Comparison

9th Dawn III vs Elderand

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

Head to head
About

9th Dawn III

Embark on a vast 2D open-world adventure as a chosen hero investigating mysterious events. Explore diverse landscapes, battle over 270 monsters, and uncover ancient secrets to save the land. Customize your character, recruit allies, and engage in numerous side activities.

Highlights
  • Huge seamless open world exploration
  • Over 270 unique monsters to battle
  • Extensive item collection (1400+ items)
  • Character customization and leveling
  • Monster recruitment and training
  • Weapon and armor customization
  • In-game card game and fishing
Features
Read full description

9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil is a huge 2D open world RPG and collectathon dungeon crawler packed full of adventure! When asked to investigate mysterious, ghostly sightings around the lake of Elmson, you trek through the lands of Cedaltia to uncover the truth. Upon arrival, you hear rumors of an untrustworthy king. Taking the path of the Chosen One, you journey to Lorwyck Castle to confront a powerful enemy – traversing ancient fortresses, dark dungeons, perilous swamps, and more! Soon, you find yourself at the heart of a foreboding prophecy. Equip your best gear and adventure across the fields of Ashwick, the snowy regions of Halstom, dense forests of Vlak, the sprawling depths of huge dungeons, and the perilous Hollow Mountains of Scorn on an epic quest to uncover the secrets of a mysterious evil force ... Can you become the savior of Cadaltia? • Explore a huge, seamless open world full of crypts, fortresses, villages, and more. • Find your way across deadly dungeons, fight over 270 unique monsters, and acquire loot, treasures, and rare materials. • Become the ultimate warrior as you unlock spells and abilities, fine-tune your attributes, and level-up your crafting abilities! • Recruit monsters! Turn them into powerful allies with care and combat skill training. • Collect 1,400 uniquely drawn items – including more than 300 weapons and 550 pieces of armor and accessories. • Customize weapons and armour, go fishing, cook food, collect gems, and more! • Kick back and play Fyued, an original card game played throughout the region with 180 collectable cards! • Enjoy an original orchestral soundtrack. • Help the townsfolk to prosper with sidequests that range from silly to dangerous! Valorware is a UK-based game development and publishing company. Valorware is led by a solo-developer, focusing on producing content-rich Role Playing Games (RPGs).

About

Elderand

Embark on a brutal, skill-based action platformer in a Lovecraftian world. Wield diverse weapons and customize your character with RPG elements to battle terrifying creatures and explore a dark, hand-drawn pixel environment. Collect loot to upgrade your arsenal and uncover the land's secrets.

Highlights
  • Skill-based combat
  • Metroidvania exploration
  • Lovecraftian horror themes
  • RPG character customization
  • Diverse weapon arsenal
  • Hand-drawn pixel art
  • Loot collection and crafting
Features
Read full description

Become the hero of an epic quest in Elderand, a metroidvania that will test your will and skill. Heads will literally roll in this gruesome, retro-inspired action platformer, where only the strong will survive in brutal, skill-based combat against terrifying creatures. Through the darkness and madness, promised glory awaits. Wield a variety of killing instruments and abilities to test your metal against towering, bone-chilling bosses. Explore a twisted Lovecraftian world shrouded in darkness and madness. RPG elements allow you to customize your battle experience to your liking, from your character’s appearance to skills, stats, and weapons. Slay or be slain as you collect glory and treasure in this nightmarish 2D world. Glory and riches await those who can spill the required blood and guts to collect it. KEY FEATURES: •Wield an arsenal of killing devices, including whips, swords, daggers, axes, bows, and more. From a magical staff that shoots bursts of energy to a giant sword, different weapons have different stats and capabilities, so find the ones that you enjoy battling beasts with the most! •Satisfying Metroidvania-style exploration meets terrifying Lovecraftian creatures in this detailed hand-drawn pixel world with glorious gothic aesthetics and handcrafted level design. •RPG elements let you customize your experience to best suit your play style, from your character’s appearance to their skills, stats, and weapons. Collect loot from exploration and fallen enemies and then use it to upgrade your weapons via crafting. •Travel to the many corners of this perilous land, such as an inviting village with merchants, a forest, a temple prison, floating islands, a cursed Cathedral, and the hellscape that is Elderand itself. •More than 60 different enemy types and around a dozen bosses for your slaying pleasure. •Collect lost letters and other correspondence from the poor souls who came before you to learn more about the darkness taking hold of this grim land.

Screenshots

9th Dawn III4 screens
Elderand4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: 9th Dawn III at 4.5 against Elderand's 4.2. 9th Dawn III also leads on chart position (#113 vs unranked). Elderand's advantage is price ($6.99 vs $9.99). On review sentiment, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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

9th Dawn III costs $9.99 and Elderand $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

9th Dawn III holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 104 and 36 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of 9th Dawn III's written reviews are positive against 74% of Elderand's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

9th Dawn III ships an update every 3 days, Elderand weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
9th Dawn III versus Elderand: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter9th Dawn IIIElderand
Price$9.99$6.99 — better
Rating4.5 (104 ratings) — better4.2 (36 ratings)
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews — better73.7% of reviews
Number of ratings104 — better36
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#113 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.011.0
Further details — not scored
Size578 MB818 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperValorware LTDPlug In Digital

Customer experience

9th Dawn III

All ratings104 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral4.8%
Negative9.6%
Written reviews80 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative15.0%

Elderand

All ratings36 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral11.1%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive73.7%
Neutral7.9%
Negative18.4%

User reviews

9th Dawn III

From 104 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎮 Massive open-world with extensive exploration
  • 🎯 Deep RPG mechanics and character customization
  • 🛠️ Rich crafting system (smithing, cooking, enchanting, etc.)
  • 🎴 Integrated card game mini-game
  • 🐾 Pet/creature taming and battling system

Room to improve

  • 🗺️ Poor navigation and confusing map UI
  • 🐛 Game-breaking bugs and crashes
  • ❌ Lack of post-purchase support and updates
  • ⚖️ Unbalanced difficulty curve
  • 🧙 Overpowered magic/healing abilities

Elderand

From 36 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great game overall
  • 🗺️ Deep lore and world-building
  • 🎵 Amazing music and audio
  • ⚔️ Challenging yet approachable combat
  • 🎮 Excellent controller support (mostly)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Game crashes frequently
  • 🐛 Controls can be buggy and unresponsive
  • 🐛 Dash function sometimes not working
  • 🐛 Game freezes intermittently
  • 🐛 Bosses getting stuck in animations

Bugs and requests

9th Dawn III

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Accidental NPC interaction causing permanent price increases
  • Auto-save issues when force-quitting
  • Audio not working on some devices
  • Game crashes on iPad
  • Controls not responsive on Backbone controller
Show 6 more
  • Companion getting stuck on walls
  • Gem crafting success rate too low
  • Skill leveling not progressing properly
  • Data loss on device transfer
  • Dungeon monsters respawning excessively
  • UI freezing and menu navigation issues

Requested features

14 requests
  • iCloud save synchronization across devices
  • Cloud save support for device transfers
  • Chinese language localization
  • Confirmation dialogs for permanent actions
  • Multiple save file slots
Show 9 more
  • Fog of war on maps
  • Recipe material indicators
  • Shared inventory between player and companion
  • Solo play option without companion
  • Cross-platform save (PS4/console)
  • Mac/Steam release
  • Joystick sensitivity customization
  • Quest markers or better navigation aids
  • Improved NPC scheduling/availability

Elderand

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Permanent crashes
  • Character spawning underneath level
  • R button for subweapon not working on Steelseries Nimbus
  • Dash function not working
  • Game freezing for a moment
Show 6 more
  • Bosses getting stuck in attack animations
  • Campfire menu broken (cannot select options)
  • Lost save data after updates
  • D-pad moves on screen and becomes unusable
  • Joystick teleports to random spots
  • Virtual joystick bug with attack key

Requested features

7 requests
  • Full controller remapping for bindings
  • Multiplayer PvP 'Invasions' system
  • Cloud saves (iCloud)
  • Adjustable button layout and size
  • Ability to track materials acquired
Show 2 more
  • New game+ option
  • Boss replayability

In-app purchases

None

9th Dawn III

No in-app purchases

None

Elderand

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is 9th Dawn III free?
9th Dawn III costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Elderand free?
Elderand costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, 9th Dawn III or Elderand?
9th Dawn III is rated higher. 9th Dawn III averages 4.5 out of 5 from 104 ratings, while Elderand averages 4.2 from 36 ratings.
Do 9th Dawn III or Elderand have ads?
Neither 9th Dawn III nor Elderand shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 9th Dawn III or Elderand?
9th Dawn III ships an update every 3 days, and Elderand weekly. Most recently, 9th Dawn III was updated on October 20, 2026 and Elderand on October 19, 2026.

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