9 Years of Shadows similar games & best alternatives

9 Years of Shadows - Trailer
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9 Years of Shadows

Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch • 2023

Should you play it?

Fight to bring beautiful colors back to a hand-crafted world of darkness and discover the story of Europa, a young warrior, and her ghostly childhood companion, Apino.

What works

  • Beautiful pixel art and vibrant visuals
  • Engaging and varied boss fights
  • Unique elemental armor and traversal mechanics
  • Captivating soundtrack and sound design
  • Tight and responsive controls

Things to keep in mind

  • Lack of fast travel makes backtracking tedious
  • Some bosses rely on waiting mechanics and can be repetitive
  • Game is relatively short with limited replayability
  • No autosave and unskippable boss cutscenes frustrate players
  • Some bugs and crashes reported

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-

  • Nefarious

  • Glimmer in Mirror

  • Berserk Boy

  • Shattered Divinities

  • Underhero

More continuation-driven

Games that feels like 9 Years of Shadows but with an even stronger pull to keep playing

  • Hollow Knight

  • Dunjungle

  • Rogue Legacy 2

  • Death's Gambit: Afterlife

  • 3000th Duel

  • Nightmare: The Lunatic

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with 9 Years of Shadows. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with 9 Years of Shadows. These titles are not in What to play next.

9 Years of Shadows: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Expression, Fellowship, Cooperation, Competition. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Expression, Violence. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Continuation.

Last update: 21/08/2026