Building comparison
head to head
The Vanishing of Ethan CartervsUnder Leaves
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is variance, and it is a single point.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Optimization · Light / Casual
A gorgeous first-person mystery about piecing together a boy's disappearance.
Under Leaves
Variance · Light / Casual
A painterly hidden-object game testing visual scanning patience.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter leans Optimization (Light / Casual); Under Leaves leans Variance (Light / Casual).
The Vanishing of Ethan CarterUnder Leaves
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 1
Same score on execution - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Walking and looking, nothing more
Under Leaves
Tapping spotted objects requires nothing physical
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 Vanishing of Ethan Carter
No opponent
Under Leaves
No opponent exists
Variance2 vs 3
Under Leaves leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
The mystery is hidden only until discovered
Under Leaves
Object locations are hidden until found - that is the game
Optimization3 vs 2
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Reconstructing event sequences is light deduction
Under Leaves
Systematic scanning is the only technique
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.