Comparison

Pixel Shrine JINJA vs Vactics

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

Head to head
About

Pixel Shrine JINJA

Build and defend a beautiful pixel art shrine inspired by ancient Japanese traditions. Attract worshippers to gather resources, reinforce your defenses, and expand your shrine. Engage in automatic combat and enjoy a deep gameplay experience with various buildings and strategic elements.

Highlights
  • Shrine building and customization
  • Resource management from worshippers
  • Automatic combat and defense
  • Pixel art graphics
  • Expandable shrine with new buildings
  • Online shrine visits and interaction
Read full description

Pixel Shrine JINJA is a shrine building defense game based on ancient Japanese shrine. You can create beautiful shrines in a world of pixel art. *How to play The shrine is connected to the road to attract worshippers. Receive resources from worshippers. Reinforce the buildings with the collected resources and prepare for enemy attacks. When you defeat enemies, your shrine level will increase and you will get buildings and plants. The number of buildings will be increased by raising the level, and the shrine will be enlarged. *Features of the game Resources can be accumulated even when the game is closed. You can place terrain blocks and water sources anywhere you like. Shrines can be opened to other players. You can give souvenirs to players who visit your shrine. Various buildings such as shrines, torii gates, and kaguraden (Shinto music and dance halls) will appear in the game. You can take a walk with a dog with the walk function. Combat progresses automatically. The skills of the residents, the characteristics of the buildings, and the gimmick elements provide a deep gameplay experience. *This game is recommended for the following people. People who like to build things People who like pixel art People who like to grow

About

Vactics

Engage in tactical, chess-like combat by building powerful mechs to battle robotic enemies. Face randomly generated challenges and fight for a better future in this strategic warfare game.

Highlights
  • Mech building
  • Tactical chess-like combat
  • Randomly generated challenges
  • Mech and tech upgrades
  • Extended campaign
  • Leaderboard competition
Features
Read full description

Build the mech to fight against robotic Vactics in tactical chess-like combat. The war is already over and the heroes of the city have fallen. Take on a new randomly generated challenge every time you play and join with the citizens to fight for a better future. Vactics is designed to let you play as much as you like and upgrade to the full version at any time. Unlocking the pro version of the game provides: • Access to all 18 mech types and dozens of additional tech modifiers. • Access to the full 24 colour palettes to choose from with custom app icons each. • An extended campaign with additional enemy types and areas to fight through. • An additional phase to the campaign with the true ending and all the co-pilots. • The daily district challenge where you can compete with others on the leaderboards. • Much more to discover.... -- Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Pixel Shrine JINJA4 screens
Vactics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Pixel Shrine JINJA at 4.7 against Vactics's 4.0. Pixel Shrine JINJA also leads on ratings volume (208 vs 56). Vactics's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (71% vs 59%). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Pixel Shrine JINJA sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Vactics sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 3 months. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pixel Shrine JINJA holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 208 and 56 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 59% of Pixel Shrine JINJA's written reviews are positive against 71% of Vactics's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pixel Shrine JINJA versus Vactics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel Shrine JINJAVactics
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (208 ratings) — better4.0 (56 ratings)
Positive reviews59.3% of reviews70.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings208 — better56
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size149 MB309 MB
Age rating12+9+
Developerkazuyuki yamadaGerard Delaney

Customer experience

Pixel Shrine JINJA

All ratings204 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral2.0%
Negative5.4%
Written reviews91 reviews
Positive59.3%
Neutral12.1%
Negative28.6%

Vactics

All ratings56 ratings
Positive73.2%
Neutral8.9%
Negative17.9%
Written reviews55 reviews
Positive70.9%
Neutral12.7%
Negative16.4%

User reviews

Pixel Shrine JINJA

From 208 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ⛩️ Beautiful Japanese shrine aesthetic
  • 🧘‍♀️ Relaxing and peaceful gameplay
  • 🎨 Creative shrine customization
  • ✨ Deep and engaging mechanics
  • 👍 Optional ads, truly F2P

Room to improve

  • 🐌 Painfully slow progression
  • ⏳ Long upgrade times
  • ❓ Confusing mechanics/tutorials
  • 💸 Purchases required for meaningful progress
  • 📉 Video ad quality issues

Vactics

From 56 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Innovative gameplay mechanics
  • 👍 Deep tactical gameplay
  • 🎨 Gorgeous art style
  • 🎶 Excellent synthwave score
  • ✨ Well-balanced gameplay

Room to improve

  • 💰 High price for pro version
  • 💸 Expensive subscription options
  • 😩 Frustrating paywall
  • ❓ Lacking tutorial explanations
  • 🐌 Slow restart function

Bugs and requests

Pixel Shrine JINJA

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Account banned without reason
  • Game crashes on startup
  • Building data sometimes resets
  • Network instability/clock shift errors prevent play
  • Cannot watch ads after updates
Show 5 more
  • Buildings lose effectiveness when switching maps
  • Building levels reset to 1 after moving
  • Phoenix summon bug
  • Fox level-up causes ability decrease
  • Game not opening after update due to clock error

Requested features

17 requests
  • Increase daily upgrade limit
  • Add a community forum/bulletin board
  • Implement an undo button for map editing
  • Allow camera rotation during building
  • Add a paint brush tool for map design
Show 12 more
  • Provide more detailed explanations/tutorials
  • Add more enemy sprites
  • Implement partial terrain copying
  • Add more varied visitors/characters
  • Allow separate settings for enemy and visitor entrances
  • Add a way to save/load map layouts
  • Add more diverse decorative items (e.g., flowers, trees)
  • Allow control over attack wait times for priests/miko
  • Add volume control for BGM and SE
  • Add more varied time-of-day scenery
  • Allow placing blocks by dragging fingers
  • Add a feature to view friends' maps more interactively

Vactics

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Combo attack bonus cancelled by heavy landing
  • "Restore purchases" not working after update
  • Cannot equip more than one ability
  • Inconsistent combat: adjacent Vactic not hitting
  • Cannot mount one tech in Chassis and one in Engine
Show 1 more
  • Line-of-sight for ranged enemies unclear

Requested features

20 requests
  • Add more upgrades
  • Add more game modes
  • Add online co-op
  • Add infinite wave competition
  • Add diverging paths on map like FTL
Show 15 more
  • Add small story elements at decisions
  • Add new enemies and technologies
  • Add a big boss
  • Add Russian language support
  • Improve tutorial clarity
  • Faster restart function
  • Option to confirm selection before moving
  • More customization options for mechs
  • Unlock more mechs for free
  • Add wallpapers in the art style
  • Support for lowercase game text
  • Option to change palettes easily
  • Save progress on runs
  • Adjustable difficulty settings
  • Add more content

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Pixel Shrine JINJA

One-time10
  • diamond 12$0.99
  • Event ticket 6$0.99
  • sakura-shinboku$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Inishie-no-torii$1.99
  • 3-pack$2.99
  • 3-pack-2nd$2.99
  • Event ticket 25$2.99
  • diamond 60$3.99
  • Building pack$3.99
  • diamond 145$7.99
2 purchases

Vactics

Subscriptions1
  • Subscribe to Vactics Pro$2.993 Months
One-time1
  • Vactics Pro$8.99

Questions

Is Pixel Shrine JINJA free?
Pixel Shrine JINJA is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Vactics free?
Vactics is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Shrine JINJA or Vactics?
Pixel Shrine JINJA is rated higher. Pixel Shrine JINJA averages 4.7 out of 5 from 208 ratings, while Vactics averages 4.0 from 56 ratings.
Do Pixel Shrine JINJA or Vactics have ads?
Pixel Shrine JINJA shows ads; Vactics does not.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Shrine JINJA or Vactics?
Pixel Shrine JINJA ships an update every 3 weeks, and Vactics every 3 weeks. Most recently, Pixel Shrine JINJA was updated on November 3, 2026 and Vactics on November 3, 2026.

Other comparisons