Comparison

Space Grunts vs Abalon

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Space Grunts

Engage in a unique blend of fast-paced arcade action and strategic turn-based combat. Explore a distressed moon base, battling aliens and robots to uncover its secrets. Utilize a variety of weapons and consumables to survive and complete your mission.

Highlights
  • Turn-based gameplay
  • Arcade action
  • Roguelike shooter elements
  • Alien and robot combat
  • Weapon and consumable collection
  • Secret areas and routes
Features
Read full description

Support, tip and tricks: http://www.orangepixel.net "This is a turn-based game for people who don't like turn-based games, and a roguelike shooter for people who hate roguelike shooters." - TouchArcade 4/5 Space Grunts combines fast paced arcade action with turn-based gameplay. The year 2476, Earth's space-federation has been building moon-bases across the galaxy. One of those moon-bases has been sending a distress signal. Space Grunts are a group of intergalactic "problem" solvers, sent to investigate.. You play one, out of a team, of Space Grunts, and your mission is simple: find your way into the moon-base, and figure out what has happened. You'll have to fight your way through aliens, robots, security drones and base-systems. Find the lower levels of the moon-base, and get to the core of the problems. Consumables A large collection of consumables can be found all over the moon base from weapon enhancers, to destructive toys, armor, explosives, system-hacks, and more. Use the items wisely to advance deeper into the moon-base. Weapons Starting with three standard Grunt weapons, you will be able to enhance them for more fire-power and range. On your way you'll also find alternate weapons, and melee weapons. Secrets There are various ways to complete the game, anomalies leading to weird places, underground routes, and mysterious items to transport you to other area's of the moon-base. On top of these there are secret rooms and area's located all over the base, so never a dull moment! Can you find the core of the problems? MFI support Got questions? need tips or help? visit our forums: http://orangepixel.net or connect and say hi: twitter.com/orangepixel facebook.com/orangepixel

About

Abalon

Engage in tactical turn-based combat and deck-building strategy in a tabletop-inspired world. Command units, cast spells, and outwit opponents with creative combos and strategic positioning. Explore diverse biomes, collect cards, and build the perfect deck to become a legend.

Highlights
  • Turn-based tactical combat
  • Deck building strategy
  • Top-down battlefield control
  • Over 500 unique cards
  • Character-based abilities
  • Creative combo system
  • Procedurally generated world exploration
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Abalon, a legendary tactical roguelike and deck building RPG! CARDS. DICE. TACTICS. Embark on epic roguelike adventures to explore a tabletop inspired world and discover its secrets. Abalon combines turn based tactical combat with deck building strategy. Defeat monstrous hordes and powerful bosses to reap the rewards of treasures, allies, and spells. Roll the dice and become a dungeon crawling legend! COMMAND LIKE A GOD Command from a top-down perspective that gives you ultimate control over battlefield tactics. Your characters look up to you (literally) as their god to indicate they are ready to receive your orders. Commands are intuitive: Drag cards to cast spells. Drag warriors to enemies to attack. Drag healers to injured allies to heal. Play fast and fluid with 3-5 minute battles and without having to wait for animations. You can even undo failed attacks to try different approaches. Endless possibilities are at your fingertips! OUTWIT YOUR OPPONENTS Defeat overwhelming odds by mastering tactical positions, backstabbing, feinting counterattacks, knocking enemies into allies to trigger combos, leveraging traps for bonus damage and exploiting spell synergies to manipulate the battlefield in your favor. Abalon is deceptively simple to learn with an unrivaled depth of mechanics that are challenging to master. Position matters. Facing matters. Terrain matters. BUILD THE PERFECT DECK Choose compelling characters like squirrel hurling druids, menacing liche kings, psychic lizard wizards and steampunk time traveling rats. Abalon has over 500 cards including 225 hand-crafted characters with distinct strengths and weaknesses. Select your favorite summoner, build your team and construct a deck of 20 cards. Abalon differs from other role-playing games by removing grindy leveling systems in favor of fixed character stats and abilities and interchangeable gear-based upgrades. Use everyone you have and experiment to create unique strategies. UNLEASH CREATIVE COMBOS Combine your units and spells to create game-breaking synergies: Hurl a squirrel at your opponent and command your critter to bite them in the butt. Cast Animal Growth to mutate it into a super hulk squirrel. Then use Breed to multiply it into an army of hulk squirrels and decimate your opponent in the most satisfying way! Discover something new each time you play. EXPLORE. ROLL DICE. MAKE FRIENDS. Explore an ever-changing fantasy world filled with colorful woodlands, frozen peaks, barren deserts, and perilous dungeons. Abalon is rich in lore, both gritty and humorous, and each biome offers its own characters to find and mysteries to unravel. Collect and roll D20 dice to determine the outcome of fate encounters and make friends with charming bears and birthday goblins. EXPAND YOUR COLLECTION Play for free and grow your collection with paid expansions. Abalon is a premium CCG and RPG that respects your time and money. There are no ads, randomized booster packs, cards to dust, or grinding to level up. Each expansion contains a curated set of content so you know what you are paying for upfront. Like a board game hobby, Abalon’s expansions enhance your existing content. We aim to support the game’s development for the next 10 years and beyond with additional cards, challenge modifiers, game modes and more for infinite replayability. PLAY ON ANY DEVICE ANYTIME ANYWHERE Abalon offers a true cross-platform experience with support for phones, tablets, computers, TVs, portrait and landscape orientations and offline play. ABOUT D20STUDIOS We’re a passionate indie game team who aim to inspire creativity, critical thinking and positive community in people around the world. We value player-driven development, quality products and excellent customer service, and we’d love to hear how we can make your Abalon experience exceptional. Discord: https://discord.gg/d20studios Email: contact@d20studios.com

Screenshots

Space Grunts4 screens
Abalon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Abalon at Free against Space Grunts's $3.99. Abalon also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.2) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 weeks). Space Grunts's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and chart position (#200 vs unranked). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Abalon is free to download; Space Grunts costs $3.99 up front. Abalon sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Space Grunts asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Abalon holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Abalon has 991 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Space Grunts's written reviews are positive against 84% of Abalon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Space Grunts ships an update every 5 weeks, Abalon every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Space Grunts versus Abalon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpace GruntsAbalon
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (15 ratings)4.8 (991 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.9% of reviews84.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15991 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#200 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB117 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperPascal BestebroerD20Studios, LLC

Customer experience

Space Grunts

All ratings15 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral6.7%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews58 reviews
Positive75.9%
Neutral12.1%
Negative12.1%

Abalon

All ratings991 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews287 reviews
Positive84.0%
Neutral3.1%
Negative12.9%

Bugs and requests

Space Grunts

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Abalon

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Bugs in second chapter dungeon
  • Unable to use satchel items

Requested features

3 requests
  • Controller support for Backbone and other third party controllers
  • More variation in encounter types
  • Dark mode option

In-app purchases

None

Space Grunts

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Abalon

One-time5
  • Animal Gear$3.99
  • Angels & Demons$7.99
  • Dark Legion$7.99
Show 2 more
  • Mean & Green$7.99
  • Space & Time$7.99

Questions

Is Space Grunts free?
Space Grunts costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Abalon free?
Abalon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Space Grunts or Abalon?
Abalon is rated higher. Space Grunts averages 4.2 out of 5 from 15 ratings, while Abalon averages 4.8 from 991 ratings.
Do Space Grunts or Abalon have ads?
Neither Space Grunts nor Abalon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Space Grunts or Abalon?
Space Grunts ships an update every 5 weeks, and Abalon every 2 days. Most recently, Space Grunts was updated on September 19, 2026 and Abalon on September 23, 2026.

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