head to head
vs
Shovel KnightvsThe Pirates of Dark Water
Shovel Knight leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); The Pirates of Dark Water leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
Shovel KnightThe Pirates of Dark Water
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads1 vs 1
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance1 vs 1
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization4 vs 5
The Pirates of Dark Water leans harder on optimization: Learning enemy patterns and crowd-control routines is the depth
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.