Comparison

Animaze! vs POOLS™

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

Head to head
About

Animaze!

A charming puzzle game where you remove fences to bring different animals together. Manage animal populations carefully to avoid chaos and solve 100 unique levels across historical settings.

Highlights
  • 100 brain-teasing levels
  • Five historical periods
  • 15 animated cards to collect
  • Puzzle-specific abilities
  • Multiple animal types
Features
Read full description

Bring rival animals together in harmony! In this adorably tricky puzzle game, dogs and cats and mice are all separated by fences. It's up to you to remove those fences, but watch out: if you let dogs outnumber cats or cats outnumber mice, well... you'll see. Features * 100 brain-teasing levels set across five periods of history * 15 delightful animated cards to collect * Special puzzle-specific abilities: drop a box on a mouse to hide it from the cats! * Appearances from a couple more animals we might have forgotten to mention...

About

POOLS™

This app offers a slow, reflective, and immersive experience focused on exploration and atmosphere. It evokes feelings of unease and curiosity through its unique environments, inspired by liminal spaces and internet phenomena. Discover changing worlds and subtle narratives without traditional gameplay mechanics.

Highlights
  • Slow, reflective exploration
  • Atmospheric and immersive environments
  • Inspired by liminal spaces
  • Unfolding narrative through exploration
  • Six distinct chapters
  • Unique sound design
Features
Read full description

Explore, admire and listen. That’s it. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. Immersive. POOLS isn’t a traditional game. it’s slow, reflective, and intentionally uneventful, perhaps a bit like virtual museum. So take your time. Breathe. POOLS unfolds slowly, rewarding patience and quiet attention. No monsters chasing you or jumping at your screen. Yet it can feel oppressive at times by invoking quiet fears of getting lost, the dark, tight spaces and the strange beauty of liminal space architecture. There's no typical story. But as you explore and advance further, you start to notice that the game's world changes around you, deeper you go… Rooms look and feel… different. Base game features six chapters, each lasting 10-30 minutes. Inspired by the internet phenomena Liminal spaces, Found footage and The Backrooms, especially the Poolrooms concept. One of the original artists behind the Poolrooms concept is Jared Pike.

Screenshots

Animaze!4 screens
POOLS™4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: POOLS™ at 1.6K against Animaze!'s 10. Animaze!'s advantage is review sentiment (90% vs 79%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.6). On price, rating, update cadence 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

Both are free to download. Animaze! sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and POOLS™ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Animaze! against 4.5 for POOLS™. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: POOLS™ has 1.6K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of Animaze!'s written reviews are positive against 79% of POOLS™'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Animaze! ships an update every 5 weeks, POOLS™ every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 25, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Animaze! versus POOLS™: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAnimaze!POOLS™
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (10 ratings) — better4.5 (1.6K ratings)
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews — better78.8% of reviews
Number of ratings101.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size390 MB1.9 GB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperBlytsTensori

Customer experience

Animaze!

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%

POOLS™

All ratings1,616 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative9.0%
Written reviews604 reviews
Positive78.8%
Neutral6.5%
Negative14.7%

Bugs and requests

Animaze!

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

POOLS™

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Unable to move on iPad Pro
  • Glitches reported

Requested features

3 requests
  • Expand to different Backrooms-inspired themes
  • Add a multiplayer mode
  • Introduce more interactive elements (e.g., monsters, items to discover)

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Animaze!

One-time4
  • 50 coins$0.99
  • 100 coins$1.99
  • 300 coins$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Remove Ads$2.99
1 purchases

POOLS™

One-time1
  • POOLS: Full Game$9.99

Questions

Is Animaze! free?
Animaze! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is POOLS™ free?
POOLS™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Animaze! or POOLS™?
Animaze! is rated higher. Animaze! averages 4.6 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while POOLS™ averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Animaze! or POOLS™ have ads?
Neither Animaze! nor POOLS™ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Animaze! or POOLS™?
Animaze! ships an update every 5 weeks, and POOLS™ every 2 months. Most recently, Animaze! was updated on August 25, 2026 and POOLS™ on September 29, 2026.

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