Building comparison
head to head
PortalvsShin Megami Tensei
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Portal demands more execution; Shin Megami Tensei demands more variance.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
Shin Megami Tensei
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The original post-apocalyptic demon-fusing dungeon crawler where preparation and fusion knowledge decide survival.
Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Shin Megami Tensei leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
PortalShin Megami Tensei
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 1
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
Shin Megami Tensei
First-person menu battles; trivial inputs.
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.
Shin Megami Tensei
Demon negotiation is random, not adaptive.
Variance0 vs 5
Shin Megami Tensei leans clearly harder on variance.
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Shin Megami Tensei
Negotiation rolls, ambushes, and moon-phase RNG bite hard.
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.
Shin Megami Tensei
Fusion charts, alignment routes, and weakness mapping are solvable.
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.