Comparison

iAdventure vs Midgaard by SmartMonsters

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

Head to head
About

iAdventure

Embark on a text-based role-playing adventure with a unique blend of gritty themes, playful humor, and philosophical undertones. Explore imaginative worlds and make your own choices in this pocket-sized RPG.

Highlights
  • Text-based role-playing
  • Player choice and branching narratives
  • Gritty themes
  • Playful humor
  • Philosophical elements
  • Colorful writing
Features
Read full description

Gritty themes, playful humor, philosophy, and colorful writing adorn this text-based RPG in the comfort of your pocket. You choose which pocket, you choose your adventure! Best of all, it's free! You find yourself reading an app description, strange, the voice in your head hurries and words become real. What would you like to do today? What distant lands beckon you, where does your mind wander when allowed to roam free? Does your imaginary world look much different from the real one? I suppose only time will tell as you take a step out on the ethereal plane, your toes tingling from its imaginable static, fluid, sharp, cold and everything. Prepare yourself. Or don't. Your choice.

About

Midgaard by SmartMonsters

Experience a retro text-based MUD adventure with a focus on community and accessibility. Explore a magical world, manage your character, and interact with thousands of players globally in a friendly, blind-friendly environment.

Highlights
  • Retro text-based MUD emulation
  • Graphical character state displays
  • In-app game and account functions
  • Blind-friendly accessibility
  • Friendly and inclusive community
  • Cross-world character movement
Features
Read full description

Swords! Dragons! Castles! Magical fireballs! Inns with ale! Retro gaming at its most retro! Midgaard is our homage to the text MUDs of decades past. Running on the TriadCity platform, it's an emulation of the classic DikuMUD adventure tradition circa 1994. Midgaard is a labor of love for us. It's where many of us first encountered MUDs and were astonished by their engrossing play and extraordinary potential. It's full of clever ideas, many of which became standards as the tradition evolved. Most importantly, it's fun! It's completely FREE to play, is blind-friendly, and has more women players than men. Best of all, it's friendly! For twenty years SmartMonsters has been free of the flame wars, misogyny, and mean-spiritedness prominent in some other environments. Even our bulletin boards are safe! Visit us today - we can't wait to meet you! As a member of the SmartMonsters universe, Midgaard is one linked World among others. Your characters can move freely between Midgaard, TriadCity, Dungeon, and future Worlds all with quite different "laws of physics". Meet you there! * Simple, straightforward graphical interface with minimal controls. * All major game and account functions available in-app, without having to exit to the Web site. * Graphical displays of character state: health, energy, attributes, skills, etc. * Manage chat channels, natural language parsing, and other features. * Character maintenance: health, energy, experience, Skills. * Store login creds in the Keychain; share them among devices via iCloud. * Access the Players' Guide, FAQ, Message of the Day and other website resources directly within the app. * Create new characters. * Fully mobile: works happily over WiFi or cellular data. * Blind-friendly: thoroughly tested with Voice Over by volunteers from audiogames.net and elsewhere. * Female-friendly: we've had more women players than men for over 20 years. * Very friendly community - apparently all the mean people go to WoW 'cos we have none; even our bulletin-boards are safe! * Thousands of players from all over the world.

Screenshots

iAdventure4 screens
Midgaard by SmartMonsters4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: iAdventure at 84% against Midgaard by SmartMonsters's 0%. iAdventure also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.5) and ratings volume (86 vs 4). Midgaard by SmartMonsters's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 59 months). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iAdventure holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iAdventure has 86 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of iAdventure's written reviews are positive against 0% of Midgaard by SmartMonsters's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iAdventure ships an update every 59 months, Midgaard by SmartMonsters every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
iAdventure versus Midgaard by SmartMonsters: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriAdventureMidgaard by SmartMonsters
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (86 ratings) — better3.5 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews84.4% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings86 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 59 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS8.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB5 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperDale LaPlanteSmartMonsters, Inc.

Customer experience

iAdventure

All ratings86 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral1.2%
Negative3.5%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive84.4%
Neutral3.1%
Negative12.5%

Midgaard by SmartMonsters

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

None

iAdventure

No in-app purchases

None

Midgaard by SmartMonsters

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iAdventure free?
iAdventure is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Midgaard by SmartMonsters free?
Midgaard by SmartMonsters is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iAdventure or Midgaard by SmartMonsters?
iAdventure is rated higher. iAdventure averages 4.8 out of 5 from 86 ratings, while Midgaard by SmartMonsters averages 3.5 from 4 ratings.
Do iAdventure or Midgaard by SmartMonsters have ads?
Neither iAdventure nor Midgaard by SmartMonsters shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iAdventure or Midgaard by SmartMonsters?
iAdventure ships an update every 59 months, and Midgaard by SmartMonsters every 3 weeks. Most recently, iAdventure was updated on October 14, 2026 and Midgaard by SmartMonsters on October 9, 2026.

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