head to head

Shovel Knight cover artvsUnruly Heroes cover art

Shovel KnightvsUnruly Heroes

Shovel Knight leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Unruly Heroes leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).

EXECUTION6 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE1 /10OPTIMIZATION4 /10
Shovel KnightUnruly Heroes

Axis by axis

Execution6 vs 7

Unruly Heroes leans harder on execution: Acrobatic platforming and combat timing lead throughout

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance1 vs 1

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization4 vs 3

Shovel Knight leans harder on optimization: Relic and upgrade choices shape runs

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

Shovel Knight

full breakdown

Unruly Heroes