Comparison

The Almost Gone vs Boxville

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

Head to head
About

The Almost Gone

Unravel poignant truths and discover the connections of your life in this narrative puzzle game. Explore intricately detailed dioramas, piece together memories, and decipher clues to understand your fate. This award-winning story is crafted by a celebrated author.

Highlights
  • Emotional and immersive story
  • Award-winning author
  • Detailed diorama exploration
  • Object and memory discovery
  • Five compelling chapters
  • Forensic clue searching
Features
Read full description

Experience the intricate dioramas and connections of your life, and the ripples we all make, in this award-winning narrative puzzle game. Poised between life and death, isolated and alone, you must unravel the poignant truths that led to your fate. Dig beneath the beautifully rendered façades and interiors of an ordinary suburban lifestyle to discover a contemporary tale crafted by an award-winning author. Piece together this compelling story by revealing objects and memories, and decipher these clues to reveal more of the story and its secrets. From your own home to eerily deserted streets, beautiful apartment blocks to abandoned hospitals, you must search forensically for clues and the path forwards. Each new revelation takes you that one step closer to understanding, and to the people and places that surrounded you, in your all too short life. Why are you here? Why are you trapped and alone? Will you ever move on? • Experience an emotional and immersive story written by award-winning author Joost Vandecasteele • Explore every nook and cranny of each beautifully rendered diorama • Play through five compelling chapters, with each revealing more secrets and twists that will lead you to the truth • From an unassuming sitting room, to a tent in a forest, from a police car in a tree to an abandoned hospital, a hauntingly different suburbia is yours to discover • Carefully optimized for mobile devices

About

Boxville

This animated adventure puzzle game features speechless cans navigating a city of boxes. Solve logic puzzles and riddles, explore a charming world, and uncover the mystery behind earthquakes. Enjoy a unique audio-visual experience, playable solo or with a friend.

Highlights
  • Animated film and puzzle game hybrid
  • Hand-drawn graphics and custom animations
  • Environmental quests and logical puzzles
  • Unique music for each scene
  • Wordless communication via speech bubbles
  • Playable solo or co-op
Features
Read full description

Boxville is 2-in-1: an animated film and a puzzle game. Boxville is an adventure puzzle game about speechless cans living in the city of boxes and drawing doodles on cardboards to tell the stories. Boxville is good for playing alone to dive into the atmosphere and challenge your brain with sophisticated logic puzzles and riddles, or playing with a friend or family to share unique audio-visual experiences and solve the puzzles together. Design The core idea of the game is that it’s not just a game - but also an animated film that you can watch and play at the same time. We designed Boxville’s gameplay with the purpose of taking away your anxiety and stress. You can explore and observe the world without rushing and pressure. The game is full of environmental quests and logical puzzles that we have carefully picked from among hundreds of options. Story Boxville is a city of boxes populated with old cans. They live quiet and happy lives with their everyday routines and habits. But one day, unexplained earthquakes disturbed their idyll... Blue Can (our hero) lost his best friend because of that. He started his search but it is not so easy to move through the city after earthquakes. He has to find a way to move forward, return the friend back home and discover the real reason for all those earthquakes. There are many adventures, new friends and it’s not only friends that are waiting for him on the way. He has to be curious, inventive, careful, and to help others, to reach his goal. What you can expect to see and hear in Boxville: - Hand-drawn graphics — all backgrounds and characters are carefully drawn by our artists. - Every animation and sound is created especially for each interaction. - Unique music track was created for every scene to accomplish the atmosphere of the game. - Tens of logical puzzles and mini-games are tightly incorporated into the story of the game. - There are no words in the game — all characters communicate via cartoony speechbubbles.

Screenshots

The Almost Gone4 screens
Boxville4 screens

Verdict

The call

The Almost Gone and Boxville both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 78% of Boxville's written reviews are positive against 61% of The Almost Gone's. Boxville also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks) and chart position (#96 vs unranked). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

The Almost Gone costs $3.99 and Boxville $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for The Almost Gone against 4.7 for Boxville. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 636 and 779 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 61% of The Almost Gone's written reviews are positive against 78% of Boxville's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Almost Gone ships an update every 3 weeks, Boxville every 9 days. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
The Almost Gone versus Boxville: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Almost GoneBoxville
Price$3.99$1.99 — better
Rating4.7 (636 ratings)4.7 (779 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.8% of reviews78.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings636779 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#96 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size317 MB1.2 GB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperPlaydigiousTriomatica Games

Customer experience

The Almost Gone

All ratings634 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral3.5%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews120 reviews
Positive60.8%
Neutral16.7%
Negative22.5%

Boxville

All ratings755 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews226 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral8.0%
Negative13.7%

User reviews

The Almost Gone

From 636 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Beautiful graphics and visuals
  • 📚 Immersive and engaging story
  • 🧠 Challenging yet satisfying puzzles
  • 🕹️ Unique and intuitive gameplay
  • 🎨 Excellent art style and atmosphere

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🔍 Frustrating navigation and room switching
  • 🕰️ Abrupt or unsatisfying ending
  • 🔍 Lack of a full map or navigation system
  • 🕰️ Game feels too short

Boxville

From 779 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Enjoyable puzzles
  • 🎨 Beautiful art and animation
  • 🎶 Lovely music
  • 🧠 Challenging but logical puzzles
  • 🤗 Charming characters and story

Room to improve

  • 🕰️ Short game length
  • 🔍 Tiny inventory items hard to see
  • 🤯 Some puzzles too obscure
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🤖 Lack of hint system or ability to skip puzzles

Bugs and requests

The Almost Gone

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Game crashes on startup with headphones
  • Inability to progress due to missing items or soft locks
  • Scaling and UI issues on certain devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add more chapters or content to expand the story
  • Improve navigation and room switching controls
  • Provide a full map or level overview

Boxville

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Progress reset after updates
  • Inventory items disappearing
  • Puzzle mechanics not working as expected

Requested features

4 requests
  • Longer game with more content
  • Ability to use stylus/Apple Pencil
  • Improved save/load system
  • In-game hints or ability to skip puzzles

In-app purchases

None

The Almost Gone

No in-app purchases

None

Boxville

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Almost Gone free?
The Almost Gone costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Boxville free?
Boxville costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, The Almost Gone or Boxville?
Boxville is rated higher. The Almost Gone averages 4.7 out of 5 from 636 ratings, while Boxville averages 4.7 from 779 ratings.
Do The Almost Gone or Boxville have ads?
Neither The Almost Gone nor Boxville shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Almost Gone or Boxville?
The Almost Gone ships an update every 3 weeks, and Boxville every 9 days. Most recently, The Almost Gone was updated on November 7, 2026 and Boxville on November 7, 2026.

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