Comparison

SHI vs Railways!

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

Head to head
About

SHI

Engage with stories from early Japan by solving intricate puzzles on a beautifully designed lacquer box. Journey through ancient tales, uncover hidden meanings, and experience the art of Japanese lacquerware.

Highlights
  • Challenging lacquer box puzzles
  • Engaging ancient Japanese stories
  • Beautiful Japanese lacquerware design
  • Japanese language learning elements
  • Taiko drum soundscapes
Features
Read full description

Solve challenging puzzles on a beautiful Japanese lacquer box and engage with stories based in early Japan: In the beginning, so the Kojiki tells, sea was sky and sky was sea. Journey towards calmness while rotating a lacquer box, puzzle by puzzle, word by word, further in time. In SHI•RO you reconcile past and present with empress Gemmei, travel through dark forests to invite spirits to the shrine of old Yoshida, and climb Mount Inari with a fox. PLAY AN ENGAGING STORY SHI•RO tells the story of an ancient empress, a lost love and a blossoming friendship. Based on the first Japanese writing, the Kojiki, you engage with an emerging world. SOLVE CHALLENGING PUZZLES Over 60 handmade puzzles challenge you along the journey of empress Gemmei. Think out of the box while playing on a lacquer box! Will you help the empress to separate the sea from the sky? ENJOY A BEAUTIFUL DESIGN SHI•RO celebrates the beauty of Japanese lacquerware by transforming your device into a lacquer box. Gold and silver shimmer in your hands while you unriddle complex geometries and find stories of depth beyond the surface. LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF JAPAN By solving puzzles, you hear words of Japanese language, or as a native speaker of Japanese, learn words in English. Japanese Taiko drums will guide your way. ENTER THE SHI•RO UNIVERSE By purchasing SHI•RO, you get access to the complete first part, KURO. But more is in the making! Once we release the second part MIDORI and the third part AKA, you will be able to purchase them in-game and continue your journey.

About

Railways!

Control train traffic by strategically moving trains between tracks, picking up passengers, and preventing collisions. This simulation game offers an immersive experience with artistic visuals and challenging levels.

Highlights
  • Control train traffic
  • Pick up passengers
  • Prevent train crashes
  • Create new tracks
  • Stop trains
  • Artistic visuals
  • Challenging levels
Features
Read full description

Do you have a refined taste for games? Are you searching for the ultimate immersive experience in mobile games? Why do you pour the milk before the cereal? Ouch, wrong chat. If you answered positively to the first two questions, Railways will certainly suit your interests. From the makers of Traffix, Railways is a simulation game where you have trains, passengers and railways. Your goal is to move the trains strategically between the tracks, picking up the passengers and preventing crashes. Your mission is complete when you collect all the passengers. Mind the gap and start managing your railways! To manage the trains like a master, you have to learn how to: - Stop a train for a limited time with a single tap; - Drag the train to create a new track; - Automatically pick up nearby passengers and fill the trains; - Avoid running over passengers when changing the route; - Prevent crashes between trains. Railways features minimalist and artistic elements merged in an immersive experience where the perks of a train trip are emphasized: astonishing landscapes observed at a slow pace. Each level will bring a new challenge to the track, more chaos and of course clever moves from your side. All aboard! This train is ready to depart! How much time can you keep the trains moving? Find out now! This new game by Infinity Games is a magnificent train simulator where patience is a virtue. In order to succeed, you need to wait for the right moment and use your skills to drag the trains from one railway to another. You know that you will lose if the trains collide but you also know that you have all the time in the world to make a smart move. Furthermore, you can also stop the trains for a while. If you have the patience of a monk, you will have a great time with Railways! If you are an impatient person, you can use Railways to improve those skills! Features: - Premium look and artistic features: you will not just play a mobile game. You will behold a masterpiece! - Immersive gameplay: after a couple of levels, you will find yourself absorbed by Railways imaginary world. - Curated levels crafted by train conductors: Railways levels were designed by train conductors with +10 years of experience. - Multiple achievements to conquer: picking up the passengers is just the beginning. - Smooth difficulty curve Did you know that 0% of players passed level 1? That is because at the date I am writing this text the game is not yet released. Infinity Games aims to provide the best game experience within its titles. We love showcasing new minimalist puzzle games and making people think while relaxing and having fun. Do you like our work? Follow our track: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/infinitygamespage Instagram: 8infinitygames (https://www.instagram.com/8infinitygames/)

Screenshots

SHI4 screens
Railways!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: SHI at 4.6 against Railways!'s 3.9. SHI also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (68% vs 43%). Railways!'s advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months) and price ($1.99 vs $2.99). On in-app purchases 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

SHI costs $2.99 and Railways! $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SHI holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 215 and 70 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of SHI's written reviews are positive against 43% of Railways!'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SHI ships an update every 2 months, Railways! monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
SHI versus Railways!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSHIRailways!
Price$2.99$1.99 — better
Rating4.6 (215 ratings) — better3.9 (70 ratings)
Positive reviews68.3% of reviews — better43.1% of reviews
Number of ratings215 — better70
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size181 MB128 MB
Age rating9+4+
Developerthe brothers grimmINFINITY GAMES, LDA

Customer experience

SHI

All ratings215 ratings
Positive90.7%
Neutral4.7%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews41 reviews
Positive68.3%
Neutral12.2%
Negative19.5%

Railways!

All ratings70 ratings
Positive67.1%
Neutral12.9%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews51 reviews
Positive43.1%
Neutral23.5%
Negative33.3%

User reviews

SHI

From 215 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Beautiful graphics and art
  • 🎧 Soothing sound design
  • 🧠 Engaging and challenging puzzles
  • 📚 Interesting story and lore
  • 🇯🇵 Japanese mythology and language integration

Room to improve

  • 😩 Puzzles become frustrating
  • ❓ Lack of clear instructions
  • 😴 Gameplay can be boring
  • 📉 Too simple and limited
  • ⏳ Not enough content

Railways!

From 70 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Engaging and addictive gameplay
  • 💡 Great concept and well-designed
  • ✨ Visually stimulating and beautiful graphics
  • 💰 No in-app purchases or ads
  • 🧠 Develops thinking and reaction speed

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent and unreliable controls
  • 💥 Frequent crashes and freezes
  • ⏳ Short game with limited levels
  • 💸 Expensive for the content provided
  • 😵 Confusing or difficult to master controls

Bugs and requests

SHI

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Cannot find a way to reset the game
  • Error with game purchase
  • Parts don't seem to work
  • Game enforces arbitrary move order
  • Confusing UI, need clearer restart/reset options

Requested features

6 requests
  • More levels/stories
  • Ability to reset the game
  • Landscape view option for iPad
  • Daily puzzles
  • More instructions/tutorial
Show 1 more
  • Option to go back one move

Railways!

Reported bugs

23 issues
  • Crashes on load
  • Game freezes when using notification center, control center, multitasking, or going to home screen
  • Trains lose cars in Endless mode
  • iPhone vibrates non-stop in Endless mode
  • Trains get stuck before leaving screen
Show 18 more
  • Trains speed up too quickly
  • Hitboxes are too big
  • Game UI stops responding after swiping down to Notification Center
  • Track jumping is inconsistent
  • Game crashes after level start
  • Home bar gets in the way
  • Sluggish interface
  • Game response time is slow
  • Not sensitive to the right position to touch
  • Controls are awful
  • Controls are sluggish and unpredictable
  • Cannot create track until train comes back around
  • Crash heuristic is unpredictable
  • Impossible to draw track where you want it to go
  • Game throws fresh passengers where a train is routed
  • Stop/start control is flaky
  • Controls don't always work
  • Game crashes all the time, requires reboot

Requested features

8 requests
  • More levels needed
  • Add colorblind mode
  • Add Game Center support
  • Consider adding a rewind feature
  • Add an endless mode
Show 3 more
  • Add more game modes
  • Improve realism of road vehicle responses
  • Allow track creation/rerouting before trains return

In-app purchases

None

SHI

No in-app purchases

None

Railways!

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SHI free?
SHI costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Railways! free?
Railways! costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SHI or Railways!?
SHI is rated higher. SHI averages 4.6 out of 5 from 215 ratings, while Railways! averages 3.9 from 70 ratings.
Do SHI or Railways! have ads?
Railways! shows ads; SHI does not.
Which is updated more often, SHI or Railways!?
SHI ships an update every 2 months, and Railways! monthly. Most recently, SHI was updated on October 9, 2026 and Railways! on October 14, 2026.

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