WARNING: The following contains spoilers for all three seasons of Dark and Season 1 of Equinox, both streaming on Netflix.

Netflix has recently been churning out pretty impressive sci-fi/supernatural shows with the German series, Dark, and the Danish series, Equinox, ranking amongst some of the best. Both are mind-benders, cryptic as can be, which require viewers to remain glued to TVs to catch every detail.

However, while both do have the same essence and a mysterious aesthetic embedded, they're vastly different stories. Let's break down which is better.

RELATED: Equinox: Season 1's Sinister Ending, Explained

Dark focuses on the small German town of Winden where a young boy, Mikkel, went missing. It spans various timelines, from the '80s to the 2000s to the future where young Jonas becomes a time-traveler trying to save Winden from nuclear extinction. At the heart of it is his dad, Michael, who committed suicide and kickstarted Jonas' journey, and Martha, the girl he loves and who he's desperately trying to save from death.

As Jonas traverses the timeline through a maelstrom of emotions and twists and turns, he realizes no one's ever who they seem. Friends, families and lovers all backstab each other, and as Season 3 jumps into a parallel universe, Jonas discovers the puzzle is way more complex than assumed and has been existing since the 1800s. As he goes further down the rabbit hole, the betrayals, murders and lack of allies make it a really worthwhile experience, seeding out existential questions on life, love and the hereafter as he finally understands how actions have consequences. The idea of him waging war on Adam, someone who wants to break the true god of creation, is also so high-concept and really elevates the viewer's thinking.

RELATED: How Equinox Sets Up a Season 2

Equinox follows similar beats with predestination being a problem and kids going missing, namely Ida. Astrid's been lured back to her Danish town decades later by cryptic clues, people who appear to be from different eras, and some suicides, making it feel like a spiritual sibling of Dark. However, the antagonist in Equinox is not a temporal loop; it's a pagan god named the Hare King that Astrid has to find in order to bring the people back to the present. It's not as twisty and winding as Dark, but it's a sentimental journey as Astrid also discovers how families and legacies influence future generations.

Now, as intriguing as Equinox is, Dark is simply a cut above because its mystery is not one that's easily unlocked. Dark keeps the viewer thoroughly engrossed, requiring them to parse through centuries of hints, remember details, and investigate the intentions of all characters, even seemingly insignificant ones. The series is thought-provoking and turns out to be the bigger part of a love story, evoking a bit of Romeo and Juliet.

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While Equinox tries to pride itself on the nuance of the Hare King abducting people not out of malice but love, its pagan elements turn it into more of a straightforward lust story by the end. Admittedly, it has great characters and the casting is amazing, as both as the older actors really do look like their younger counterparts, but Dark does this better too, and for multiple timelines. And to top it off, as Dark hops worlds, there's more action, politics and drama than Equinox, which is a slow-burn, self-contained portrait of someone trying to save their sister, and not the entire world like Jonas ultimately has to. Overall, Dark is more expansive, builds a better universe, and has higher stakes.

Created by Tea Lindeburg, Equinox stars Danica Curcic, Lars Brygmann, Karoline Hamm and Hanne Hedelund. Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.

Created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, Dark stars Oliver Masucci, Karoline Eichhorn and Jördis Triebel. All three seasons are available on Netflix.

KEEP READING: Equinox: Season 1's Biggest Unanswered Questions