Comparison

cardinal. vs Zyl

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

Head to head
About

cardinal.

Engage in a minimalistic logic puzzle game where you deduce a secret solution using sixteen cards and clues. Enjoy procedurally generated boards for endless play and compete globally in daily challenges.

Highlights
  • Minimalistic logic puzzles
  • Deduce secret solutions
  • Procedurally generated boards
  • Endless regular mode
  • Daily global competitions
  • 16 logic cards
Features
Read full description

Minimalistic yet challenging, CARDINAL gives you sixteen different cards and clues in which you must figure out the secret solution! Begin with the cardinal rule you can then continue to creatively deduce the solution from there! An endless amount of procedurally generated boards waits for you in regular mode. And when you feel ready, test yourself in the daily competition alongside players from all over the globe.

About

Zyl

A minimalist puzzle game focused on elegant path tracing. Guide paths from start to exit by strategically placing arrows, collecting stars along the way. Enjoy a relaxing experience with handcrafted levels and no timers or ads.

Highlights
  • Elegant path tracing puzzles
  • 300 handcrafted levels
  • Collect stars
  • Cloud save sync
  • Relaxing music and sound
  • No timers or ads
Features
Read full description

Zyl is a puzzle built around elegant path tracing. It's a small, quiet game. Soft colors, clean lines, and nothing on screen you don't need. Drop arrows on the grid to guide each path from its start tile to an exit. Pick up the stars on the way. When you're ready, hit Play and watch the route run. The rules: • Drag arrows onto the grid. • Send every path to an exit. • Pick up every star. • Hit Play to test the route. • Reset and try a new approach whenever. It starts simple, but then the difficulty ramps up: • Boards don't always use a clean grid. • Some levels have more than one start, or more than one exit. • Split arrows send a path off in two directions at once. • Merge arrows converge two paths into one. • U-turn arrows re-route a path from where it came. A few things worth knowing: • 300 handcrafted levels, each built around a single idea. • Levels stay small. Most of them can be finished in less than a minute. • Cloud save syncs your progress across devices. • Relaxing music and sound design. • No timers. • No ads. • No in-app purchases. • No data collected. Every puzzle has a solution. Some have multiple. The fun is in finding it.

Screenshots

cardinal.3 screens
Zyl4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: cardinal. at Free against Zyl's $1.99. cardinal. also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.6). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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

cardinal. is free to download; Zyl costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

cardinal. holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 41 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 80% of cardinal.'s written reviews are positive against 83% of Zyl's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

cardinal. ships an update every 3 days, Zyl every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
cardinal. versus Zyl: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parametercardinal.Zyl
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.9 (14 ratings) — better4.7 (41 ratings)
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews83.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1441 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size99 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPerfect Hat Games LLCFleon Labs

Customer experience

cardinal.

All ratings14 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral7.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative0.0%

Zyl

All ratings41 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral2.4%
Negative4.9%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative8.3%

In-app purchases

None

cardinal.

No in-app purchases

None

Zyl

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is cardinal. free?
cardinal. is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Zyl free?
Zyl costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, cardinal. or Zyl?
cardinal. is rated higher. cardinal. averages 4.9 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while Zyl averages 4.7 from 41 ratings.
Do cardinal. or Zyl have ads?
Neither cardinal. nor Zyl shows ads.
Which is updated more often, cardinal. or Zyl?
cardinal. ships an update every 3 days, and Zyl every 2 days. Most recently, cardinal. was updated on November 3, 2026 and Zyl on October 31, 2026.

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