head to head
vs
Spirit Hunter: Death MarkvsThe Council
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark leans Variance (Systems & Chaos); The Council leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos).
Spirit Hunter: Death MarkThe Council
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 0
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads0 vs 1
The Council leans harder on reads: NPCs have vulnerabilities and immunities, but fully scripted.
Variance5 vs 4
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark leans harder on variance: Unknown spirit weaknesses and deadly choices punish blind first attempts.
Optimization5 vs 5
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.