Aureole Island vs POOLS™
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Aureole Island
Embark on a serene exploration of vast prairie islands, encountering wildlife and spiritual echoes. This experimental game offers a peaceful, aimless journey for introspection and meditation.
- Explore vast prairie islands
- Encounter animals and souls
- Meditate for serenity
- Experience spiritual echoes
- Aimless journey gameplay
Read full descriptionHide full description
Run, explore, encounter small animals and souls on vast prairie islands. An aimless journey may make you feel lonely, or you may be able to empty your mind and enjoy a rare serenity. If you can feel the peace, try sitting down and meditating. Echoes from the land may bring revelations that resonate strongly. "It's an experimental little game that's still evolving."
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.
- Slow, reflective exploration
- Atmospheric and immersive environments
- Inspired by liminal spaces
- Unfolding narrative through exploration
- Six distinct chapters
- Unique sound design
Read full descriptionHide 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
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Aureole Island at 5.0 against POOLS™'s 4.5. Aureole Island also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (100% vs 80%). POOLS™'s advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (1.7K vs 1). On price, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. POOLS™ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Aureole Island asks for nothing beyond the download.
Aureole Island holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: POOLS™ has 1.7K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Aureole Island's written reviews are positive against 80% of POOLS™'s.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Aureole Island | POOLS™ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.5 (1.7K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 79.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 208 MB | 1.9 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | 德军 朱 | Tensori |
Customer experience
Aureole Island
POOLS™
Bugs and requests
Aureole Island
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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
Aureole Island
No in-app purchases
POOLS™
- POOLS: Full Game$9.99









