Comparison

Boxville vs Recursion

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

Head to head
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
Currently charting
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.

About

Recursion

Embark on a mind-bending puzzle adventure where you're trapped in a repeating time loop. Use your wits and a special device to solve mysteries, find clues, and shut down a machine before the loop resets. This compact mystery game offers challenging puzzles and a unique narrative.

Highlights
  • Time-loop mechanic
  • First-person point and click adventure
  • Mystery and puzzle solving
  • Clue finding
  • Hint system
  • Immersive soundtrack and sound effects
Features
Read full description

Enter a mind-bending first-person puzzle adventure. Explore mysterious rooms, solve glitches, and navigate a time loop to uncover the truth. Something is wrong. All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again. Explore a strange, glitch-filled facility and uncover the secrets hidden within Recursion. Features: • Immersive first-person escape room gameplay • Mind-bending riddles, hidden clues, and layered mysteries • The Glitch Camera — capture details and reveal secrets others miss • Intuitive controls for a smooth, engaging experience • No ads, no interruptions — just pure puzzle adventure Can you escape the glitch? Download Recursion now and dive into a sci-fi puzzle adventure unlike any other! From Glitch Games, a small indie team crafting unique memory puzzles, point-and-click mysteries, and immersive story experiences. Follow us for updates, news, and behind-the-scenes content: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlitchGames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glitch.games Newsletter: https://glitch.games/newsletter Twitter: https://x.com/GlitchGames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theglitchgames/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GlitchGames

Screenshots

Boxville4 screens
Recursion4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Boxville at 4.7 against Recursion's 4.2. Boxville also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 65%) and ratings volume (755 vs 67). Recursion's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 13.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Boxville costs $3.99 and Recursion $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 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Boxville has 755 ratings behind it against 67, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of Boxville's written reviews are positive against 65% of Recursion's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Boxville ships an update every 9 days, Recursion every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Boxville versus Recursion: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBoxvilleRecursion
Price$3.99$3.99
Rating4.7 (755 ratings) — better4.2 (67 ratings)
Positive reviews78.2% of reviews — better64.7% of reviews
Number of ratings755 — better67
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#146 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS13.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.2 GB550 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTriomatica GamesGlitch Games

Customer experience

Boxville

All ratings755 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews225 reviews
Positive78.2%
Neutral8.0%
Negative13.8%

Recursion

All ratings67 ratings
Positive76.1%
Neutral7.5%
Negative16.4%
Written reviews51 reviews
Positive64.7%
Neutral11.8%
Negative23.5%

User reviews

Boxville

From 755 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Enjoyable puzzles
  • 🎨 Beautiful art and animation
  • 🎶 Lovely music
  • 🧠 Challenging but logical puzzles
  • 🤗 Charming characters and story

Room to improve

  • 🕰️ Short game length
  • 🔍 Tiny inventory items hard to see
  • 🤯 Some puzzles too obscure
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🤖 Lack of hint system or ability to skip puzzles

Recursion

From 67 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Unique and innovative gameplay mechanics
  • 😂 Lots of fun and laughter
  • 👍 Great twist on game types
  • 🧠 Mind-bending puzzles
  • 🌟 High-quality games from developer

Room to improve

  • 🔁 Repetitive tasks and puzzles
  • ⏳ Too much dying and restarting
  • 😩 Tedious and frustrating experience
  • ⏱️ Time loop/timer causes anxiety
  • ⏳ Game feels too short

Bugs and 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

Recursion

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Lift doors in chapter 3 wouldn't open
  • Wireless controller doesn't appear
  • Game crashes on start-up
  • Stuck in the elevator (potential bug)

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add a setting to remove the time loop
  • Option to disable the timer
  • Longer game duration
  • Richer story content
  • More variety in game environments (less industrial)
Show 1 more
  • Sequels to previous games (Veritas, All That Remains)

In-app purchases

None

Boxville

No in-app purchases

None

Recursion

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Boxville free?
Boxville costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Recursion free?
Recursion costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Boxville or Recursion?
Boxville is rated higher. Boxville averages 4.7 out of 5 from 755 ratings, while Recursion averages 4.2 from 67 ratings.
Do Boxville or Recursion have ads?
Neither Boxville nor Recursion shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Boxville or Recursion?
Boxville ships an update every 9 days, and Recursion every 2 weeks. Most recently, Boxville was updated on September 22, 2026 and Recursion on September 20, 2026.

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