Comparison

Storm Boy vs Boxville

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

Head to head
About

Storm Boy

Experience a classic children's story through interactive gameplay. Control a boy and his pet pelican in a retelling of a beloved novel, engaging in various seaside activities and mini-games.

Highlights
  • Interactive story retelling
  • Control Storm Boy and Mr. Percival
  • Rescue stranded sailors
  • Sand drawing mini-game
  • Sailing mini-game
  • Cockle hunting mini-game
  • Pelican feeding mini-game
Features
Read full description

Based on Colin Thiele's 1964 children’s book of the same name, Storm Boy takes place on the beaches of South Australia near the mouth of the Murray River, where the titular protagonist rescues orphaned pelican chicks, one of whom later becomes the child’s pet and faithful companion, Mr. Percival. Experience an interactive retelling of the classic tale by taking control of both Storm Boy and Mr. Percival in key moments, such as when the pair rescued stranded sailors during a storm. Relive their friendship and enjoy seaside activities across a wide assortment of fun and relaxing mini-games, including sand drawing, sailing, cockle hunting, playing fetch, sand surfing, pelican feeding, and more.

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

Storm Boy4 screens
Boxville4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Boxville at 4.7 against Storm Boy's 2.9. Boxville also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 41%) and ratings volume (779 vs 35). Storm Boy's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 13.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Storm Boy costs $2.99 and Boxville $1.99 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 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Boxville has 779 ratings behind it against 35, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Storm Boy's written reviews are positive against 78% of Boxville's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Storm Boy ships an update every 2 weeks, Boxville every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Storm Boy versus Boxville: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStorm BoyBoxville
Price$2.99$1.99 — better
Rating2.9 (35 ratings)4.7 (779 ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.8% of reviews78.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings35779 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#114 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size503 MB1.2 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBlowfishTriomatica Games

Customer experience

Storm Boy

All ratings35 ratings
Positive37.1%
Neutral2.9%
Negative60.0%
Written reviews49 reviews
Positive40.8%
Neutral10.2%
Negative49.0%

Boxville

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

User reviews

Storm Boy

From 35 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Beautiful graphics and visuals
  • 📖 Engaging and touching story
  • 🕊️ Peaceful and relaxing experience
  • 🎨 Artistic and poetic presentation
  • 💖 Heartwarming and emotional narrative

Room to improve

  • ⏳ Extremely short playtime
  • 💸 Not worth the price
  • 🥱 Repetitive gameplay elements
  • 🤷‍♀️ Lack of challenge
  • 😔 Sad or disappointing ending

Boxville

From 779 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

Storm Boy

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inability to finish the end scene (post not working)
  • Performance issues on certain devices
  • Sound not matching actions
  • Game freezing or acting frozen

Requested features

5 requests
  • Make the game longer
  • Add more gameplay elements
  • Offer more levels or replayability
  • Improve the ending
  • Make it a free game

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

Storm Boy

No in-app purchases

None

Boxville

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Storm Boy free?
Storm Boy costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Boxville free?
Boxville costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Storm Boy or Boxville?
Boxville is rated higher. Storm Boy averages 2.9 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while Boxville averages 4.7 from 779 ratings.
Do Storm Boy or Boxville have ads?
Neither Storm Boy nor Boxville shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Storm Boy or Boxville?
Storm Boy ships an update every 2 weeks, and Boxville every 9 days. Most recently, Storm Boy was updated on November 2, 2026 and Boxville on November 7, 2026.

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