Comparison

Viticulture vs Ark Nova

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

Head to head
About

Viticulture

Manage a vineyard in pre-modern Tuscany, allocating workers and visitors to tasks across seasons. Expand your estate, plant vines, and fulfill wine orders to become the top winery owner. Enjoy single-player or multiplayer modes with global competition.

Highlights
  • Worker and visitor allocation
  • Seasonal tasks
  • Vineyard expansion
  • Wine order fulfillment
  • Single-player vs AI
  • Online multiplayer
  • Asynchronous gameplay
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

You find yourself in rustic, pre-modern Tuscany, where you’ve inherited a meager vineyard. You own a few plots of land, an old crush pad, a tiny cellar, 3 workers…and the dream of owning the best winery in Italy. Your job is to allocate your workers and helpful visitors to complete various tasks throughout the year. Each season is different on a vineyard, so the workers have different tasks they can take care of in the summer and winter. There’s competition over those tasks, and often the first worker to arrive at each one has an advantage over the rest. Using those workers and visitors, you can expand your vineyard by building structures, planting vines, and filling wine orders as you work towards the goal of owning the most successful winery in Tuscany. Features: • 1 to 6 players • Family friendly – non violent theme • Cross Platform • Easy tutorial to learn the game from scratch. • Single-player mode with 3 challenging levels of computer opponents. • Multiplayer games against your friends in friendly games. • Face players from all over the world in ranked multiplayer games online! • Worlwide leaderboard • Take your time in asynchronous game mode with push notifications and never miss a turn. • Analyze your best games or learn tricks from the best with playback • Uses the newest rules of the board game.

About

Ark Nova

Design and manage a modern zoo to support global conservation efforts. Build enclosures, house animals, and utilize unique cards for special abilities. Compete to create the most successful zoological establishment.

Highlights
  • Plan and design a modern zoo
  • Build enclosures and accommodate animals
  • Support global conservation projects
  • Utilize 255 unique cards (animals, specialists, projects)
  • Upgrade action cards for gameplay
  • Increase zoo appeal and scientific reputation
Features
Read full description

Plan and build a modern, scientifically managed zoo to support conservation projects in an acclaimed strategy board game. In Ark Nova, you will plan and design a modern, scientifically managed zoo. With the ultimate goal of owning the most successful zoological establishment, you will build enclosures, accommodate animals, and support conservation projects all over the world. Specialists and unique buildings will help you in achieving this goal. At the heart of Ark Nova are 255 cards featuring animals, specialists, unique enclosures, and conservation projects, each with a particular ability. Use them to increase the appeal and scientific reputation of your zoo and to collect conservation points. Each player has a set of action cards, which you will use and upgrade to carry out your plans. Each player has a set of five action cards to manage their gameplay, and the power of an action is determined by the slot the card currently occupies. The cards are: BUILD: Allows you to build standard or special enclosures, kiosks, and pavilions. ANIMALS: Allows you to accommodate animals in your zoo. CARDS: Allows you to gain new zoo cards (animals, sponsors, and conservation project cards). ASSOCIATION: Allows your association workers to carry out different tasks. SPONSORS: Allows you to play a sponsor card in your zoo or to raise money. With high replayability and rich components, Ark Nova provides a remarkable gaming experience that will bring the game to the table again and again.

Screenshots

Viticulture4 screens
Ark Nova4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Ark Nova at 4.8 against Viticulture's 3.7. Ark Nova also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (72% vs 55%). Viticulture's advantage is price ($8.99 vs $10.99) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On update cadence, ads 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

Viticulture costs $8.99 and Ark Nova $10.99 up front. Viticulture sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Ark Nova asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ark Nova holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ark Nova has 1.2K ratings behind it against 93, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of Viticulture's written reviews are positive against 72% of Ark Nova's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Viticulture ships an update every 3 weeks, Ark Nova every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Viticulture versus Ark Nova: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterViticultureArk Nova
Price$8.99 — better$10.99
Rating3.7 (93 ratings)4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews54.5% of reviews72.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings931.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#163#41 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size322 MB682 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDIGIDICEDDire Wolf Digital

Customer experience

Viticulture

All ratings93 ratings
Positive60.2%
Neutral15.1%
Negative24.7%
Written reviews132 reviews
Positive54.5%
Neutral22.0%
Negative23.5%

Ark Nova

All ratings1,190 ratings
Positive96.5%
Neutral1.9%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews127 reviews
Positive72.4%
Neutral11.0%
Negative16.5%

User reviews

Viticulture

From 93 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Faithful recreation of beloved board game
  • 🎮 Engaging gameplay with strategic depth
  • 🎨 Good graphics and visual presentation
  • 🎵 Nice background music
  • 📱 Convenient portable play anywhere

Room to improve

  • 🐢 AI turns extremely slow and tedious
  • 🎮 Clunky and unintuitive user interface
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and game freezes
  • ❌ Poor UI conventions and design patterns
  • ⏱️ Excessive confirmation buttons required

Ark Nova

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great implementation overall
  • 👍 Lots of fun
  • 👍 Good animations
  • 👍 Choice of modes
  • 👍 Clean, modern and enjoyable design

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Tile placement/rotation issues on iPad
  • 🐛 Building placement UI issues
  • 👎 Difficult to read board state on mobile
  • 👎 Lack of simultaneous view for key game info
  • 👎 Cumbersome to create games with friends

Bugs and requests

Viticulture

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • Game crashes on startup or during gameplay
  • Unable to plant grapes despite having buildings
  • Special workers cannot be selected at correct times
  • Merchant worker action not functioning
  • Game hangs when multiple human players with AI
Show 15 more
  • AI gets stuck and requires force quit to progress
  • Blank tableau display
  • Missing windmill points for summer actions
  • Visitor cards appearing back-to-back duplicates
  • Motivator card not allowing all players to respond
  • Summer volunteer crew card not functioning
  • Build button greyed out despite sufficient coins
  • Cannot purchase multiple workers in one season
  • Game ends abruptly without warning
  • Undo function causes game freeze
  • Games not syncing across devices
  • Main screen cannot find games that side menu shows
  • Card selection prompts disappear too quickly
  • Unclear when multi-action cards end turn
  • Loading screen hangs indefinitely

Requested features

16 requests
  • Tuscany expansion (now available)
  • Moors and Visitors expansion
  • Auto-save functionality for crashes
  • Improved notification system
  • Configurable turn timers for casual play
Show 11 more
  • Separate volume controls for music and effects
  • Replay button for quick rematches
  • Better game history and turn tracking
  • Simultaneous action selection (not turn-based)
  • Clearer worker placement location labels
  • Guided tutorial for UI elements
  • Pause functionality for async games
  • Undo multiple moves (not just current decision)
  • Dark mode option
  • Better iPad optimization
  • Improved app icon design

Ark Nova

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • iPad Flash exit issue
  • Rewards screen being blocked by other UI elements

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to enable larger UI buttons for modal panels
  • Full screen mode
  • Option to reverse zoom direction
  • Improved card readability/zoom

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Viticulture

One-time1
  • Tuscany Essential Edition$8.99
None

Ark Nova

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Viticulture free?
Viticulture costs $8.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Ark Nova free?
Ark Nova costs $10.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Viticulture or Ark Nova?
Ark Nova is rated higher. Viticulture averages 3.7 out of 5 from 93 ratings, while Ark Nova averages 4.8 from 1.2K ratings.
Do Viticulture or Ark Nova have ads?
Neither Viticulture nor Ark Nova shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Viticulture or Ark Nova?
Viticulture ships an update every 3 weeks, and Ark Nova every 2 weeks. Most recently, Viticulture was updated on September 24, 2026 and Ark Nova on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, Viticulture or Ark Nova?
Viticulture currently peaks at #163 in the App Store charts, and Ark Nova at #41. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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