head to head

Defender of the Crown cover artvsMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor cover art

Defender of the CrownvsMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Defender of the Crown leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery); Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).

EXECUTION4 /10READS1 /10VARIANCE4 /10OPTIMIZATION6 /10
Defender of the CrownMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Axis by axis

Execution4 vs 5

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor leans harder on execution: Counter-timing combat and stealth execution

Reads1 vs 1

Even - both lean on reads about the same.

Variance4 vs 4

Even - both lean on variance about the same.

Optimization6 vs 6

Even - both lean on optimization about the same.

Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.

full breakdown

Defender of the Crown

full breakdown

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor