head to head

Secret of Mana cover artvsTerraria cover art

Secret of ManavsTerraria

Secret of Mana leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Terraria leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).

EXECUTION5 /10READS0 /10VARIANCE3 /10OPTIMIZATION7 /10
Secret of ManaTerraria

Axis by axis

Execution5 vs 4

Secret of Mana leans harder on execution: Real-time ring-menu combat with weapon charge timing

Reads0 vs 0

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance3 vs 3

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization7 vs 8

Terraria leans harder on optimization: Gear progression and arena prep solve every boss.

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

Secret of Mana

full breakdown

Terraria