Building comparison
head to head
PortalvsSurviving Mars
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Portal demands more execution; Surviving Mars demands more variance.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
Surviving Mars
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Colonize Mars by stacking dome layouts and supply chains.
Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); Surviving Mars leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
PortalSurviving Mars
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 1
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
Surviving Mars
pausable, no reflex
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.
Surviving Mars
no adversary
Variance0 vs 4
Surviving Mars leans clearly harder on variance.
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
Surviving Mars
disasters, sponsor traits
Optimization8 vs 9
Surviving Mars leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Portal
Pure puzzle-solving optimization.
Surviving Mars
dome layouts and supply chains
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.