Merchant vs Incremental ELM Quest
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Merchant
Embark on a fantasy adventure where you manage a guild, send heroes on quests, and craft valuable items. Trade with customers, gather resources, and collaborate with friends in this unique RPG experience.
- Guild management
- Hero quests
- Item crafting
- Customer sales
- Resource gathering
- Online multiplayer
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Blending together traditional RPG systems, management mechanics, and a fantasy overworld, Merchant Guilds aims to reimagine the traditional mobile RPG. Play with your friends in a Guild as you send heroes on quests, craft equipment from your winnings, sell items to customers, and send workers out to gather more materials. Including online multiplayer functionality and developed by a team that is focused on this game for the foreseeable future
Incremental ELM Quest
Embark on a challenging incremental RPG adventure where every battle and defeat fuels your progress. Upgrade your hero, build your town, and strategize to overcome hundreds of unique foes and powerful bosses. This game offers a rewarding experience for both short sessions and extended play.
- Incremental RPG gameplay
- Hero upgrades and evolutions
- Town building for progression
- Boss battles with unique tactics
- Permanent bonuses from defeats
- Hundreds of unique enemies
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ELM Quest is a cozy but challenging incremental RPG where every battle pushes your progress forward. Begin your quest, fight through encounters, and upgrade your hero to survive tougher foes. Every loss results in powerful permanent bonuses that strengthen future runs. Why players enjoy ELM Quest: - 4 starting heroes, each with a unique playstyle and several evolutions each. - Face powerful bosses with unique tactics. Can you beat them all? - Hundreds of unique foes. Study your foes carefully to overcome difficult fights. - Build up your town for lasting progression. - Every defeat matters, no matter how quick. Learn, adapt, and push farther each run. Whether you play in short sessions or long grinds, ELM Quest rewards strategy, persistence, and clever upgrades. Dev note: This game was made by an incremental game fan who got bored of waiting for another to come out. You will find no ads and the game was balanced around being a completely free experience. All perks/rewards obtainable for free through gameplay.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Incremental ELM Quest at none against Merchant's shown. Incremental ELM Quest also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 weeks). Merchant's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Merchant sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Incremental ELM Quest sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for Merchant against 4.4 for Incremental ELM Quest. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 53 and 22 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of Merchant's written reviews are positive against 48% of Incremental ELM Quest's.
Merchant ships an update every 2 weeks, Incremental ELM Quest every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Merchant | Incremental ELM Quest |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (53 ratings) — better | 4.4 (22 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 47.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 53 — better | 22 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 410 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Retora Game Studios | Eric Marin |
Customer experience
Merchant
Incremental ELM Quest
In-app purchases
Merchant
- Extra Daily Challenge$0.99
- Extra Daily Challenge Upg #2$0.99
- Hero Slots Unlock$1.99
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- Additional Inventory Slots$1.99
- Second Inventory Upgrade$1.99
- Extra Crafting Slot$3.99
- Extra Hero Loadouts$9.99
- Ad Free Mode$9.99
- Unlock All Upgrades$29.99
- Unlock All Upgrades$34.99
Incremental ELM Quest
- Buy Dev a Coffee (+30 Renown)$0.99
- Buy Dev Lunch (+200 Renown)$4.99
- Fully Support Dev (+450 Renown)$9.99
Questions
Is Merchant free?
Is Incremental ELM Quest free?
Which has better reviews, Merchant or Incremental ELM Quest?
Do Merchant or Incremental ELM Quest have ads?
Which is updated more often, Merchant or Incremental ELM Quest?
Other comparisons
