Comparison

Gone Home vs Boxville

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

Head to head
About

Gone Home

Explore an empty house to uncover the mystery of a family's disappearance. Interact with objects and discover clues to piece together their story at your own pace. This nonviolent game offers a rich narrative experience.

Highlights
  • Interactive exploration
  • Unravel family mystery
  • Examine objects for clues
  • Nonviolent gameplay
  • Puzzle-free experience
  • Developer commentary
Features
Read full description

June 7th, 1995. 1:15 AM You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something's not right. Where is everyone? And what's happened here? Unravel the mystery for yourself in Gone Home, a story exploration game from The Fullbright Company. Gone Home is an interactive exploration simulator. Interrogate every detail of a seemingly normal house to discover the story of the people who live there. Open any drawer and door. Pick up objects and examine them to discover clues. Uncover the events of one family's lives by investigating what they've left behind. Go Home Again. Key Features A Personal Story: Created by veterans of the BioShock series and the story team behind Minerva's Den, Gone Home offers the rich, nuanced details of one family's struggles to deal with uncertainty, heartache, and change. An Immersive Place: Return to the 1990s by visiting a home where every detail has been carefully recreated, and the sounds of a rainstorm outside wrap you in the experience. No Combat, No Puzzles: Gone Home is a nonviolent and puzzle-free experience, inviting you to play at your own pace without getting attacked, stuck, or frustrated. This house wants you to explore it. Fully Interactive Investigation: Discover what's happened to the Greenbriars by examining a house full of the family's personal possessions, and the notes and letters they've left behind. Use your powers of observation to piece together a story that unfolds as you explore. Behind-The-Scenes Commentary: Over 90 minutes of commentary by the developers, musicians, and voice talent behind Gone Home. Access Commentary mode by clicking the Modifiers button when starting a new game!

About

Boxville

This animated adventure puzzle game features speechless cans navigating a city of boxes. Solve logic puzzles and riddles, explore a charming world, and uncover the mystery behind earthquakes. Enjoy a unique audio-visual experience, playable solo or with a friend.

Highlights
  • Animated film and puzzle game hybrid
  • Hand-drawn graphics and custom animations
  • Environmental quests and logical puzzles
  • Unique music for each scene
  • Wordless communication via speech bubbles
  • Playable solo or co-op
Features
Read full description

Boxville is 2-in-1: an animated film and a puzzle game. Boxville is an adventure puzzle game about speechless cans living in the city of boxes and drawing doodles on cardboards to tell the stories. Boxville is good for playing alone to dive into the atmosphere and challenge your brain with sophisticated logic puzzles and riddles, or playing with a friend or family to share unique audio-visual experiences and solve the puzzles together. Design The core idea of the game is that it’s not just a game - but also an animated film that you can watch and play at the same time. We designed Boxville’s gameplay with the purpose of taking away your anxiety and stress. You can explore and observe the world without rushing and pressure. The game is full of environmental quests and logical puzzles that we have carefully picked from among hundreds of options. Story Boxville is a city of boxes populated with old cans. They live quiet and happy lives with their everyday routines and habits. But one day, unexplained earthquakes disturbed their idyll... Blue Can (our hero) lost his best friend because of that. He started his search but it is not so easy to move through the city after earthquakes. He has to find a way to move forward, return the friend back home and discover the real reason for all those earthquakes. There are many adventures, new friends and it’s not only friends that are waiting for him on the way. He has to be curious, inventive, careful, and to help others, to reach his goal. What you can expect to see and hear in Boxville: - Hand-drawn graphics — all backgrounds and characters are carefully drawn by our artists. - Every animation and sound is created especially for each interaction. - Unique music track was created for every scene to accomplish the atmosphere of the game. - Tens of logical puzzles and mini-games are tightly incorporated into the story of the game. - There are no words in the game — all characters communicate via cartoony speechbubbles.

Screenshots

Gone Home4 screens
Boxville4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Boxville at 4.7 against Gone Home's 3.8. Boxville also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 41%) and price ($3.99 vs $4.99). Gone Home's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 13.0). On ratings volume, update cadence, 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

Gone Home costs $4.99 and Boxville $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Boxville holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 432 and 773 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Gone Home's written reviews are positive against 78% of Boxville's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gone Home ships an update fortnightly, Boxville every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Gone Home versus Boxville: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGone HomeBoxville
Price$4.99$3.99 — better
Rating3.8 (432 ratings)4.7 (773 ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.7% of reviews78.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings432773 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size689 MB1.2 GB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperAnnapurna Games, LLCTriomatica Games

Customer experience

Gone Home

All ratings431 ratings
Positive67.1%
Neutral7.2%
Negative25.8%
Written reviews280 reviews
Positive40.7%
Neutral13.2%
Negative46.1%

Boxville

All ratings755 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews226 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral8.0%
Negative13.7%

User reviews

Gone Home

From 432 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Excellent storytelling
  • 🎨 Beautiful graphics and atmosphere
  • 🕵️‍♀️ Immersive exploration of the house
  • 💖 Touching LGBTQ+ representation
  • 🎶 Great 90s-inspired soundtrack

Room to improve

  • ⏱️ Game is too short
  • 🤖 Frustrating controls and navigation
  • 🔋 High battery drain
  • 💰 Overpriced for the content
  • 🤷‍♀️ Lack of interactivity and puzzles

Boxville

From 773 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Enjoyable puzzles
  • 🎨 Beautiful art and animation
  • 🎶 Lovely music
  • 🧠 Challenging but logical puzzles
  • 🤗 Charming characters and story

Room to improve

  • 🕰️ Short game length
  • 🔍 Tiny inventory items hard to see
  • 🤯 Some puzzles too obscure
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🤖 Lack of hint system or ability to skip puzzles

Bugs and requests

Gone Home

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Game crashes on launch for some users
  • Freezing or performance issues on certain devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Longer gameplay with more content
  • Improved controls and camera sensitivity
  • Additional gameplay modes or challenges
  • Controller support optimization

Boxville

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Progress reset after updates
  • Inventory items disappearing
  • Puzzle mechanics not working as expected

Requested features

4 requests
  • Longer game with more content
  • Ability to use stylus/Apple Pencil
  • Improved save/load system
  • In-game hints or ability to skip puzzles

In-app purchases

None

Gone Home

No in-app purchases

None

Boxville

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gone Home free?
Gone Home costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Boxville free?
Boxville costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Gone Home or Boxville?
Boxville is rated higher. Gone Home averages 3.8 out of 5 from 432 ratings, while Boxville averages 4.7 from 773 ratings.
Do Gone Home or Boxville have ads?
Neither Gone Home nor Boxville shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gone Home or Boxville?
Gone Home ships an update fortnightly, and Boxville every 9 days. Most recently, Gone Home was updated on October 25, 2026 and Boxville on October 27, 2026.

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