head to head
vs
Sunless SeavsSunless Skies
Sunless Sea leans Variance (Systems & Chaos); Sunless Skies leans Variance (Systems & Chaos).
Sunless SeaSunless Skies
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 2
Sunless Skies leans harder on execution: Slow locomotive combat asks little of the hands
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance7 vs 6
Sunless Sea leans harder on variance: Hidden map, random events and unknown story branches dominate
Optimization6 vs 6
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.