Comparison

Reigns vs Sorcery! 4

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

Head to head
About

Reigns

Rule a medieval kingdom by making decisions with a swipe of your finger. Balance the needs of various factions, from the church to the army, to extend your reign. Each choice has consequences that can lead to your dynasty's downfall.

Highlights
  • Swipe-based decision making
  • Kingdom faction balance
  • Dynasty survival
  • Event spanning centuries
  • Multiple ways to die
Features
Read full description

Sit on the throne as a benevolent (or malevolent) medieval monarch of the modern age and swipe your royal fingers either left or right to impose your will upon the kingdom. Survive the seemingly never-ending gauntlet of requests from your advisors, peasants, allies, and enemies while maintaining balance between the influential factions of your kingdom. But beware; each decision you make might have implications and unfortunate consequences down the road that could put your reign and family’s dynasty at risk! Each year of your reign brings another important – seemingly random – request from your unpredictable kingdom as you strive for balance between the church, the people, the army, and the treasury. Prudent decisions and careful planning make for a long reign but unforeseen motivations, surprise events, and poor luck can take down even the most entrenched monarch. Extend your reign as long as possible, forge alliances, make enemies, and find new ways to die as your dynasty marches along through the ages. Some events will span on centuries, with an intrigue involving burning witches, scientific enlightenment, wicked politics and, maybe, the Devil himself. *iPhone 5 / iPod Touch 6 / iPad Mini / iPad Air or later recommended.

About

Sorcery! 4

Embark on an epic open-world narrative adventure in a cursed citadel filled with monsters, traps, and magic. Explore a hand-drawn 3D world, make thousands of choices that shape your story, and master new spells. Your decisions, disguises, and interactions with characters will lead to multiple endings.

Highlights
  • Open-world exploration
  • Dynamic storytelling
  • Thousands of choices
  • Disguise system
  • Magic spellcasting
  • Multiple endings
  • Swindlestones mini-game
Features
Read full description

An epic adventure through a cursed citadel of monsters, traps and magic. Begin your journey here (Parts 1-3 not required) - or conclude your epic adventure. "One of the finest RPGs ever made" - Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Best RPG of 2016 "Sorcery! pushes and exploits both genre tropes and limitations, not as mere parody but in order to provide a better role-playing experience. A masterful work." - TechRaptor 9/10 Praise for Part 3: Editors Choice, Apple; iPad Best Game of the Year selection "One of 2015's best iPhone games" - TIME magazine "An amazing adventure..." - TouchArcade 5/5 An open-world narrative adventure into a cursed Citadel of monsters, traps and magic. Fight weird creatures, cast powerful spells that shape the story, cheat death, and explore everywhere. Begin your journey here, or conclude your adventure from Part 3. + Explore freely - go where you want through a hand-drawn, 3D world, creating your own unique story + Totally dynamic storytelling - the story adapts itself around everything you do + Thousands of choices - all are remembered, from the big to the small, and all will shape your adventure + Disguise yourself - adopt different disguises as you infiltrate the Citadel. Characters react differently depending on how you are dressed + Uncover the secrets of magic - secret spells to discover, and new forms of magic to master + Multiple endings, and hundreds of secrets - the game is stuffed with secrets and hidden content. Can you enter the vaults? Will you find the grave of the invisible girl? + Cheat, swindle, deceive, or play with honour - how will you win the trust of the citizens of Mampang? Remember, every choice matters... + New enemies, including mutants, guards, merchants and the undead - each with their own strengths and weaknesses + Adapted from the best-selling gamebook series by legendary game designer Steve Jackson + Swindlestones is back! The game of bluff and deceit is back, with the toughest opponents yet - the Gambling Monks of Effe + Seven Gods, all with different quirks and powers + Start your adventure here, or load your character and all your choices from Part 3 + New music from "80 Days" composer Laurence Chapman + New 3D hand-drawn maps to explore by Mike Schley You have reached the gates of Mampang, the ancient Fortress of Sorcerers. It is guarded by Birdmen, mutants, traps and ancient, wild magic. But inside is the Crown of Kings and the only hope for peace in the Old World. You must make your way past chasms, guards, walls and evil magic if you are to face the Archmage - and survive. From the creators of TIME's Game of the Year 2014 and four-time BAFTA nominee, "80 Days", comes the final part of the epic, acclaimed Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series, co-creator of Games Workshop and Fighting Fantasy (with Iain Livingstone). Using inkle's unique ink engine, the story is written in real-time, built around your choices and actions. Every action is remembered, and every decision, however small, can make the different between life and death, success and failure, humiliation or triumph. Sorcery! 4 is our most complex story to date, featuring over half a million words of adaptive content which incorporates all your choices from previous parts. The Sorcery! is true epic, interactive storytelling - and it concludes here.

Screenshots

Reigns4 screens
Sorcery! 44 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Reigns at 7.6K against Sorcery! 4's 86. Reigns also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and chart position (#11 vs unranked). Sorcery! 4's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 13.0). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Reigns costs $2.99 and Sorcery! 4 $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Reigns holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Reigns has 7.6K ratings behind it against 86, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of Reigns's written reviews are positive against 77% of Sorcery! 4's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Reigns ships an update every 5 weeks, Sorcery! 4 every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Reigns versus Sorcery! 4: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReignsSorcery! 4
Price$2.99 — better$4.99
Rating4.8 (7.6K ratings) — better4.6 (86 ratings)
Positive reviews70.2% of reviews76.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7.6K — better86
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#11 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size124 MB447 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperDevolverinkle

Customer experience

Reigns

All ratings7,608 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral2.1%
Negative2.2%
Written reviews921 reviews
Positive70.2%
Neutral9.1%
Negative20.6%

Sorcery! 4

All ratings86 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral2.3%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews78 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral10.3%
Negative12.8%

User reviews

Reigns

From 7.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👑 Great game concept
  • 🤴 Engaging storyline and characters
  • 🎨 Stylish art and design
  • 🕹️ Addictive and challenging gameplay
  • 🕰️ Replayability and multiple endings

Room to improve

  • 🔁 Repetitive gameplay and card choices
  • 🤔 Unclear consequences of decisions
  • 🕹️ Frustrating difficulty and randomness
  • 🔋 Battery drain issues
  • 🐛 Bugs and save file corruption

Sorcery! 4

From 86 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📖 Deep and interesting story
  • ✨ Beautifully reimagined and engaging
  • 💯 Developers innovate and entertain
  • 🌟 Best one of the four
  • 👍 Great conclusion to a great series

Room to improve

  • 😩 Frustrating without rewind
  • 🔁 Punishing repetition
  • 🤔 Questionable choice to disable rewind
  • 😵 Tedious grinding ensues
  • 😭 Spoils the fun of the game

Bugs and requests

Reigns

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Blank/corrupted cards
  • Crashes and freezes
  • Save file corruption
  • Compatibility issues on newer devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • More content and storylines
  • Ability to customize the king/kingdom
  • Improved UI and feedback on decisions
  • Difficulty settings or options
  • Cross-platform/cloud save support

Sorcery! 4

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Can't move on in the game
  • Final ending underwhelming

Requested features

7 requests
  • Choice of language at the start
  • Option to enable rewind mechanic
  • Beginner/weakling mode with rewind
  • Limited number of rewinds
  • More help or tutorial for new players
Show 2 more
  • Allow rewind after completing the game a certain number of times
  • Option to enable/disable rewind in settings

In-app purchases

None

Reigns

No in-app purchases

None

Sorcery! 4

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Reigns free?
Reigns costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sorcery! 4 free?
Sorcery! 4 costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Reigns or Sorcery! 4?
Reigns is rated higher. Reigns averages 4.8 out of 5 from 7.6K ratings, while Sorcery! 4 averages 4.6 from 86 ratings.
Do Reigns or Sorcery! 4 have ads?
Neither Reigns nor Sorcery! 4 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Reigns or Sorcery! 4?
Reigns ships an update every 5 weeks, and Sorcery! 4 every 2 months. Most recently, Reigns was updated on October 16, 2026 and Sorcery! 4 on October 14, 2026.

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