Shadows of Forbidden Gods similar games & best alternatives

Shadows of Forbidden Gods - shadows-of-forbidden-gods_1.avif
Shadows of Forbidden Gods - shadows-of-forbidden-gods_2.avif
Shadows of Forbidden Gods - shadows-of-forbidden-gods_3.avif
Shadows of Forbidden Gods - shadows-of-forbidden-gods_4.avif
Shadows of Forbidden Gods - shadows-of-forbidden-gods_5.avif
Shadows of Forbidden Gods - shadows-of-forbidden-gods_6.avif

Shadows of Forbidden Gods

PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2023

Should you play it?

Take on the role of a Dark Elder God and lead your agents to bring about an apocalypse in a fantasy world. Work in the shadows, avoiding the heroes who will try to stop you, as you bring about plague and famine, ice age and volcanic destruction, madness and never ending night.

What works

  • Unique and deep strategy gameplay
  • High replayability with diverse gods and strategies
  • Dynamic and living game world
  • Engaging emergent narrative
  • Active developer support and modding community

Things to keep in mind

  • Clunky and unintuitive ui
  • Steep learning curve
  • Graphics and art style inconsistent
  • Some mechanics under-explained
  • Anticlimactic victory conditions

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Soulash 2

  • Dream of Corpse Lady

  • Lost Technology

  • Brigandine The Legend of Runersia

  • Distant Worlds 2

  • Three Kingdoms Mushouden

Less fantastical

Games that feels like Shadows of Forbidden Gods but with less imaginative fiction

  • Civil War II

  • Command: Modern Operations

  • Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2

  • Unity of Command II

  • Rise Of The White Sun - 白日升

  • Old World

More competitive

Games that feels like Shadows of Forbidden Gods but with more competition against others

  • Deity Empires

  • Polaris Sector

  • Conquest of Elysium 4

  • Making History: The Great War

  • Conquest of Elysium 5

  • Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal

More social

Games that feels like Shadows of Forbidden Gods but with more teamwork and cooperation

  • Imperiums: Greek Wars

  • Hearts of Iron IV

  • Rencounter

  • Plebby Quest: The Crusades

  • Majesty Gold HD

  • Caves of Qud

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 Shadows of Forbidden Gods. 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 Shadows of Forbidden Gods. These titles are not in What to play next.

Shadows of Forbidden Gods: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Violence, Survival, Fellowship, Intimacy. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Leadership, Violence. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Sensation.

Last update: 21/08/2026