Swamp Castle vs Serania
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.
Serania
Embark on a text-based role-playing adventure to uncover your past and escape pursuers. Make choices, explore a fantasy world, and engage in combat and skill development. The first part of the story is free to play.
- Engaging fantasy story with choices
- Explore a detailed story world
- Interact with characters
- Complete missions and improve skills
- Manage inventory and combat
- Uncover ancestral truth
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Escape the Blackblades and search for answers about your mysterious past in this new, fresh take on the text-based role playing genre. You can play the first 1/4 of the game for free. If the game is for you, you can buy access to the full story. FEATURES: * An engaging fantasy story, where you choose what to do * Freely explore the world of the story * Meet and interact with other characters * Go on missions, improve your skills, and fight deadly battles * Manage your inventory, use items, buy, sell or use in combat * Follow the clues and find out the truth about your ancestry! AWARDS: Best Narrative - Silver Winner NYX Game Awards 2021 Best Storytelling - Silver Winner NYX Game Awards 2021 PRESS: “... a stunningly well-written and enthralling text adventure.” - GameBookNews "Serania: Path of the Scion is a Must Play if You Like Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Books" - GameSpew "Serania – Path of the Scion excels as an engaging narrative experience that you can enjoy anytime, anywhere, with a streamlined interface that seamlessly integrates all aspects of the game naturally." - IndieHive
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Serania at none against Swamp Castle's shown. Serania also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 18 months) and iOS requirement (9.3 vs 12.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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 Serania sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 4.6 for Serania. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 85 and 162 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Swamp Castle's written reviews are positive against 83% of Serania's.
Swamp Castle ships an update every 18 months, Serania every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Swamp Castle | Serania |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (85 ratings) — better | 4.6 (162 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.8% of reviews — better | 83.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 85 | 162 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 18 months | Every 10 days — 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 | 12.0 | 9.3 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 110 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Hosted Games LLC | Peter Ravnholt |
Customer experience
Swamp Castle
Serania
Bugs and requests
Swamp Castle
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Serania
Reported bugs
10 issues- Combat options disappear
- Enemies can dodge while 'paralyzed'
- Life doesn't fully restore upon leveling up
- Stuck in temple ruins without a boat option
- Final boss is impossible to hit/beat
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- Choices are arbitrary, leading to death and reverting to checkpoint
- Constant misses in combat, reliant on RNG
- Difficulty spikes significantly at the end
- Hint doesn't provide enough information for progression
- Continue button sometimes delayed with voiceover
Requested features
19 requests- Add a dodge button
- Add a defense button
- Add more combat options (e.g., quick thrust, sideways cut)
- Fix bug with disappearing combat options
- Make the next game free
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- Add more choices to the story
- Add a boat option for crossing the lake
- Create a Serania part two
- Allow revival in the story
- Add more sound effects for combat
- Expand the story after claiming the throne
- Add a freeplay or challenge mode after main story
- Add hidden areas with new enemies/weapons
- Implement New Game + with increased difficulty
- Add a gender option other than man and woman
- Loop music tracks and add more scene-specific music
- Add a map for better navigation
- Make the full story free
- Allow watching ads to progress instead of paying
In-app purchases
Swamp Castle
- Restart the Game Once$0.99
- Remove Advertising$4.99
Serania
- Access to the full story$3.99
Questions
Is Swamp Castle free?
Is Serania free?
Which has better reviews, Swamp Castle or Serania?
Do Swamp Castle or Serania have ads?
Which is updated more often, Swamp Castle or Serania?
Other comparisons
