Comparison

Sublight Empire vs DrillKing

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

Head to head
About

Sublight Empire

Experience a unique 4X space strategy game where actions and events unfold over years due to the speed of light limitations. Explore, colonize, and conquer star systems to achieve galactic dominance.

Highlights
  • Relativistic speed of light mechanics
  • Real-time command propagation delays
  • Explore and colonize star systems
  • Defend and conquer colonies
  • Classic 4X gameplay
  • Galactic conquest objective
Features
Read full description

Einstein's theory of relativity states that nothing is faster than light. This also applies to this game. Information is radio signals propagating at the speed of light. These radio signals transmit your commands and the events you receive. Spaceships move at a fraction of the speed of light. So it takes years for a command or a spaceship to reach its destination. When a battle takes place, you won't know about it until years later. Apart from this, it is a classic 4X game. In the beginning you rule a single star system and you are exploring and colonizing the surrounding systems. Later on you will meet your opponents and you will have to defend and conquer colonies. To win the game, you must conquer 2/3 of all stars.

About

DrillKing

Explore alien planets, mine valuable minerals, and construct your own colony. Upgrade your drill and facilities to unlock new technologies and help your home world. Strategic planning is key to success in this interstellar resource-gathering adventure.

Highlights
  • Explore 5 distinctive planets
  • Mine minerals and resources
  • Build and upgrade colony infrastructure
  • Develop new technologies
  • Complete quests for rewards
  • Trade for minerals
Features
Read full description

Drill down planet surface, mine minerals, craft buildings and upgrade your drill to build your own colony! Simply shake your device to handle various events and make progress! Features Drillking is a game where you mine minerals and build colonies on extraterrestrial planets. There are 5 distinctive planets to explore. Colonize each planet, dig up minerals, develop new technology, and help your home world Earth. How to play Drill down Planet surface to mine Minerals. Use them to build and upgrade infrastructures for your colony. Each Planet has its unique set of Minerals. You must plan carefully where to drill and what to upgrade. Some Planets are restricted, due to its strange gravity. To access these Planets, you must upgrade your Drill. DRILL: The main mining device. The deeper you dig, the more Mineral types you'll find. FACTORY: This is where you extract Minerals from ore. Upgrade Factory to increase mining speed. DEPOT: This is where you keep your Minerals. Upgrade Depot to increase its max Mineral capacity. You can trade Star for Minerals in Star Refinery, but you must unlock it first. PRO TIP: Always check Quests! Quest rewards are very helpful for easier progress. Some Quests will unlock super-effective Lab contents. Tap Comm Sat on the left for helpful tips. Synopsis Planet Earth, 327 Space Year. The human race faces a new crisis, as increasing number of population consumed most of available resources. Scientists began a project to craft an All-terrain mining vessel, capable of drilling any surface to mine minerals… …and after 5 years, The vessel is complete, and an inhabitable planet with rich amount of minerals is found. The New Frontier awaits you! Notes Your data is saved in the device. If you change device, or delete the app, all save files will be terminated. Deleting the app will terminate all save files.

Screenshots

Sublight Empire4 screens
DrillKing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Sublight Empire at 5.0 against DrillKing's 2.5. Sublight Empire also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3). DrillKing's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 6 months) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 15.0). On price, ratings volume, ads 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

Both are free to download. DrillKing sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Sublight Empire asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sublight Empire holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sublight Empire ships an update every 6 months, DrillKing weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Sublight Empire versus DrillKing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSublight EmpireDrillKing
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better2.5 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews—40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings22
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.07.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB145 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEnrico UngerJINOH Cho

Customer experience

Sublight Empire

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

DrillKing

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative40.0%

In-app purchases

None

Sublight Empire

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

DrillKing

One-time3
  • DrillKing 100 Stars$0.99
  • DrillKing 350 Stars$2.99
  • DrillKing 1500 Stars$9.99

Questions

Is Sublight Empire free?
Sublight Empire is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is DrillKing free?
DrillKing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sublight Empire or DrillKing?
Sublight Empire is rated higher. Sublight Empire averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while DrillKing averages 2.5 from 2 ratings.
Do Sublight Empire or DrillKing have ads?
Neither Sublight Empire nor DrillKing shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sublight Empire or DrillKing?
Sublight Empire ships an update every 6 months, and DrillKing weekly. Most recently, Sublight Empire was updated on November 4, 2026 and DrillKing on November 2, 2026.

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