Comparison

Aureole Island vs POOLS™

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Explore vast prairie islands
  • Encounter animals and souls
  • Meditate for serenity
  • Experience spiritual echoes
  • Aimless journey gameplay
Features
Read 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."

About

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.

Highlights
  • Slow, reflective exploration
  • Atmospheric and immersive environments
  • Inspired by liminal spaces
  • Unfolding narrative through exploration
  • Six distinct chapters
  • Unique sound design
Features
Read 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

Aureole Island4 screens
POOLS™4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. POOLS™ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Aureole Island asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Aureole Island versus POOLS™: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAureole IslandPOOLS™
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.5 (1.7K ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better79.5% of reviews
Number of ratings11.7K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size208 MB1.9 GB
Age rating4+9+
Developer德军 朱Tensori

Customer experience

Aureole Island

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

POOLS™

All ratings1,738 ratings
Positive88.0%
Neutral3.2%
Negative8.7%
Written reviews630 reviews
Positive79.5%
Neutral6.3%
Negative14.1%

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

None

Aureole Island

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

POOLS™

One-time1
  • POOLS: Full Game$9.99

Questions

Is Aureole Island free?
Aureole Island is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is POOLS™ free?
POOLS™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Aureole Island or POOLS™?
Aureole Island is rated higher. Aureole Island averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while POOLS™ averages 4.5 from 1.7K ratings.
Do Aureole Island or POOLS™ have ads?
Aureole Island shows ads; POOLS™ does not.
Which is updated more often, Aureole Island or POOLS™?
Aureole Island ships an update monthly, and POOLS™ monthly. Most recently, Aureole Island was updated on October 2, 2026 and POOLS™ on October 23, 2026.

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