Balance & Game Feel

Anthony Faber of the Two Wood 4 a Wheat podcast, had an interesting post on BGG about how using other players resources alternatively feels antagonistic, or cooperative depending on the game.

It got me thinking about the importance of balance and theme in the feel of a game. Two games can have extremely similar mechanics, but feel very different.

Lost Ruins of Arnak & Dune Imperium

I am a big fan of these games, and mechanically they are very similar. They are deck building, drafting, and worker placement games. Both use cards to pay for where you place your workers, and are a bit crunchy on resources.

Despite that, the game feel of the two games is very different.

In Lost Ruins you feel like the world is wide open and you are growing towards something. In Dune, you feel like you are in a knife fight, constantly short on resources and barely scraping together a plan.

What games do you love that apply similar mechanics to create very disparate play experiences?