenient.
Pushmo World
Pulling and climbing blocks demands no precision
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Portal 2
No opponent; puzzles are static.
Pushmo World
Solo puzzle game with no opponent
Variance0 vs 0
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Portal 2
Puzzles are deterministic with no randomness.
Pushmo World
Puzzles fully deterministic, nothing hidden randomly
Optimization9 vs 9
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Portal 2
Solving the puzzle's logic IS the entire game.
Pushmo World
Working out the pull sequence to climb is the whole game
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.