Building comparison
head to head
AnthemvsMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
Anthem
Optimization · Practiced Mastery
A co-op looter shooter about flying exosuit javelins through a hostile alien frontier.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Optimization · Practiced Mastery
Open-world action game where procedurally generated orc captains remember your encounters.
Anthem leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
AnthemMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Axis by axis
Execution4 vs 5
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
Anthem
Flight and shooting matter but are forgiving
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Counter-timing combat and stealth execution
Reads0 vs 1
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor leans a little harder on reads, though the gap is small.
Anthem
Enemy AI is scripted
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Nemesis orcs remember you but remain mappable scripts
Variance4 vs 4
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Anthem
Loot rolls gate power
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Procedural captains with hidden strengths and weaknesses
Optimization6 vs 6
Same score on optimization - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
Anthem
Javelin builds and loadout grinding dominate
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Intel gathering and exploiting known weaknesses solves fights
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.