Sid Meier's Colonization vs Cavern Adventurers
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sid Meier's Colonization
Lead a colonial power to explore, settle, and develop new lands in the Colonial Era. Manage resources, establish trade, and engage in diplomacy and warfare to achieve independence. Offers deep strategic gameplay with customizable options.
- Explore and colonize new lands
- Manage growth, development, and trade
- Engage in diplomacy and military strategy
- Play as four distinct colonial powers
- Customize game difficulty and maps
- Advanced artificial intelligence opponents
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The Tradition of Civilization Continues The New World lies before you with all its peril, promise and infinite possibility. Your colonists anxiously follow you to shore. The treasures of an entire continent await you. Finally, the much-anticipated follow-up to Civilization is here! Sid Meier's Colonization takes you into the Colonial Era to discover, explore and colonize vast territories that promise both danger and reward. Play one of four colonial powers as you set sail to discover the New World. Explore new lands and strategically plant your first colony. Direct its growth, manage its resources and establish lucrative trade routes. Balance economics, political and military strategy to create your own powerful nation. But beware of your enemies! Angry natives and rival powers can encroach upon your territory. You'll have to overcome your foes with superior military strategy and wily diplomacy. Only then can you launch your revolution and declare your independence. Colonization, The newest strategy game from Sid Meier continues the great tradition of Civilization. —User Reviews— “The game is a rich and varied Gestalt of top colony activity. Strategies must be divined with care, and constantly modified to ride the chaotic rapids of the thousands of interactive elements in this opus of creative genius. Perhaps. Or it could just be a damn fine game.” “Colonization offers hours and hours of entertainment. I played it for over a week to write this review and it commanded my total concentration all the time to play it once through. Because the game can be very different every time you play it, this means that Colonization is the sort of game you could play for ever.” FEATURES • Manage your growth, development and trade to create a powerful nation. • Pit your strategic skills against Colonization's advanced artificial intelligence. • Play either the French, English, Dutch or Spanish colonial powers each with distinct characteristics and political situations. • Customize your games and choose your own level of difficulty so you never play the same game twice. • Discover and explore the Americas or create your own scenario with a random map generator. • Same design principles and interface as award-winning Civilization, making game play easy and fun.
Cavern Adventurers
Assemble a team of adventurers to explore, secure, and develop a sprawling underground cave network. Manage your team, build infrastructure, and defend against monsters and thieves to uncover treasures and establish a thriving subterranean settlement.
- Team assembly and management
- Cave exploration and expansion
- Infrastructure building (torches, bridges)
- Monster combat and taming
- Trap laying for defense
- Merchant settlement and profit generation
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In a faraway fantasy kingdom, everything was peaceful... Until monsters started pouring out of a hole in the ground! Put together a team of adventurers to secure, explore, and develop a vast underground network of caves in this cavern management simulator. Your adventurers will face all kinds of challenges in the underground, but there's no obstacle you can't deal with if you know how. Place torches to light up the darkness, build bridges to traverse gorges, and use explosives to clear away large rocks! To create a truly great cave, you'll have to stay on your toes and pay attention to the time of day. When the sun's up, organize your miners to discover new areas and build new fixtures. And when night falls, send in your adventurers to show those monsters who's boss! The deeper you dig, the better the treasure you'll find - just how deep can you go? All that fame can come at a price. As your cave becomes more popular, thieves will appear to try and make off with its treasures. Keep your booty safe by laying devious traps around the entrance! Not all monsters are bad. Some of them might even become your friends and fight alongside you! Once you make an entire floor safe, merchants will be able to move in and set up shop there. With a cut of the profits for you, of course! Keep developing the space and earning gold, and pretty soon you'll have the finest cave in all the land! In this quirky management sim, fun, adventure, and riches are lurking right under your nose... Or should we say, right under your boots? -- Supports drag to scroll and pinch to zoom. Search for "Kairosoft" to see all of our games, or visit us at http://kairopark.jp Be sure to check out both our free-to-play and paid games! Kairosoft's pixel art game series continues! Follow us on X (Twitter) for the latest Kairosoft news and information. https://twitter.com/kairokun2010
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Cavern Adventurers at 67% against Sid Meier's Colonization's 21%. Cavern Adventurers also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.3) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 months). Sid Meier's Colonization's advantage is price ($2.99 vs $6.99) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 11.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases 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
Sid Meier's Colonization costs $2.99 and Cavern Adventurers $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Cavern Adventurers holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 209 and 117 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 21% of Sid Meier's Colonization's written reviews are positive against 67% of Cavern Adventurers's.
Sid Meier's Colonization ships an update every 4 months, Cavern Adventurers every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sid Meier's Colonization | Cavern Adventurers |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 — better | $6.99 |
| Rating | 2.3 (209 ratings) | 4.4 (117 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 20.6% of reviews | 67.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 209 — better | 117 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 75 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Atari | Kairosoft Co.,Ltd |
Customer experience
Sid Meier's Colonization
Cavern Adventurers
User reviews
Sid Meier's Colonization
From 209 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Exactly like the original game
- 🚀 Classic gameplay
- 💡 Nostalgia factor
- 🚀 Engaging and addictive
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unresponsive and clunky controls
- 🐛 Keyboard overlay covers too much of the screen
- 🐛 Difficulty loading/unloading cargo
- 🐛 Unable to move diagonally
- 🐛 Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Cavern Adventurers
From 117 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and addictive gameplay
- 💎 Generous in-game currency
- 🕰 Engaging time-sink
- 🔍 Lots of content to explore
- 🎨 Charming retro-style graphics
Room to improve
- 🤔 Confusing or unclear mechanics
- 🕹 Clunky user interface
- ⏱ Slow progression at times
- 🌐 Lack of language support
- 🕯 Lighting/visibility issues
Bugs and requests
Sid Meier's Colonization
Reported bugs
3 issues- Game crashes on launch
- Cursor/touch input issues
- Performance problems and slowdowns
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for Bluetooth keyboard and mouse
- Optimize touch controls for mobile
- Implement drag-and-drop functionality
- Provide a tutorial or instructions on how to use the controls
Cavern Adventurers
Reported bugs
3 issues- Traps not functioning properly
- Adventurer AI getting stuck
- Crashes or freezes at higher levels
Requested features
5 requests- Add Thai language support
- Improve tutorial and onboarding
- Streamline UI and menus
- Introduce faster progression options
- Enhance lighting and visibility
In-app purchases
Sid Meier's Colonization
No in-app purchases
Cavern Adventurers
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Sid Meier's Colonization free?
Is Cavern Adventurers free?
Which has better reviews, Sid Meier's Colonization or Cavern Adventurers?
Do Sid Meier's Colonization or Cavern Adventurers have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sid Meier's Colonization or Cavern Adventurers?
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