When two major games are set in the same time period and have ‘Shadows’ in their name, it’s hard not to compare them. Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice both take place in 16th-century Japan, but they do things very differently.

Shadows is full of real historical characters and grounded storytelling. Sekiro, on the other hand, goes full fantasy with themes and characters from Japanese mythology and feels like a unique FromSoftware game. They both have great things going for them, but let’s see how they stack up against each other.

Graphics

Winner – Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is easily the best-looking Assassin’s Creed game yet. It was built specifically for current-gen consoles with all of the current technological trends, and it really shows. The lighting is stunning, and the character models look great. It’s even more impressive with its season system that completely changes how areas look and feel.

Comparatively, Sekiro still looks great even now, with its own art style that’s unlike any other FromSoftware game. The art direction is just stunning and holds up extremely well. But it was made for last-gen tech, so it understandably doesn’t match Shadows when it comes to pure visual fidelity. Although fidelity isn’t everything and art direction is just as important, Shadows wins from a purely technological point of view.

Narrative

Winner – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro might not rely on cinematic cutscenes and forward storytelling all the time, but the story it does tell sticks with you, even with its more subtle style in line with other FromSoftware games. The characters are mysterious and very interesting, with great designs, especially for the bosses.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows tells a more traditional and direct story with its two leads, a samurai and a shinobi. It’s grounded, sure, but the narrative is definitely not the game’s strong point since a lot of the characters aren’t as memorable or compelling.

Immersion

Winner – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Assassin’s Creed Shadows nails the look and vibe of historic Japan, but Sekiro’s world just pulls you in more. It’s not open-world, but that’s what actually really helps this game. You’re always moving forward through these dense and carefully crafted places like forests, castles, and mountain paths. Each area feels mysterious and immersive, especially with the mythical creatures lurking around.

Shadows feels immersive, with dozens of crowded cities and authentic recreation of the time period, but in a more grounded way. However, the game has a lot of side content that feels repetitive and arcadey, which really affects your overall immersion in the game’s world.

Game Design

Winner – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro has an impressive game design that is far more absorbing. You unlock new skills, tools, and abilities, but it’s all focused around just one core combat system. This makes the game feel tight and polished. The world is really well-designed too, as levels have lots of verticality, hidden paths, and shortcuts. You feel rewarded for exploring but never overwhelmed.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows, on the other hand, leans a lot more into the usual Ubisoft formula. There are a lot of fun, but also familiar and repetitive activities that you’ve already done several times before in other Assassin’s Creed games. Compared to Sekiro’s lean and mean design, Shadows feels a bit bloated.

Exploration

Winner – Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a huge world that feels worth exploring. There are a bunch of unique locations like cities, shrines, and castles to explore, and lots of valuable gear you can find, along with skill points that are gained by doing various activities that you come across.

Sekiro’s world is smaller and more linear, but it’s also packed with secrets. FromSoftware hides stuff in every corner, such as worthwhile items and even NPC questlines. It rewards players who look closely, but it might not have that big, open sense of freedom that Shadows has. While Sekiro’s world feels richer when it comes to pure exploration, Shadows just has more to offer, and it narrowly wins in this category.

Combat

Winner – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro’s combat is very intense and difficult. You don’t have a stamina bar like in other Soulsborne games, instead, the whole system is built around breaking posture and deflecting attacks. Every fight feels like a duel where timing matters more than anything. Once you get the hang of it, though, it feels amazingly rewarding and satisfying.

On the other hand, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has two characters with totally different fighting styles. There are lots of weapon types, stealth mechanics, and parkour, which is fun and adds a lot of variety to its enemy encounters. But even with all that, Sekiro’s combat system feels more focused and satisfying with a very high skill ceiling. Shadows gives you more ways to fight, but Sekiro gives you deeper combat, which wins in this regard.

Verdict

Winner – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a good game that looks amazing and offers a huge world to explore, but it still sticks a bit too close to the usual formula and plays it very safe. In comparison, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is just on another level. It was one of the absolute best games of 2019 for a reason.

The story is emotional and well done, the combat is sharp, the boss fights and their character designs are just stunning, and the world is very compelling. It’s probably FromSoftware’s most difficult game, too, so it might not be for everyone, but once you master the game’s combat system, the payoff is well worth it.