Building comparison
head to head
The Curse of Monkey IslandvsThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is optimization, and it is a single point.
The Curse of Monkey Island
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Comedic point-and-click adventure of Guybrush Threepwood, hand-drawn at its peak.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Optimization · Pure Optimization
Lateral-thinking puzzle solving that converges to a walkthrough once solutions are known.
The Curse of Monkey Island leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
The Curse of Monkey IslandThe Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Axis by axis
Execution0 vs 0
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
The Curse of Monkey Island
pointing and clicking only
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Pointing and clicking has no physical ceiling
Reads0 vs 0
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
The Curse of Monkey Island
no adaptive opponent
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Insult swordfighting is scripted dialogue lookup, not prediction
Variance3 vs 3
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
The Curse of Monkey Island
puzzle solutions unknown on first play, then fixed
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Puzzle solutions are hidden information until discovered
Optimization7 vs 6
The Curse of Monkey Island leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
The Curse of Monkey Island
inventory logic puzzles are fully solvable
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Once solutions are known the game is fully solved
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.
full breakdown
The Curse of Monkey Island →
full breakdown
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition →
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