Comparison

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.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

Sid Meier's Colonization4 screens
Cavern Adventurers4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Sid Meier's Colonization versus Cavern Adventurers: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSid Meier's ColonizationCavern Adventurers
Price$2.99 — better$6.99
Rating2.3 (209 ratings)4.4 (117 ratings) — better
Positive reviews20.6% of reviews67.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings209 — better117
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better11.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB75 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperAtariKairosoft Co.,Ltd

Customer experience

Sid Meier's Colonization

All ratings209 ratings
Positive31.6%
Neutral2.9%
Negative65.6%
Written reviews262 reviews
Positive20.6%
Neutral5.3%
Negative74.0%

Cavern Adventurers

All ratings117 ratings
Positive82.1%
Neutral6.8%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews166 reviews
Positive67.5%
Neutral13.9%
Negative18.7%

User reviews

Sid Meier's Colonization

From 209 App Store ratings

What 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 ratings

What 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

None

Sid Meier's Colonization

No in-app purchases

None

Cavern Adventurers

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sid Meier's Colonization free?
Sid Meier's Colonization costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cavern Adventurers free?
Cavern Adventurers costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sid Meier's Colonization or Cavern Adventurers?
Cavern Adventurers is rated higher. Sid Meier's Colonization averages 2.3 out of 5 from 209 ratings, while Cavern Adventurers averages 4.4 from 117 ratings.
Do Sid Meier's Colonization or Cavern Adventurers have ads?
Neither Sid Meier's Colonization nor Cavern Adventurers shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sid Meier's Colonization or Cavern Adventurers?
Sid Meier's Colonization ships an update every 4 months, and Cavern Adventurers every 3 days. Most recently, Sid Meier's Colonization was updated on October 14, 2026 and Cavern Adventurers on October 13, 2026.

Other comparisons