Comparison

VITRIOL vs Boxville

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

Head to head
About

VITRIOL

Embark on a narrative-driven word puzzle adventure through a bureaucratic labyrinth. Uncover hidden meanings, make impactful choices, and escape the system. This game offers a unique blend of interactive literature and challenging puzzles.

Highlights
  • Interactive literature by Charlene Putney
  • 66 challenging word puzzles
  • Storytelling narrative
  • Choice-driven gameplay
  • Designed for short bursts
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

VITRIOL is a storytelling word puzzle game where you journey into, and hopefully out of, a bureaucratic nightmare. As the story unfolds, you can find hidden answers within the words and escape between the lines.  The choices you make hold up a mirror to your actions in the real world. Are you guilty of being yourself? It's up to you to find out. Features – Interactive literature: Written by acclaimed writer Charlene Putney. – A long exciting road to travel: 66 challenging word puzzles. – Aware of its place in the world: Made for short bursts of gameplay. – Food for the brain, not only the thumb: Take as much time as you need.

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

VITRIOL4 screens
Boxville4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Boxville at 773 against VITRIOL's 4. Boxville also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 67%) and price ($3.99 vs $4.99). VITRIOL's advantage is chart position (#151 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 13.0). On rating, update cadence, 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

VITRIOL costs $4.99 and Boxville $3.99 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 — 4.8 for VITRIOL against 4.7 for Boxville. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Boxville has 773 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of VITRIOL's written reviews are positive against 78% of Boxville's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

VITRIOL ships an update fortnightly, Boxville every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
VITRIOL versus Boxville: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVITRIOLBoxville
Price$4.99$3.99 — better
Rating4.8 (4 ratings) — better4.7 (773 ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews78.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4773 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#151 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size214 MB1.2 GB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperBroken RulesTriomatica Games

Customer experience

VITRIOL

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%

Boxville

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

Bugs and requests

VITRIOL

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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

VITRIOL

No in-app purchases

None

Boxville

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is VITRIOL free?
VITRIOL costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Boxville free?
Boxville costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, VITRIOL or Boxville?
VITRIOL is rated higher. VITRIOL averages 4.8 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Boxville averages 4.7 from 773 ratings.
Do VITRIOL or Boxville have ads?
Neither VITRIOL nor Boxville shows ads.
Which is updated more often, VITRIOL or Boxville?
VITRIOL ships an update fortnightly, and Boxville every 9 days. Most recently, VITRIOL was updated on October 29, 2026 and Boxville on October 30, 2026.

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