Recent A7/8 updates (particularly view_check) make it easier to optimise CSM. Also, nice outdoor shadows have been an expectation in games for a while, but SSAO is much newer and still perhaps considered a luxury.

Finally, CSM is much more scalable than SSAO (that is, you can have decent looking shadows on old systems, and then insanely realistic soft-shadows on newer systems -- I've seen how SSAO can be scalable, but the visual cost means it's often not worth it at all, IMHO).

So CSM's where my vote goes laugh

Great shots, btw.

Jibb

Formerly known as JulzMighty.
I made KarBOOM!