Dawn, P.I. vs Moth Lake
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dawn, P.I.
Step into the shoes of a high school detective in this hand-drawn, point-and-click adventure game. Explore a mysterious high school, find clues, solve puzzles, and interrogate characters to uncover the truth behind strange occurrences.
- Point-and-click gameplay
- Investigative puzzles
- Character interrogation
- Hand-drawn animation
- Mystery solving
- Explore school environment
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What mystery lurks in Marlowe High? Become a detective in this point-and-click adventure game and solve the case! If you enjoy detective stories, escape games and puzzles, Dawn, P.I. is the game for you. Become Dawn, a high schooler with a penchant for investigation and occasional property damage. Explore the school to find clues and solve puzzles to ultimately get to the bottom of the case: why is Meg's horoscope suddenly working? Is someone interfering with the school paper? Why are people missing? Why is the librarian so annoying? And what in the world is "The Guiding Wind"? Fully hand-drawn and -animated, Dawn, P.I. will transport you to a cartoon noir world, where you'll have to be sharp and creative to advance in every step. Sweep rooms for objects to help you on your investigation and interrogate everyone to uncover their hidden secrets.
Moth Lake
Uncover a small town's dark secret through a story-driven adventure. Navigate a 2.5D pixel art world, solve unconventional puzzles, and make choices that impact character relationships and the narrative's outcome. Experience thrills, suspense, and horror with a touch of dark humor.
- 2.5D pixel art with frame-to-frame animations
- Simple controls for touch, mouse, keyboard, and controllers
- Unconventional puzzles with optional walkthrough
- Stealth-action gameplay
- Choices affecting character bonds and narrative
- Multiple endings
- Original soundtrack
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Synopsis: This is the story of Moth Lake, a small town that, behind its peaceful facade, hides a terrible secret. Only a group of teenagers, with a difficult life, will reveal what has been hidden for generations. Mysterious events will intensify starting from the eve of a solar eclipse, and our young friends will start a journey into the shadow and into their own soul. What to expect from this game: In short: •2.5D pixel art (Frame to frame animations, as if we are still in '90s) • Simple controls (Supporting touch screen, mouse, keyboard and controllers) • Unconventional puzzles (Don't worry, there's a free walkthrough if you need help!) • Stealth-action • Choices that will change the bonds between the characters as well as the spirit of the experience (Just like in life, a choice can make the difference between friendship, love, hate, life or death) • Thrills, suspense and horror (Not a survival game, but it can be creepy or scary at times) • Bad humor and strong language (They are teenagers, don't judge them) • At some point this experience might even move you to tear (I'm not crying, I just got a pixel in my eye) • 6 different endings • A soundtrack that is original, suggestive, and exciting In detail: Moth Lake is a story-driven experience, with a lot of textual contents (more than 20k words), and hundreds of different scenes (more than 300 scenarios). The script is a long journey through a mystery, through horrors and through the characters hearts. It contains dark topics and very sad stuff, but also a lot of nonsense jokes and weird conversations, so it's hard to say whether it is a horror game or not. The main characters move around a 2.5D world, interacting with many hotspots and NPCs. They can pull objects and perform a set of specific actions to solve very different puzzles. The artwork is a modern pixel art, with a big colour palette and a lot of frame-to-frame animations. There's a very large set of animations, including talking, walking, running, crouching, crawling, pushing, climbing, sneaking, punching, throwing... and much more. Scenarios have some modern lighting/shading work, with particles effects and a constant use of parallax, to simulate a 3D environment. There are 6 main characters and more than 50 NPCs, with their own look and personality. You can control 7 characters through the main story and more in the additional chapters. They all move their eyes, they change facial expressions, and they have some peculiar behaviours. As the story proceeds, the player has to take some choices, affecting the characters mood and sometimes even the plot. For most of the time the player controls a character surrounded by his/her friends. Each one has some kind of skill to be used at the right moment, and sometimes even their personality will be important to solve a puzzle. Some puzzles can be solved by a single character, while other must be solved using the whole squad cooperation. As I said, the game aims to give psychological horror vibes. So keep in mind that this game is not for everyone! Some scenes are disturbing, some scenes may give you anxiety, and some other scenes are extremely sad. Characters are constantly called to face their difficult past, and to go through their scary present. They need to hide, to take terrible decisions and sometimes even to fight for their lives. ...But after all, your choices can lead you to the best possible ending, and if you fail, you can always try again.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Dawn, P.I. at Free against Moth Lake's $3.99. Dawn, P.I. also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.3). Moth Lake's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.6). 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
Dawn, P.I. is free to download; Moth Lake costs $3.99 up front. Dawn, P.I. sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Moth Lake asks for nothing beyond the download.
Dawn, P.I. holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 12 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Dawn, P.I.'s written reviews are positive against 72% of Moth Lake's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Dawn, P.I. ships an update monthly, Moth Lake every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dawn, P.I. | Moth Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (16 ratings) — better | 4.3 (12 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 72.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 16 — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 68 MB | 121 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Bruno Maestrini | Stefano Mazzotta |
Customer experience
Dawn, P.I.
Moth Lake
In-app purchases
Dawn, P.I.
- Full Game$2.99
Moth Lake
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Dawn, P.I. free?
Is Moth Lake free?
Which has better reviews, Dawn, P.I. or Moth Lake?
Do Dawn, P.I. or Moth Lake have ads?
Which is updated more often, Dawn, P.I. or Moth Lake?
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