Comparison

Mare vs Boxville

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

Head to head
About

Mare

Embark on a cinematic adventure as an artificial bird, guiding a helpless AI companion through strange lands. Unravel a mysterious narrative, discover hidden secrets, and explore vast landscapes in this atmospheric puzzle game.

Highlights
  • Explore vast landscapes as an artificial bird
  • Guide and protect an AI companion
  • Unravel a mysterious narrative across 8 chapters
  • Immersive ambient atmosphere and music
  • Search for hidden artifacts
Features
Read full description

“A Breathless Beauty Of A VR Game” – UploadVR “Mare is a class act from start to finish. It’s a macabre and mysterious adventure that offers a haunting experience” – 6DofReviews “The barren environment coupled with the superb musical score ensures Mare has an ambience and soul few VR projects achieve.” - VR Focus “It’s a strikingly beautiful yet solemn adventure that pushes you ever forward toward the unknown.” – The VR Grid As you wake up, stirred from a dreamless sleep with an unknown purpose, you find yourself in the strange lands of Mare embodying a mysterious artificial bird. Crossing paths with a helpless companion you venture deep into unknown territory on a puzzling adventure while unraveling a mysterious narrative and the secrets hidden within. All in order to ensure the arrival of the companion at her impending destiny. Features: • Explore the vast and strange landscapes by the means of an artificial bird. • Guide and protect a vulnerable AI companion on her unexpected adventure. • Let the curiosity of the companion inspire you to explore and discover the underlying narrative spanning over 8 chapters. • Immerse yourself in the ambient atmosphere and otherworldly music for a soothing experience. • Search for lost artifacts hidden throughout the world in order to unlock the final secret of Mare.

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

Mare4 screens
Boxville4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Boxville at 4.7 against Mare's 4.0. Boxville also leads on ratings volume (772 vs 4) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 6 weeks). Mare's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 78%) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 13.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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

Mare 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

Boxville holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Boxville has 772 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Mare's written reviews are positive against 78% of Boxville's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mare ships an update every 6 weeks, Boxville every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Mare versus Boxville: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMareBoxville
Price$4.99$3.99 — better
Rating4.0 (4 ratings)4.7 (772 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better78.3% of reviews
Number of ratings4772 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#120 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.8 GB1.2 GB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperLonekite Ltd.Triomatica Games

Customer experience

Mare

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Boxville

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

Bugs and requests

Mare

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

Mare

No in-app purchases

None

Boxville

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mare free?
Mare costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Boxville free?
Boxville costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mare or Boxville?
Boxville is rated higher. Mare averages 4.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Boxville averages 4.7 from 772 ratings.
Do Mare or Boxville have ads?
Neither Mare nor Boxville shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mare or Boxville?
Mare ships an update every 6 weeks, and Boxville every 9 days. Most recently, Mare was updated on October 8, 2026 and Boxville on October 25, 2026.

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