Comparison

Kittens Game vs Despotism 3k

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

Head to head
About

Kittens Game

Manage a growing village of kittens in this text-based simulation game. Gather resources, research technologies, and expand your settlement. This old-school experience is free of ads and micro-transactions.

Highlights
  • Village simulation
  • Resource management
  • Technology research
  • Text-based gameplay
  • Kitten management
Features
Read full description

Kittens Game is a village simulation text game. You manage a village of kittens as they acquire resources and unlock new technologies. This is an old school game and a product of many years of love and hard labor. It does not have any ads or micro-transactions.

About

Despotism 3k

Manage enslaved humans to extract power and build your empire in this dark humor resource management sim. Features rogue-lite elements with unique playthroughs and a dramatic plot filled with pop culture references.

Highlights
  • Dark humor and satirical plot
  • Intense resource management
  • Rogue-lite gameplay with random events
  • Procedurally generated maps
  • Unique playthroughs with permadeath
  • Expedition and raid mechanics
Features
Read full description

Humanity is enslaved by an AI… which is awesome, because we’re on the right side of the conflict. Exploit puny humans to extract power and build your own empire! You’ll have to keep track of them to make sure they don’t succumb to exhaustion and hunger… although the weakest ones can always be thrown to the Bioreactor. In other words, this is a resource management sim with rogue-lite elements, dramatic plot, and an abundance of pop culture references. Also, jokes. Slaughter has never been so fun! Key features: 1) Humor as dark as your ex’s heart. Immerse yourself in the life of a merciless tyrant!! 2) Resource management on steroids. Think fast, to the point, and abandon pity! 3) Rogue-lite (Almost roguelike) Every walkthrough is unique due to randomly generated events. And every failure is fatal — you’ll have to start over! 4) Easy to learn, hard to master. It only takes a couple minutes to figure out the game’s mechanics, but using them optimally is no small feat! Core gameplay consists of transporting puny humans between various facilities using mechanical claws. They rest in one of the facilities and work in all the others. Puny humans are to produce energy for us (which is leaking constantly), they also have to reproduce and feed themselves. You need to plan your strategy and tactics in advance and track all your humans so that they don't die of exhaustion. The foremost roguelike element is that you can't save the game - you have to start from scratch every time. Besides that, a random event happens after every five feedings in the form of a text quest. A correct choice may provide some bonus, an incorrect one - well, you'll see! Many of the modifiers that you get due to the random events change the game's look significantly. In the second campaign besides resource management you get a totally new "raid" mechanic. Send your humans on expeditions around a procedurally generated map and earn resources without any limits. Come on, you have to find the Time Machine lost in the wastelands of 3k-land!

Screenshots

Kittens Game1 screens
Despotism 3k4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Kittens Game at free against Despotism 3k's paid. Kittens Game also leads on ratings volume (324 vs 32) and chart position (#96 vs unranked). Despotism 3k's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 11.0). 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

Kittens Game costs $2.99 and Despotism 3k $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 — 4.5 for Kittens Game against 4.4 for Despotism 3k. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Kittens Game has 324 ratings behind it against 32, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Kittens Game's written reviews are positive against 71% of Despotism 3k's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Kittens Game ships an update every 4 months, Despotism 3k every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Kittens Game versus Despotism 3k: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKittens GameDespotism 3k
Price$2.99$2.99
Rating4.5 (324 ratings) — better4.4 (32 ratings)
Positive reviews66.9% of reviews71.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings324 — better32
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
Best chart rank#96 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB202 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperDmitrii PopovNikolai Kuznetsov

Customer experience

Kittens Game

All ratings322 ratings
Positive85.1%
Neutral5.6%
Negative9.3%
Written reviews136 reviews
Positive66.9%
Neutral13.2%
Negative19.9%

Despotism 3k

All ratings32 ratings
Positive84.4%
Neutral6.3%
Negative9.4%
Written reviews66 reviews
Positive71.2%
Neutral6.1%
Negative22.7%

Bugs and requests

Kittens Game

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Disappearing buttons and UI elements
  • Progress loss or reset when switching apps
  • Broken or non-functional features (e.g. solar farms)
  • Compatibility issues on iPhone X and newer devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Bulk crafting/upgrading options
  • Ability to disable pollution mechanics
  • Better UI optimization for larger screens
  • Vibration/notification support for events
  • More detailed analytics and tracking

Despotism 3k

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Kittens Game

No in-app purchases

None

Despotism 3k

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Kittens Game free?
Kittens Game costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Despotism 3k free?
Despotism 3k costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Kittens Game or Despotism 3k?
Kittens Game is rated higher. Kittens Game averages 4.5 out of 5 from 324 ratings, while Despotism 3k averages 4.4 from 32 ratings.
Do Kittens Game or Despotism 3k have ads?
Neither Kittens Game nor Despotism 3k shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Kittens Game or Despotism 3k?
Kittens Game ships an update every 4 months, and Despotism 3k every 2 months. Most recently, Kittens Game was updated on October 24, 2026 and Despotism 3k on October 24, 2026.

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