# To Be Or Not To Be -Ryan North — user reviews > 48 indexed App Store user reviews of To Be Or Not To Be by Tin Man Games, rated 4.10/5 from 61 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/to-be-or-not-to-be-ryan-north/id962986396/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/to-be-or-not-to-be-ryan-north/id962986396.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 38 · 4★ 7 · 3★ 4 · 2★ 7 · 1★ 5 ## Newest reviews (11 of 48) ### 4/5 — Great with some bugs *2020-05-23* Hi! I love this game; I have it on my PC and I was delighted to find it as an app on my phone. I’ve noticed a few bugs, though. 1. When I’m trying to look through the art gallery, when I then ask it to go back to the story, it leaves me on the same page. 2. The artwork that shows for King Hamlet resuming his reign as a ghost with Gertrude is instead the same artwork you get for choosing to be upset about Gertrude marrying your brother and burying yourself in rock and digging a hole from Denmark to England. 3. The spotlights that are supposed to show on the Hamlet-o-meter are solid white squares. ### 3/5 — Help! *2019-02-15* I’m stuck in a loop in the menu. I want to go back to the story but every time I click that, it takes me to the extras! Meh, I haven’t gone too far into the story, I can try to reset it I don’t want to get stuck again. ### 4/5 — good overall *2017-02-16* but the pirate scene is kinda long and boring ### 4/5 — Made me look like an idiot on an airplane *2016-06-04* I laughed for the whole flight ### 3/5 — Recommended... for kids *2015-10-25, version 0.1.3275* Nice artworks, but the smart tone gets more and more annoying as I read alone. Maybe it's good for kids to develop an interest in classic literature, but I fail to get much out of it in the end. ### 5/5 — Too funny *2015-06-05* If I had the time, the resources and ability, I'd like to think that this is the kind of game I'd make. But not likely half as funny as this was. ### 5/5 — Shakespeare would've loved it (or not) *2015-05-14* Hilarious! Maybe the best adventure game I've ever played on iOS. Buy it and have a good laugh! ### 5/5 — Weird. Wonderful. *2015-05-09* I love these guys and the bizarre and beautiful style they bring to things. Hope to see this taken further! ### 5/5 — Always Ryan *2015-05-09, version 0.1.3275* Always buy Ryan North. You will never regret. ### 4/5 — Great CYOA - Better for iPhone than iPad. *2015-05-01* I previously wrote a negative review whining about how the original .mobi and .epub formats were better than this app but I changed my mind. Playing it on my iPhone 4s, this is pretty darn cool. The text boxes work well, and overall the game plays nicely with a good overall pace and layout. Unfortunately this layout doesn't work so well on the larger screen of the iPad. Also the graphics are not updated to full-size retina versions so they look a little crummy on my iPad Air 2. Overall, though, playing it on the phone this is really nice, and I'll spend hours on the train reading it. I'm curious if I can find that weird Keanu reeves drawing from the original.. I forget how to get there. Anyway, great app. ### 2/5 — Fix the art resolution please? *2015-04-28, version 0.1.3275* On an ipad all the images and even the fonts look pixelated and scaled. It makes it less pleasant to play and makes me feel like I'm playing a game for and old iphone. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — App is broken *2024-06-29* I love the idea and the stories seem to be really funny, but I‘m not sure anyone ever tested this game because several features are completely broken. - if you click the menu button while being in any other part of the app than the story, like the options, gallery, or achievements, the "back to the story" button breaks and only takes you back to that part of the app afterwards. The only way to actually get back to the story is to restart from the beginning or from one of the checkpoints, losing some of your progress in the process - the Yorick skulls that supposedly show the path that is closest to the real play just… don't seem to exist. I haven't seen a single one. - the Haml-O-Meter is also broken. There are two completely white boxes moving across the screen the entire time - the "screen mode" part of the options is not changing anything, no matter which option I choose. Maybe something that was meant for another platform and just left in here? Either way it's annoying and confusing From what little I've seen of the story I would likely love this game if it worked as advertised, but in the current state, with several of the promised features just not working and having to repeatedly restart the game because of a misclick breaking my current playthrough, the 8€ I paid feel like theft. ### 1/5 — Trapped in loop at art gallery, cannot play *2018-03-22* Played game for about two minutes, now useless. I bought the app yesterday. After a single event I chose to visit the “art gallery” and turn the sound on. these actions are meant to always be available and you can return back to your place. But no matter how often I select “back to the story,” I keep being sent to the art gallery. I have tried choosing other menu items, quitting and relaunching, nothing works. Sent feedback with repro steps to developer using their web form, received my cc but no contact yet. Will update if they resolve. ### 1/5 — Stuck in menu! *2018-01-21* Very buggy. I went to change narration off and cannot get out of the menu, all buttons just reload the menu again. Trying to return to the story using the button just returns me back to the main menu. Exiting the app using the exit button brings me back to the same menu. I had to delete the app entirely to get back to the game and don’t want to change any settings for fear of getting stuck in the menu loop again. C’mon devs, this is pretty silly. ### 1/5 — NO *2015-05-06* I normally don't get “books" like this on my smartphone. With all the reviews I expected more choices before the story ended. It's not that the story ended so fast that's the problem. It's just even with different characters I didn't find any of them all that entertaining. I did it a few times expecting something else to happen but it doesn't. Just a short little story with a couple choices. ### 1/5 — Crashes on 4s *2015-05-02* Game is an entertaining CYOA but unfortunately crashes after making certain choices. Fortunately, it saves the decision and will reload after so that I can still progress. Still, the crashes are pretty absurd considering the price tag as well as the game itself. Update: Finally reached a point where it contines to crash and does not reload after that point. ### 1/5 — I would like to reward this high brow venture. *2015-03-29, version 0.1.3275* I do not know what I have paid 5 dollars for. Someone's clever project, but no fun or education for moi. ### 2/5 — Just play Astrolagaster instead *2020-06-20* Don’t buy this. This app has a good concept, but the stories are too short and a little too inconsequential even for light comedy. It’s very expensive for what it is and doesn’t even seem to be maintained anymore as there are obvious bugs as you play (floating white squares at the end, for one). Most of the comedy is derived from using modern English in the mouths of Shakespearean characters, which can only retain its novelty for so long. If you just cant get enough of a supposedly Shakespearean narrative voice constantly calling everything “awesome” and “rad” and ending sentences? With question marks? then you will like this. For everyone else, this is vastly overpriced. The art is good though. If this app were somewhere in the dollar range, I’d be satisfied with it. As it stands, I wish I could get a refund. I played through a number of scenarios with multiple endings for each character — and still only got about 20 minutes of gameplay. My advice: just play Astrologaster instead. It’s better in literally every way: it’s funnier, has better stories, better music, and better art. ### 2/5 — Not my kind of humor *2016-07-20, version 0.1.3275* Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the humor of the game and apparently it's just a big joke from start to finish. Art is great and the "this is what Shakespeare did" indicator is a neat feature. ### 2/5 — Expensive *2016-06-28, version 0.1.3275* Not enough content for the price. I feel ripped off. ### 2/5 — TOO SHORT FOR $5.99 *2016-04-10* I hate reading but was looking for something entertaining to keep engaged and interested in reading. I thought this might do it, and it did, BUT each "choose your own adventure" that I did (just two to be fair) very quickly ended, and not because of poor choices. Its like they ran out of funny and clever ways to continue the story so they quickly wrapped it up. Fun, but not worth $6 for 15 minutes! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — EXCELLENT STORY GAME *2021-05-14, version 1.1* Great story telling! The artwork is great! There are many side adventures, murders, and ghosts to follow. Ryan North is brilliant!!! ### 5/5 — Dave Barry type humour, well done! *2018-06-13* Gently cerebral, hilarious, educational (but not in a way anyone would actually notice) and great entertainment. Not for avid, “gamers”, but as a book that you pick up, and put down, then pick up again, it’s perfect — and you will pick it up again. Great fun, and filled laugh-out-loud humour. A true stress reliever (hence not for true gamers who want the adrenaline rush). Also, no in-app purchases, no subscription — gotta love that. If you enjoy humorists such as Dave Barry, you’ll love this. ### 5/5 — Love the Artists *2017-10-29* Saw this and thought the illustrations looked familiar. Looked it up here on the App Store and saw Kate Beaton and Nedroid in the credits and I had to buy it just to support these guys. I’m excited to play it, I’m a big fan of their works. ### 5/5 — Thank you for updating! *2017-09-25, version 0.1.3275* Okay, now I can update to 11. ### 5/5 — Funny and Easy to Play/Read *2016-08-19* The endings come quick and with a big laugh each time. There's never a boring moment when you're making choices for one of three Hamlet characters as you read. Hilarious, amusing, and highly addictive! ### 5/5 — Ripper Title *2016-04-12* Great interactive adventure, has a big scope but pulls it off brilliantly. Worth a shot, even for non-Shakespeare fans. ### 5/5 — Fantastisch *2016-04-03* Wer des Englischen hinreichend mächtig ist, darf sich dieses Juwel nicht entgehen lassen. Das ist Shakespeare wie er gelesen werden sollte. Habe selten mit einem iOS Spiel so viel Spaß gehabt. Jede dänische Krone wert. ### 5/5 — Horribly cute and enjoyable *2016-04-03* Fun and clever little app in that "choose your own adventure" style based on Hamlet. Good writing, lovely art, and while a light little app, I for one definitely got my $5 worth. There is a lot of funny stuff in there that made me giggle but I fear anything I could say beyond that would give away too much. ### 5/5 — I would like to give this ten stars. *2015-10-18* It is utterly hilarious, and yet touchingly true to the story and characters (except where it improves them). A masterpiece of literary humor. ### 5/5 — What a great riff on Hamlet! I know, right? *2015-08-11* A fantastic way to enjoy the Hamlet idea space - experiment with what might have happened if Shakespeare went off in one of billions of other directions. I’ve just started playing with this, but I love it already. How could Shakespeare have written just one play with the possibilities of this material? I’m looking forward to really digging into this! Thanks Ryan North! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-15.*