Swamp Castle vs Hosted Games
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Swamp Castle
Become a Lord managing your castle's economy, resolving peasant conflicts, and expanding your influence. Your text-based choices shape the narrative and determine your realm's fate through war, diplomacy, or stealth.
- Castle economy management
- Peasant conflict resolution
- Troop hiring and combat
- Diplomacy and stealth options
- Choice-driven narrative
- Text-based gameplay
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You are a newly appointed Lord in charge of a small castle. Manage your castle's finances, hire troops, resolve conflicts among the peasants, and bring order to the realm. Expand your power through war, diplomacy, or stealth. Whether you rise or fall is up to you in Swamp Castle. "Swamp Castle" is an interactive novel by Philip Kempton where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based--102,000 words, without graphics or sound-effects--and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. • Manage the economy of your province by controlling the tax rates. • Decisions you make impact the story and your ability to rule your subjects. • Fight against raiders and even other Lords. • Choose between decisions that could help your subjects or give you additional power.
Hosted Games
Explore a vast library of text-based interactive novels where your choices shape the narrative. Engage in diverse genres from horror and fantasy to romance and sci-fi, all powered by your imagination. Create your own stories using a simple scripting language.
- Vast library of interactive novels
- Text-based storytelling
- Choice-driven narratives
- Multiple genres available
- Create your own games
- ChoiceScript programming language
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The choice is yours! Joust for love and glory, solve an eldritch murder, find romance, or battle aliens with Magitek? "Hosted Games" is a magnificent library of interactive novels, written by authors like you. Hosted Games are entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Try a few of these fan favorites: • Zombie Exodus — Fight your way out of a zombie-filled city in this interactive horror story! • Fallen Hero — Step into the shoes of a telepath turned villain and explore the dark side. • Wayhaven Chronicles — Something stalks the shadows, and it's up to you to find out what! • Sabres of Infinity — Step into the boots of a Royal Dragoon in this tale of war in a fantasy world. • Golden Rose — Explore a medieval Europe where history took a different turn! • Soul Stone War — Fight for the future—your own, and the world's! Your fate is yours. • I, the Forgotten One — Can you defeat the rebellion in your kingdom before your past consumes you? • An Unexpectedly Green Journey — From birth to death, craft your orc's legacy. Are you destined for glory? • Fields of Asphodel — Join the ranks of the Underworld's misfit gods and make it your home! • Tin Star — Ride out into the Old West as a U.S. marshal and craft a legend. Authors just like you have developed these games using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Learn more at https://hostedgames.org
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Hosted Games at every 10 days against Swamp Castle's every 18 months. Hosted Games also leads on ratings volume (956 vs 85). Swamp Castle's advantage is review sentiment (87% vs 77%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Swamp Castle sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Hosted Games sells 33 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Swamp Castle against 4.7 for Hosted Games. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hosted Games has 956 ratings behind it against 85, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Swamp Castle's written reviews are positive against 77% of Hosted Games's.
Swamp Castle ships an update every 18 months, Hosted Games every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Swamp Castle | Hosted Games |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (85 ratings) | 4.7 (956 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 86.8% of reviews — better | 77.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 85 | 956 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 18 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 94 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Hosted Games LLC | Hosted Games LLC |
Customer experience
Swamp Castle
Hosted Games
In-app purchases
Swamp Castle
- Restart the Game Once$0.99
- Remove Advertising$4.99
Hosted Games
- Dragon of Steelthorne$2.99
- Side Stories 21-30$2.99
- First Bull Run$2.99
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- Tokyo Wizard$2.99
- It Takes Three to Tango$3.99
- Divine Ascension$4.99
- Samurai of Hyuga$4.99
- Keeper's Vigil$5.99
- World War II Armored Recon$5.99
- Life as a Lich$5.99
- Velocity: The Race Begins$6.99
- Keeper of the Sun and Moon$6.99
- Samurai of Hyuga Book 6$6.99
- Fallen Hero: Rebirth$6.99
- Hero or Villain: Genesis$6.99
- A Kiss from Death$6.99
- Kitsune$6.99
- Whiskey-Four$6.99
- Wayhaven Chronicles: Book One$7.99
- The Soul Stone War$7.99
- Leas: City of the Sun$7.99
- The People's House$7.99
- Scales of Justice$7.99
- Tale of Two Cranes$8.99
- Breach: The Archangel Job$8.99
- Wayhaven Chronicles: Book Two$8.99
- Saturnine$8.99
- The Golden Rose: Book One$11.99
- Diaspora$11.99
- Wayhaven Chronicles Three$11.99
- Fallen Hero: Retribution$11.99
- An Unexpectedly Green Journey$11.99
- Fields of Asphodel$11.99
Questions
Is Swamp Castle free?
Is Hosted Games free?
Which has better reviews, Swamp Castle or Hosted Games?
Do Swamp Castle or Hosted Games have ads?
Which is updated more often, Swamp Castle or Hosted Games?
Other comparisons
