Comparison

Evertree Inn vs Simple Initiative

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

Head to head
About

Evertree Inn

Embark on a text-based murder mystery adventure in a magical tavern. Your choices shape the narrative as you explore, interact with characters, and uncover clues to solve a deadly secret before the killer strikes again.

Highlights
  • Text-based interactive story
  • Open-world tavern exploration
  • Multiple playable races
  • Combat with weapons and magic
  • Choice-driven narrative
  • Character relationship building
Features
Read full description

A mysterious tavern with a deadly secret! Check-in to this magical tale of murder and mystery where not everything is as it seems. Explore the tavern in secret or in style, meet and mingle with guests and staff, wield weapons and magic and uncover clues before the killer strikes again! Evertree Inn is an immersive 265,000 word interactive experience by Thom Baylay, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based--without graphics or sound effects--and fueled by the vast unstoppable power of your imagination. What will you do when an overnight stay in a highway tavern turns into the biggest mystery of your life? Will you rise to the challenge, or will you resist your destiny? Are you in it for the money, for the thrill of the chase or are you secretly hoping for romance? Enter an open world, where the choices you ignore matter as much as the ones you explore and where every interaction has a reaction. Choose your path as elf or dwarf, human or halfling or even the elusive brownie and find out if you have what it takes to survive the night at Evertree Inn? • Immerse yourself in the fully open and explorable tavern where your actions have real consequences. • Play as any one of five races, each with their own unique abilities and dialogue options! • Overcome obstacles with brute strength, keen perception, natural cunning and even magic. • Battle with any weapon you can imagine or unleash an impressive arsenal of spells. • Boldly confront guests and staff or lurk in the shadows as you uncover clues. • Make enemies and friends and maybe even find true love. • Play as male, female or non-binary. • Play as gay, straight, bisexual or asexual.

About

Simple Initiative

This combat tracker streamlines tabletop RPG sessions for Dungeon Masters. Easily manage initiative, track hit points, apply conditions, and add monsters from a built-in database. Designed for offline use and a clutter-free experience.

Highlights
  • Instant initiative sorting and combat start
  • Player and monster tagging
  • SRD monster database integration
  • Intuitive HP tracking
  • One-tap condition application
  • Smart turn order management
  • Save and reload encounters
Features
Read full description

Combat is supposed to be fun. Not a logistics problem. Simple Initiative is the combat tracker built for Dungeon Masters who want to spend less time managing turns and more time running the game. Add your fighters, roll initiative, hit Start Combat, and stay in the moment. No subscription. No ads. No account. No bloat. Just clean, fast, intuitive combat tracking made for D&D 5e, designed for the in-person table. ~BUILT FOR THE TABLE~ INSTANT SETUP Add players and monsters in seconds. Initiative auto-sorts highest to lowest. Hit Start Combat, and you're off. PLAYER + MONSTER SPLIT Tag combatants as players or monsters. At the end of an encounter, one tap keeps your whole party loaded and ready -- just add new monsters for the next fight. Added SRD monster database — DMs can now search and drop any monster from the 2014 5e SRD (334 monsters) or 2024 5.5e SRD (235 monsters) directly into an encounter. Initiative is auto-rolled using each monster's own modifier. HP and AC pre-fill automatically. Database is bundled in the app and works completely offline. HP TRACKING YOUR WAY Drag the HP bar to adjust hit points in real time. Every HP unit gives a satisfying haptic tick. Disable HP tracking for players who prefer to manage their own. CONDITIONS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Apply and remove them with a single tap, right from the combat screen. SMART TURN ORDER Active turn tracks by identity, not position. Drag to reorder mid-combat without losing your place. New creatures added mid-encounter slot in at the right initiative. SAVE ENCOUNTERS Quickly save and reload encounters to run multiple tables or stop mid-fight for the night and return later. ~ALSO DESIGNED FOR iPad ~ On iPad, Simple Initiative transforms into a split-screen command center. The initiative list lives on the left. On the right: the active combatant's name, HP bar, and full condition panel -- all in one glance, no scrolling required. ~ CLEAN. FAST. YOURS ~ - Works entirely offline -- perfect for the table where wifi won't - Dark and light mode with one tap. Font size support. - Auto-rolls initiative with modifier support if needed. - No ads. No tracking. No data collection. - One-time purchase -- pay once, own it forever Simple Initiative gets out of your way so you can focus on what matters: telling a great story. One purchase. Every session. Every fight.

Screenshots

Evertree Inn4 screens
Simple Initiative3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Simple Initiative at none against Evertree Inn's shown. Simple Initiative also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 18 months) and price ($2.99 vs $6.99). Evertree Inn's advantage is ratings volume (74 vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). On rating, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Evertree Inn costs $6.99 and Simple Initiative $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Evertree Inn against 5.0 for Simple Initiative. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Evertree Inn has 74 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 94% of Evertree Inn's written reviews are positive against 100% of Simple Initiative's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Evertree Inn ships an update every 18 months, Simple Initiative every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Evertree Inn versus Simple Initiative: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEvertree InnSimple Initiative
Price$6.99$2.99 — better
Rating4.9 (74 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews93.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings74 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 18 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#196 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB3 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperHosted Games LLCBenjamin Van Allen

Customer experience

Evertree Inn

All ratings75 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.3%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews47 reviews
Positive93.6%
Neutral2.1%
Negative4.3%

Simple Initiative

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Evertree Inn

Requested features

2 requests
  • Sequel or more stories from this author
  • Ability to save or go back after bad choices

Simple Initiative

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Evertree Inn

No in-app purchases

None

Simple Initiative

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Evertree Inn free?
Evertree Inn costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Simple Initiative free?
Simple Initiative costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Evertree Inn or Simple Initiative?
Simple Initiative is rated higher. Evertree Inn averages 4.9 out of 5 from 74 ratings, while Simple Initiative averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Evertree Inn or Simple Initiative have ads?
Evertree Inn shows ads; Simple Initiative does not.
Which is updated more often, Evertree Inn or Simple Initiative?
Evertree Inn ships an update every 18 months, and Simple Initiative every 4 days. Most recently, Evertree Inn was updated on October 24, 2026 and Simple Initiative on October 25, 2026.

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