Execution versus knowledge
Also said as Skill versus knowledge, Dexterity versus puzzle
Two kinds of challenge. Execution is about being able to do it: timing, precision, nerve. Knowledge is about knowing what to do: the trick, the route, the answer.
They fail in different ways. A knowledge challenge is over the moment you learn the answer, and a guide can spoil it. An execution challenge survives spoilers, but it gets stuck on hands that can't do it. Most difficulty complaints are really about which kind the player wanted.
Say it
“The final room should test execution only. Show the whole route up front with arrows, so that dying there is never about not knowing what to do.”
Where you’ve seen it
In Outer Wilds, you have your whole ship from the first minute, with no upgrades at all. Nothing carries over between time loops but what you have learned. Super Meat Boy is the other pole: you can see the route, and doing it is the problem.
Not to be confused with difficulty
Difficulty says how hard something is. This says what sort of hard it is, which tells you whether practice or information would help.