Comparison

Abalon vs Waven

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

Head to head
About

Abalon

Engage in tactical turn-based combat and deck-building strategy in a tabletop-inspired world. Command units, cast spells, and outwit opponents with creative combos and strategic positioning. Explore diverse biomes, collect cards, and build the perfect deck to become a legend.

Highlights
  • Turn-based tactical combat
  • Deck building strategy
  • Top-down battlefield control
  • Over 500 unique cards
  • Character-based abilities
  • Creative combo system
  • Procedurally generated world exploration
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Abalon, a legendary tactical roguelike and deck building RPG! CARDS. DICE. TACTICS. Embark on epic roguelike adventures to explore a tabletop inspired world and discover its secrets. Abalon combines turn based tactical combat with deck building strategy. Defeat monstrous hordes and powerful bosses to reap the rewards of treasures, allies, and spells. Roll the dice and become a dungeon crawling legend! COMMAND LIKE A GOD Command from a top-down perspective that gives you ultimate control over battlefield tactics. Your characters look up to you (literally) as their god to indicate they are ready to receive your orders. Commands are intuitive: Drag cards to cast spells. Drag warriors to enemies to attack. Drag healers to injured allies to heal. Play fast and fluid with 3-5 minute battles and without having to wait for animations. You can even undo failed attacks to try different approaches. Endless possibilities are at your fingertips! OUTWIT YOUR OPPONENTS Defeat overwhelming odds by mastering tactical positions, backstabbing, feinting counterattacks, knocking enemies into allies to trigger combos, leveraging traps for bonus damage and exploiting spell synergies to manipulate the battlefield in your favor. Abalon is deceptively simple to learn with an unrivaled depth of mechanics that are challenging to master. Position matters. Facing matters. Terrain matters. BUILD THE PERFECT DECK Choose compelling characters like squirrel hurling druids, menacing liche kings, psychic lizard wizards and steampunk time traveling rats. Abalon has over 500 cards including 225 hand-crafted characters with distinct strengths and weaknesses. Select your favorite summoner, build your team and construct a deck of 20 cards. Abalon differs from other role-playing games by removing grindy leveling systems in favor of fixed character stats and abilities and interchangeable gear-based upgrades. Use everyone you have and experiment to create unique strategies. UNLEASH CREATIVE COMBOS Combine your units and spells to create game-breaking synergies: Hurl a squirrel at your opponent and command your critter to bite them in the butt. Cast Animal Growth to mutate it into a super hulk squirrel. Then use Breed to multiply it into an army of hulk squirrels and decimate your opponent in the most satisfying way! Discover something new each time you play. EXPLORE. ROLL DICE. MAKE FRIENDS. Explore an ever-changing fantasy world filled with colorful woodlands, frozen peaks, barren deserts, and perilous dungeons. Abalon is rich in lore, both gritty and humorous, and each biome offers its own characters to find and mysteries to unravel. Collect and roll D20 dice to determine the outcome of fate encounters and make friends with charming bears and birthday goblins. EXPAND YOUR COLLECTION Play for free and grow your collection with paid expansions. Abalon is a premium CCG and RPG that respects your time and money. There are no ads, randomized booster packs, cards to dust, or grinding to level up. Each expansion contains a curated set of content so you know what you are paying for upfront. Like a board game hobby, Abalon’s expansions enhance your existing content. We aim to support the game’s development for the next 10 years and beyond with additional cards, challenge modifiers, game modes and more for infinite replayability. PLAY ON ANY DEVICE ANYTIME ANYWHERE Abalon offers a true cross-platform experience with support for phones, tablets, computers, TVs, portrait and landscape orientations and offline play. ABOUT D20STUDIOS We’re a passionate indie game team who aim to inspire creativity, critical thinking and positive community in people around the world. We value player-driven development, quality products and excellent customer service, and we’d love to hear how we can make your Abalon experience exceptional. Discord: https://discord.gg/d20studios Email: contact@d20studios.com

About

Waven

Embark on a cross-platform online RPG adventure in a flooded world. Choose a hero, master spells, and battle monsters in tactical turn-based combat. Upgrade your character and customize your strategy to forge your own destiny.

Highlights
  • Tactical turn-based combat
  • Character and spell customization
  • Cross-platform online play
  • Open-world exploration
  • Companion summoning
  • Item collection and upgrades
Features
Read full description

Forge Your Own Destiny! Choose a character, equip your best spells, and sail from island to island in your quest for fame and fortune. Level up and improve your strategy in this cross-platform online RPG with unique and vibrant artistic direction. SET SAIL FOR AN EPIC ADVENTURE Only a few islands have survived the rising waters of a flooded world and you are an adventurer on a quest for solutions to this horrible disaster. Long ago, gods and dragons ruled over this world. Today, the magic remains but what about the mythical beings of yesteryear? TAKE PART IN TACTICAL COMBAT Master the elements, cast powerful spells, summon mythical companions to your side, each with their own mechanics. Battle your enemies in close combat or from a distance in fast-paced, turn-based tactical fights solo or as a duo or trio to win all kinds of rewards. UPGRADE AND CUSTOMIZE YOUR CHARACTER Explore an open world RPG. Complete epic quests by battling fearsome monsters in their dungeons. Level up, collect valuable items to gain power, upgrade your hero, and hone your strategy. Each battle will be more intense than the last – unleash your powers! YOUR CHARACTER, YOUR STRATEGY Choose your class and hero from among more than 30 possible combinations, choose from among 300 available spells, and choose the equipment and companions to bring with you to each fight. There is enough strategic depth that you can shape your character and adventure entirely according to your preferences. Choose your allies carefully to defeat the creatures' tactics and beware of your opponents if you want to foil their plans. PLAY WITH STYLE Collect spells, equipment and companions through your in-game achievements and earn rewards regularly. Show off your epic and exceptional style thanks to the various accessories and skins you can unlock. The fate of each game depends solely on each player's talent.

Screenshots

Abalon4 screens
Waven4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Abalon at every 2 days against Waven's every 3 weeks. Abalon also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and review sentiment (84% vs 71%). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Abalon sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Waven sells 18 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Abalon holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1K and 356 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Abalon's written reviews are positive against 71% of Waven's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Abalon ships an update every 2 days, Waven every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Abalon versus Waven: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAbalonWaven
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (1K ratings) — better4.5 (356 ratings)
Positive reviews84.1% of reviews — better71.2% of reviews
Number of ratings1K — better356
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size117 MB711 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperD20Studios, LLCAnkama

Customer experience

Abalon

All ratings1,012 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews290 reviews
Positive84.1%
Neutral3.1%
Negative12.8%

Waven

All ratings355 ratings
Positive88.7%
Neutral2.0%
Negative9.3%
Written reviews306 reviews
Positive71.2%
Neutral4.2%
Negative24.5%

User reviews

Abalon

From 1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fantastic strategy game
  • 👍 Fun game
  • 👍 Highly recommended
  • 👍 Great for busy RPG parents
  • 👍 Way better than expected

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Not recommended at the moment
  • 🐛 Very unbalanced and costs $30
  • 🐛 Game crashes after loading
  • 🐛 Koumpounophobia (fear of buttons)
  • 🐛 Controlling units is frustrating

Waven

From 356 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Great art style and graphics
  • 🕹️ Engaging and challenging gameplay
  • 🔓 Completely free-to-play, no pay-to-win
  • 🔄 Seamless cross-platform experience
  • 🤖 Variety of unique classes and playstyles

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔑 Login/account creation issues
  • 🕰️ Lack of end-game content
  • 🤖 Unbalanced PvP matchups
  • 💬 Limited social/community features

Bugs and requests

Abalon

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Bugs in second chapter dungeon
  • Unable to use satchel items

Requested features

3 requests
  • Controller support for Backbone and other third party controllers
  • More variation in encounter types
  • Dark mode option

Waven

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes and errors during gameplay
  • Inability to create or link accounts
  • Compatibility issues on older devices
  • Incorrect or misleading item/skill information

Requested features

5 requests
  • Offline mode with synced progress
  • More detailed item/skill descriptions
  • Improved character customization options
  • Enhanced social features (guilds, leaderboards, etc.)
  • Expanded end-game content and challenges

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Abalon

One-time5
  • Animal Gear$3.99
  • Angels & Demons$7.99
  • Dark Legion$7.99
Show 2 more
  • Mean & Green$7.99
  • Space & Time$7.99
18 purchases

Waven

One-time18
  • 180 Gems Pack$1.99
  • Drhell's Bells Pack$2.49
  • Welcome Pack$3.99
Show 15 more
  • Welcome Pack$4.99
  • 500 Gems Pack$4.99
  • Gold pass$5.99
  • Battle Pass Upgrade$8.00
  • 1200 Gems Pack$9.99
  • Platinum Pass$12.99
  • Upgrade Pack Standard ->Deluxe$14.00
  • Upgrade Pack Deluxe -> Premium$18.00
  • 2 500 Gems Pack$19.99
  • Standard Founder's Pack$24.99
  • Upgrade Pack Standard->Premium$28.00
  • Deluxe Founder’s Pack$44.99
  • 6 500 Gems Pack$49.99
  • Premium Founder's Pack$59.99
  • 14 000 Gems Pack$99.99

Questions

Is Abalon free?
Abalon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Waven free?
Waven is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Abalon or Waven?
Abalon is rated higher. Abalon averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1K ratings, while Waven averages 4.5 from 356 ratings.
Do Abalon or Waven have ads?
Neither Abalon nor Waven shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Abalon or Waven?
Abalon ships an update every 2 days, and Waven every 3 weeks. Most recently, Abalon was updated on October 29, 2026 and Waven on October 30, 2026.

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