head to head

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords cover artvsWasteland 2 cover art

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the WarlordsvsWasteland 2

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); Wasteland 2 leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION1 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE6 /10OPTIMIZATION8 /10
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the WarlordsWasteland 2

Axis by axis

Execution1 vs 2

Wasteland 2 leans harder on execution: Turn-based tactical combat has no twitch component

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance6 vs 5

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords leans harder on variance: Random gem drops and cascades swing battles heavily.

Optimization8 vs 8

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

full breakdown

Wasteland 2