| Criteria | Civilization 6 | Shadow Empire |
|---|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Works smoothly enough when at peace, save for resyncs sometimes which add extra waiting time. In war time, becomes invariably sequential and forces you to watch enemy turn if you want to see what happened over their turn. | PBEM only, with kludges can be played using a synchronized folder. No big issues save for inconvenient and rather slow saving process. Enemy battles can be seen at any time. |
| Combat | Weird and semi-random mess not allowing for most tactics and basically has one way to win battles + beeline for the higher tech tier. | In-depth combat simulation. |
| Balance | Multiple routes to victory are available, which are more or less balanced. Some nations suffer from overpowered abilities. | The way to win is always conquest, but a variety of political choices which offer different bonuses are available. No nations to choose. |
| Snowballing | Mostly absent, even compared to civ5. Has to be done through diplomacy. On defense, cities are well protected but after certain attacking power is reached, resistance becomes non-significant. | No direct antisnowballing mechanics, but defense is much easier than offense and supply routes of a large empire are more vulnerable. |