Merchant RPG vs Idle Sword 2
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Merchant RPG
Manage a fantasy shopkeeping empire by sending heroes on quests for materials and using crafters to create gear. Balance crafting, selling, and hero upgrades to build your trade empire and conquer foes. This offline idle RPG blends tycoon mechanics with traditional RPG elements.
- Send heroes on quests
- Craft weapons and armor
- Manage shop economy
- Upgrade heroes and crafters
- Raid bosses
- Customize characters
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Be the Merchant of your very own empire! Quest, Craft, Profit, Upgrade! As the Merchant, you are the commander of your own domain! Blending together traditional RPG systems, tycoon mechanics, and a fantasy overworld, Merchant aims to reimagine the traditional mobile RPG. In Merchant, players take the role of a shopkeeper who must manage a team of Heroes and Crafters. Heroes are sent out on quests in order to fight enemies and gather materials. Crafters then use those materials to create weapons and armor. As the shopkeeper, players must balance their micro-economies between selling items for gold and crafting items to better ensure success for the Heroes. * * * TAKE REIGN OF YOUR MARKET - Send Heroes out on epic adventures! - Pay Crafters to create gear! - Earn gold and dictate the direction of your economy! - Grow your inventory and profit from your trade empire! VICTORY THROUGH CONQUEST - Choose your cast of characters from multiple Hero classes! - Ride out to battle to bring back items and loot! - Customize your champions with weapons and armor! - Band together to raid powerful bosses as a party! - Better performance leads to greater rewards! CRAFT YOUR LEGACY - Utilize the unique Crafters to create items and gear to use and sell! - Train the Crafters to create better items, allowing them to master their trade! - Ensure the victory of your Heroes by outfitting them with superior items! * * *
Idle Sword 2
Embark on an epic clicker adventure through perilous dungeons. Tap to guide your heroes, battle monsters and bosses, and collect powerful upgrades. Discover new heroes and equip them to survive the challenges of this retro RPG.
- Explore Dungeons
- Battle Monsters
- Epic Boss Battles
- Collect Upgrades
- Find New Heroes
- Tap to Guide Heroes
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Enjoy the #1 action tapping flash game, now in an app! Crawl through dungeons, fight monsters and epic boss battles in an all new style of roguelike RPG. Tap to guide your heroes through dungeons, find new heroes and collect powerful upgrades. See if your heroes can survive Idle Sword 2, an epic clicker and retro RPG all in one. This is an action clicker game like you’ve never seen. Straight from the intense flash game, you’ll have to battle monsters, sell equipment and upgrade your skills to go deeper into perilous dungeons. Use your God Hand tapping powers to guide your not-so idle heroes to find hidden treasure in a pixel dungeon, making sure your idle heroes have enough gear, health and items to protect them from a certain doom. Squish giant bees, attack slugs and battle monsters of every kind in this idle RPG! Idle Sword 2 Features: Explore Dungeons - Use your God Hand tapping powers to guide and assist your heroes. - Dungeons cover the land and must be explored by the idle heroes. - Each pixel dungeon has challenging monsters and even more difficult dungeon boss. - Engage in boss battles to clear the pixel dungeon! Battle Monsters - Battle monsters to survive and collect great rewards! - Squish any monster that comes your way. - Your tap quest isn’t complete until the monster is defeated!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Idle Sword 2 at none against Merchant RPG's shown. Idle Sword 2 also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). Merchant RPG's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (69% vs 52%). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Merchant RPG sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Idle Sword 2 sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Merchant RPG holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 276 and 234 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Merchant RPG's written reviews are positive against 52% of Idle Sword 2's.
Merchant RPG ships an update every 4 months, Idle Sword 2 every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Merchant RPG | Idle Sword 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (276 ratings) — better | 4.3 (234 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.9% of reviews — better | 51.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 276 — better | 234 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 67 MB | 60 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Retora Game Studios | Iron Horse Games LLC |
Customer experience
Merchant RPG
Idle Sword 2
User reviews
Merchant RPG
From 276 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Addictive gameplay
- 👍 Simple yet deep mechanics
- 🎨 Lovely pixel art style
- 💰 Fair monetization model
- ⏱️ Quick progression
Room to improve
- 🔇 Cuts off background audio
- 🤔 Confusing for new players
- 🤖 Lack of combat animations
- 🧠 Repetitive gameplay loop
Idle Sword 2
From 234 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Addictive gameplay
- 👍 Enjoyable RPG mechanics
- 💎 Generous monetization model
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 📱 UI issues on newer devices
- 🕰️ Lack of updates and support
Bugs and requests
Merchant RPG
Reported bugs
3 issues- Ads not working properly
- Inventory management issues
- Progression-blocking bugs
Requested features
4 requests- Add save slots or cloud sync
- Improve equipment visuals
- Implement auto-repeat quests
- Provide more guidance for new players
Idle Sword 2
Reported bugs
3 issues- Game freezes after watching ads
- Inventory UI cuts off on iPhone X
- Saved progress not transferring between devices
Requested features
3 requests- Restore purchase option
- Leaderboards and social features
- More content and dungeons
In-app purchases
Merchant RPG
- 16 Inventory Slots$0.99
- 16 Additional Inventory Slots II$0.99
- 16 Additional Inventory Slots III$0.99
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- 16 Additional Inventory Slots$0.99
- Unlock the Jeweler$0.99
- Hero Slot I$0.99
- Enchanter Unlock$1.99
- Frozen Tome Expansion$2.99
- Scribe Expansion$3.99
- Unlocks Everything$14.99
Idle Sword 2
- Auto Power-Up$1.99
- Super Swiping Power!$2.99
- Small Gem Pack$4.99
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- Remove Ads$4.99
- Speed Boost$4.99
- Lush Jungle$4.99
- Medium Gem Pack$9.99
- Start Pack for New Players$11.99
- God Powers bundle$14.99
- Large Gems Pack$19.99









