Building comparison
head to head
PortalvsThe Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Portal demands more execution; The Testament of Sherlock Holmes demands more variance.
Portal
Optimization · Pure Optimization
The portal-gun puzzle game whose solutions are everything.
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Evidence-gathering and deduction-board logic with no physical or adversarial layer.
Portal leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Testament of Sherlock Holmes leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
PortalThe Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 0
Portal leans clearly harder on execution.
Portal
Portal placement timing modest.
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Pointing and clicking through crime scenes
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.
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Suspects are written, not adapting
Variance0 vs 3
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes leans clearly harder on variance.
Portal
Deterministic chambers; no randomness.
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Clues are hidden information until uncovered
Optimization8 vs 7
Portal leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
Portal
Pure puzzle-solving optimization.
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
The deduction board is a solvable logic puzzle
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.