Comparison

Pico Islands vs Orbitfall

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

Head to head
About

Pico Islands

Lead settlers to build a thriving medieval city, manage resources, and expand your empire across islands. Engage in trade, conquest, and technological discovery to achieve global domination or enjoy a peaceful simulation.

Highlights
  • Build and expand your city
  • Manage resources and production
  • Trade with neighbors
  • Conquer new islands
  • Research new technologies
  • Optimize building placement and transportation
Features
Read full description

You have landed on a small island with a group of settlers. As the new king of this land it is now up to you to enlarge your realm and lead your people to glory. Capture the resources of this world and let your small village grow to a respectable city. Trade with your neighbors, capture gold and diamonds with your conquests. Eventually you will cross the sea to conquer many more islands and fortify the domination of your civilization and discover the many secrets beyond the ocean. The real time strategy game Pico Islands is an economy simulation taking place in a medieval world. In the quest for prosperity you can pursue the conquest of the whole world or simply lean back and watch your townsmen bustle around. The game is self-explanatory and does not require knowledge of the English language. Features: * By effective placement of your buildings and a well organized network of tracks and roads you will optimize the productivity of your settlers. * Use the right tactics and strategies in building your town to use the natural resources of your land the most effective way. * Collect lumber and stone as building materials for your constructions. * Place tracks and roads for optimized transportation of your goods. * Produce grain in your farms, only with a working agriculture your bakers can provide bread for your citizens, while your fishermen supply your sailors with sufficient food. * Let your alchemists brew magical potions that will lead your way to the discovery of new technologies. * Provide your miners with sufficient food, the mines will produce stone, coal, iron, copper and of course gold which serve as crafting materials for your manufactories. * Build harbors to cross the seas with your ships and become a formidable conqueror * Forge tools, jewelry and swords that your sailors and knights will use to explore new islands, to trade or to pillage. Enter the fantasy world of Pico Islands now and become a fearless adventurer, an acclaimed leader, a formidable conqueror and the hero of your own empire in this RTS game! Do you like retro, tycoon, idle clicker or simulation games? Then you should take a look at Pico Islands! You can download and play Pico Islands free of charge, but you have the opportunity to enhance your gaming experience with In-App-Purchases for real money. Featuring music by Matthew Pablo https://matthewpablo.com

About

Orbitfall

Features
Read full description

A real-time strategy game that fits in one hand and finishes in six minutes. Orbitfall is played on a small planet, so the horizon is the fog of war. You can see who owns what from anywhere — but not how strong they are, and never what is happening on the far side. Spinning the world to scout is a real move, not a camera flourish. You command places, not units. Drag from one base to a connected one and a share of its garrison marches. Every base builds a single troop type, and the three beat each other in a circle: Lancers beat Sentries, Sentries beat Bulwarks, Bulwarks beat Lancers. What you build is a bet on what is coming. FIVE KINDS OF GROUND Cores build fastest and hold the most — lose one and the match ends. Foundries out-produce everything else. Bastions defend at double. Reactors pay for your powers. Relays lift the fog and move troops faster. THREE WAYS TO WIN Take their Core. Hold 65% of the planet for twenty seconds. Or simply have more standing when the clock runs out. WHAT IS IN IT • Campaign — eight hand-built worlds, each teaching exactly one idea • Skirmish — three planet sizes, five difficulties, every planet seeded and repeatable • Daily Planet — one world a day, the same for everyone, scored and streaked • Versus — live multiplayer over Game Center. Free. The difficulty ladder is tuned against a simulated beginner rather than by feel, so the early tiers are genuinely approachable and the late ones genuinely are not. EMBER — OPTIONAL Eight volcanic worlds where a molten band circles the planet every seventy-five seconds. Under it, bases build nothing and lose troops. Either side of it, they build at double rate. The two zones cover the same share of the world, so it changes when you can act rather than how much you have. One purchase, no subscription, and the first world is free. Nothing in Ember is an advantage — no unit, stat or economy differs from the free game, so nothing bought can be pointed at another player. No accounts. No ads. No analytics. No timers. No energy meters.

Screenshots

Pico Islands4 screens
Orbitfall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Orbitfall at none against Pico Islands's shown. Orbitfall also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). Pico Islands's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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. Pico Islands sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Orbitfall sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pico Islands ships an update every 5 weeks, Orbitfall weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Pico Islands versus Orbitfall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPico IslandsOrbitfall
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (131 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews71.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings131 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB3 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperBitSpree GmbHSean MacDiarmid

Bugs and requests

Pico Islands

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Forester lookups result in 404 errors
  • Inability to undo 10 map limit
  • Crashes when redeploying roads
  • Inconsistent cookie consent management

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add map selection/replay
  • Improve tutorial and documentation
  • Implement graphics settings
  • Add more content and progression
  • Introduce multiplayer/competitive modes
Show 1 more
  • Improve performance and optimization

Orbitfall

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Pico Islands

One-time5
  • Buy 20 Gems$0.99
  • Buy 110 Gems$4.99
  • Remove ads$13.99
Show 2 more
  • Buy 500 Gems$19.99
  • Buy 1500 Gems$49.99
1 purchases

Orbitfall

One-time1
  • Ember Campaign$4.99

Questions

Is Pico Islands free?
Pico Islands is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Orbitfall free?
Orbitfall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pico Islands or Orbitfall have ads?
Pico Islands shows ads; Orbitfall does not.
Which is updated more often, Pico Islands or Orbitfall?
Pico Islands ships an update every 5 weeks, and Orbitfall weekly. Most recently, Pico Islands was updated on October 19, 2026 and Orbitfall on October 2, 2026.

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