Cosmic Express vs cardinal.
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cosmic Express
Plan intricate train routes for a quirky space colony in this challenging puzzle game. Navigate hundreds of levels filled with cute aliens and increasingly difficult scenarios. Enjoy hours of engaging, frustrating fun without any in-app purchases or ads.
- Train route planning puzzles
- Hundreds of levels
- Cute alien characters
- Challenging gameplay
- No in-app purchases
- No ads
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Cosmic Express is a puzzle game about planning the train route for the world's most awkward space colony, from the minds behind A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build and the art of Tyu from Klondike. It's cute, harder than it looks, and guaranteed to give you hours of frustrating fun across hundreds of levels. No in-app-purchases or ads. iPhone 5S, iPad Air, iPad Mini 2 or later recommended. Awards: Finalist - IMGA Global, 2017 Finalist - IndiePlus, 2017 Official Selection - Indie Megabooth, GDC 2017 Official Selection - Google Play Indie Corner, PAX 2016
cardinal.
Engage in a minimalistic logic puzzle game where you deduce a secret solution using sixteen cards and clues. Enjoy procedurally generated boards for endless play and compete globally in daily challenges.
- Minimalistic logic puzzles
- Deduce secret solutions
- Procedurally generated boards
- Endless regular mode
- Daily global competitions
- 16 logic cards
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Minimalistic yet challenging, CARDINAL gives you sixteen different cards and clues in which you must figure out the secret solution! Begin with the cardinal rule you can then continue to creatively deduce the solution from there! An endless amount of procedurally generated boards waits for you in regular mode. And when you feel ready, test yourself in the daily competition alongside players from all over the globe.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: cardinal. at Free against Cosmic Express's $0.99. cardinal. also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks). Cosmic Express's advantage is ratings volume (198 vs 14) and chart position (#168 vs unranked). On rating, 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
cardinal. is free to download; Cosmic Express costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Cosmic Express against 4.9 for cardinal.. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cosmic Express has 198 ratings behind it against 14, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 91% of Cosmic Express's written reviews are positive against 80% of cardinal.'s.
Cosmic Express ships an update every 3 weeks, cardinal. every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Cosmic Express | cardinal. |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (198 ratings) | 4.9 (14 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 90.8% of reviews — better | 80.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 198 — better | 14 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #168 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 6.0 — better | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 196 MB | 99 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Draknek Limited | Perfect Hat Games LLC |
Customer experience
Cosmic Express
cardinal.
Bugs and requests
Cosmic Express
Reported bugs
3 issues- Delphinus 6 cannot achieve gold star despite correct solutions
- Accidental purchases through scrolling (multiple reports)
- Duplicate billing for already purchased app
Requested features
4 requests- Level editor mode to create and share custom puzzles
- Hint system or optional solution guides
- More levels or sequel content
- Different editing mode for easier track deletion/modification
cardinal.
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Cosmic Express
No in-app purchases
cardinal.
No in-app purchases
