Comparison

Starman vs Boxville

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

Head to head
About

Starman

Guide a character through visually stunning environments filled with intricate puzzles. Restore light and life to a desolate world. Experience an immersive journey with unique challenges and a captivating atmosphere.

Highlights
  • Architectural sceneries
  • Elaborate puzzles
  • Unique puzzle design
  • Full screen mode
  • Haptic feedback
  • Soothing music
  • Universal app
Features
Read full description

Guide Starman through breathtaking architectural sceneries with delicate atmospheres and elaborate puzzles. Recover the light, and bring life back! Challenging. You won't find a single puzzle twice. Magnificent. Make the most of full screen mode, carefully adapted for the iPhone X. Immersive experience. Thanks to haptic feedback and soothing music. Universal. Enjoy starman on the iPad or the iPhone. This eerie experience has been crafted with love by sergio abril and jacobo abril, two brothers that happen to be architects.

About

Boxville

This animated adventure puzzle game features speechless cans navigating a city of boxes. Solve logic puzzles and riddles, explore a charming world, and uncover the mystery behind earthquakes. Enjoy a unique audio-visual experience, playable solo or with a friend.

Highlights
  • Animated film and puzzle game hybrid
  • Hand-drawn graphics and custom animations
  • Environmental quests and logical puzzles
  • Unique music for each scene
  • Wordless communication via speech bubbles
  • Playable solo or co-op
Features
Read full description

Boxville is 2-in-1: an animated film and a puzzle game. Boxville is an adventure puzzle game about speechless cans living in the city of boxes and drawing doodles on cardboards to tell the stories. Boxville is good for playing alone to dive into the atmosphere and challenge your brain with sophisticated logic puzzles and riddles, or playing with a friend or family to share unique audio-visual experiences and solve the puzzles together. Design The core idea of the game is that it’s not just a game - but also an animated film that you can watch and play at the same time. We designed Boxville’s gameplay with the purpose of taking away your anxiety and stress. You can explore and observe the world without rushing and pressure. The game is full of environmental quests and logical puzzles that we have carefully picked from among hundreds of options. Story Boxville is a city of boxes populated with old cans. They live quiet and happy lives with their everyday routines and habits. But one day, unexplained earthquakes disturbed their idyll... Blue Can (our hero) lost his best friend because of that. He started his search but it is not so easy to move through the city after earthquakes. He has to find a way to move forward, return the friend back home and discover the real reason for all those earthquakes. There are many adventures, new friends and it’s not only friends that are waiting for him on the way. He has to be curious, inventive, careful, and to help others, to reach his goal. What you can expect to see and hear in Boxville: - Hand-drawn graphics — all backgrounds and characters are carefully drawn by our artists. - Every animation and sound is created especially for each interaction. - Unique music track was created for every scene to accomplish the atmosphere of the game. - Tens of logical puzzles and mini-games are tightly incorporated into the story of the game. - There are no words in the game — all characters communicate via cartoony speechbubbles.

Screenshots

Starman4 screens
Boxville4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Boxville at none against Starman's 1. Boxville also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). Starman's advantage is ratings volume (4.7K vs 773) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 13.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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

Starman costs $3.99 and Boxville $3.99 up front. Starman sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Boxville asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Starman against 4.7 for Boxville. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starman has 4.7K ratings behind it against 773, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Starman's written reviews are positive against 78% of Boxville's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starman ships an update every 3 weeks, Boxville every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Starman versus Boxville: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarmanBoxville
Price$3.99$3.99
Rating4.8 (4.7K ratings) — better4.7 (773 ratings)
Positive reviews82.4% of reviews — better78.3% of reviews
Number of ratings4.7K — better773
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size662 MB1.2 GB
Age rating4+4+
Developernada studio, slTriomatica Games

Customer experience

Starman

All ratings4,677 ratings
Positive96.1%
Neutral2.5%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews541 reviews
Positive82.4%
Neutral6.5%
Negative11.1%

Boxville

All ratings755 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews226 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral8.0%
Negative13.7%

User reviews

Starman

From 4.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Atmospheric and soothing
  • 🧠 Challenging yet satisfying puzzles
  • 🎨 Beautiful visuals and art style
  • 🎶 Relaxing soundtrack
  • 💡 Innovative gameplay mechanics

Room to improve

  • 🐢 Slow character movement
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Unclear instructions/guidance
  • 🕰️ Short overall playtime

Boxville

From 773 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Enjoyable puzzles
  • 🎨 Beautiful art and animation
  • 🎶 Lovely music
  • 🧠 Challenging but logical puzzles
  • 🤗 Charming characters and story

Room to improve

  • 🕰️ Short game length
  • 🔍 Tiny inventory items hard to see
  • 🤯 Some puzzles too obscure
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🤖 Lack of hint system or ability to skip puzzles

Bugs and requests

Starman

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes on certain levels
  • Issues with wheel/control responsiveness
  • Missing boat/objects in bonus mode

Requested features

4 requests
  • More levels and content
  • Ability to speed up character movement
  • Improved save/checkpoint system
  • Cross-device sync

Boxville

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Progress reset after updates
  • Inventory items disappearing
  • Puzzle mechanics not working as expected

Requested features

4 requests
  • Longer game with more content
  • Ability to use stylus/Apple Pencil
  • Improved save/load system
  • In-game hints or ability to skip puzzles

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Starman

One-time1
  • Flow Mode$0.99
None

Boxville

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Starman free?
Starman costs $3.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Boxville free?
Boxville costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starman or Boxville?
Starman is rated higher. Starman averages 4.8 out of 5 from 4.7K ratings, while Boxville averages 4.7 from 773 ratings.
Do Starman or Boxville have ads?
Neither Starman nor Boxville shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starman or Boxville?
Starman ships an update every 3 weeks, and Boxville every 9 days. Most recently, Starman was updated on October 29, 2026 and Boxville on October 30, 2026.

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