Comparison

Radiant One vs POOLS™

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

Head to head
About

Radiant One

Experience a visually stunning interactive story where your choices shape the narrative. Discover an awesome plot with striking characters and make decisions that truly matter.

Highlights
  • Gorgeous visuals
  • Striking characters
  • Choices that matter
  • Awesome plot
  • New stories monthly
Features
Read full description

* Game of the Day — Apple * "Highly recommended" — IGN * 82/100 — Metacritic ● Gorgeous visuals, striking characters ● You make choices that matter ● An awesome plot Gold Membership Subscription: - Gold Membership offers $2.99 monthly subscription for new updates (every month new stories will be available for download). - All prices are subject to change without notification. We occasionally run promotion prices as incentives or limited time opportunities for qualifying purchases made during the promotional time period. Due to the time sensitive and promotional nature of these events, we are unable to offer price protection or retroactive discounts or refunds for previous purchases in the event of a price reduction or promotional offering. - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. - You will be able to play all available stories for the duration of the subscription. - Subscription automatically renews for the same price and duration period as the original monthly package unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period at the cost of the monthly package. - Subscription may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's iTunes Account Settings after purchase. - No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. - You may turn off the auto-renewal of your subscription via your iTunes Account Settings. However, you are not able to cancel the current subscription during its active period. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: https://www.fntastic.com/privacy * Prices are equal to the value that "Apple's App Store Pricing Matrix" determines as the equivalent of the subscription price in $ USD.

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

Radiant One4 screens
POOLS™4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: POOLS™ at 79% against Radiant One's 39%. POOLS™ also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and rating (4.5 vs 4.3). Radiant One's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (10K vs 1.6K). On price, ads, 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

Both are free to download. Radiant One sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month 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

POOLS™ holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Radiant One has 10K ratings behind it against 1.6K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of Radiant One's written reviews are positive against 79% of POOLS™'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Radiant One ships an update every 6 days, POOLS™ every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Radiant One versus POOLS™: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRadiant OnePOOLS™
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (10K ratings)4.5 (1.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews38.7% of reviews79.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings10K — better1.6K
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TViPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size1.1 GB1.9 GB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperFNTASTIC (FNTASTIK) TOOTensori

Customer experience

Radiant One

All ratings9,998 ratings
Positive83.2%
Neutral4.8%
Negative12.0%
Written reviews364 reviews
Positive38.7%
Neutral14.8%
Negative46.4%

POOLS™

All ratings1,616 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative9.0%
Written reviews626 reviews
Positive79.4%
Neutral6.4%
Negative14.2%

User reviews

Radiant One

From 10K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Stunning visuals and audio
  • 🤔 Intriguing and unique storylines
  • 👍 Engaging puzzles and challenges
  • 💡 Innovative interactive gameplay

Room to improve

  • ⏱️ Restrictive ticket/time system
  • 💰 Excessive in-app purchases and paywalls
  • 🤯 Confusing and misleading monetization
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches

POOLS™

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Immersive experience
  • 🔒 No ads
  • 👍 Incredible attention to detail
  • 👍 Realistic graphics and sound
  • 👍 Eerie and creepy atmosphere

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Boring after a while
  • 🐛 Lack of variety in environments

Bugs and requests

Radiant One

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Dialogue text not displaying
  • Game crashing on story selection
  • Ticket timers not functioning properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • More free story content
  • Removal of ticket/time limits
  • Fair in-app purchase model
  • Improved stability and performance

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

10 purchases

Radiant One

Subscriptions1
  • GOLD MEMBERSHIP$3.991 Month
One-time9
  • 5 TICKETS$1.99
  • MEDIUM PACK OF GEMS$2.99
  • OFFER 5 TICKETS AND 30 GEMS$2.99
Show 6 more
  • EXCLUSIVE OFFER PACK OF GEMS$4.99
  • 15 TICKETS$4.99
  • 80 coins$8.99
  • 500 coins$8.99
  • LARGE PACK OF GEMS$9.99
  • EXCLUSIVE OFFER 30 TICKETS$9.99
1 purchases

POOLS™

One-time1
  • POOLS: Full Game$9.99

Questions

Is Radiant One free?
Radiant One 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, Radiant One or POOLS™?
POOLS™ is rated higher. Radiant One averages 4.3 out of 5 from 10K ratings, while POOLS™ averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Radiant One or POOLS™ have ads?
Neither Radiant One nor POOLS™ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Radiant One or POOLS™?
Radiant One ships an update every 6 days, and POOLS™ every 2 months. Most recently, Radiant One was updated on October 16, 2026 and POOLS™ on October 17, 2026.

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