Building comparison
head to head
Portal 2vsThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Portal 2 demands more optimization; The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past demands more variance.
Portal 2
Optimization · Pure Optimization
A first-person puzzle game where seeing the solution is the whole skill.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Definitive top-down Zelda spanning light and dark mirrored worlds.
Portal 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Portal 2The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Axis by axis
Execution3 vs 4
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Portal 2
Portal placement requires some precision but timing is lenient.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Responsive combat and boss dodging, moderate demand
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.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
All enemies scripted
Variance0 vs 2
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past leans clearly harder on variance.
Portal 2
Puzzles are deterministic with no randomness.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Secrets unknown until found
Optimization9 vs 7
Portal 2 leans clearly harder on optimization.
Portal 2
Solving the puzzle's logic IS the entire game.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Two-world puzzle structure and item-driven routing
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.