Building comparison
head to head
PortalvsPotion Craft
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Portal demands more execution; Potion Craft demands more variance.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
Potion Craft
Optimization · Pure Optimization
An alchemy sim where mapping the potion-crafting system is the entire game.
Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Potion Craft leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
PortalPotion Craft
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 1
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
Potion Craft
no reflex skill, mostly menu-based crafting
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
No adversary modeling player.
Potion Craft
customers aren't adaptive opponents
Variance0 vs 2
Potion Craft leans clearly harder on variance.
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Potion Craft
ingredient rolls add some unpredictability
Optimization8 vs 8
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Portal
Pure puzzle-solving optimization.
Potion Craft
potion-map navigation is a solvable system
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.