EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair similar games & best alternatives

EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair - Trailer
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EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair

PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows) • 2016

Should you play it?

It's a fight for the future of the planet between the Ravagers, a merciless swarm of alien invaders, and the Earth Defense Force (EDF) in this third-person shooter.Play as four different classes in over 80 missions with a range of 800 weapons at your disposal.Co-op play supported.

What works

  • Highly replayable with many missions and weapons
  • Four distinct classes with unique playstyles
  • Strong cooperative multiplayer including local split-screen
  • Large destructible environments and epic battles
  • Cheesy b-movie style humor and charm

Things to keep in mind

  • Dated graphics and animations
  • Some grind required for armor and weapons
  • Steep difficulty spikes on higher levels
  • Limited story and character customization
  • Some clunky ui and vehicle controls

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5

  • Shadow Warrior 2

  • Borderlands Game of the Year Enhanced

  • John Carpenter's Toxic Commando

  • Dead Space™ 3

  • Saints Row IV: Re-Elected

More competitive

Games that feels like EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair but with more competition against others

  • Halo: The Master Chief Collection

  • Blood Strike

  • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

  • Titanfall® 2

  • Battlefield 4™

  • Shatterline

Less intimate

Games that feels like EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair but with less focus on close relationships

  • Borderlands 3

  • Serious Sam 4

  • LEGO® MARVEL's Avengers

  • MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries

  • Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition

  • Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

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).

EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 The Shadow of New Despair: Broadly representative of its motivational profile, with a few distinct shifts. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Cooperation, Fellowship, Intimacy, Leadership. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Violence, Cooperation, Survival.

Last update: 04/08/2026