Iron Roads vs DEADGRID
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Iron Roads
Optimize and grow your railway network in this challenging 2D train management game. Lay tracks, buy trains, and set routes to efficiently transport passengers and cargo. Enjoy board game-inspired mechanics for a cerebral optimization experience.
- 2D top-down train management
- Lay tracks and set routes
- Transport passengers and cargo
- Board game-inspired mechanics
- Resource token system
- Universal purchase for iOS and macOS
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"Finally, a deep and fun train management game designed perfectly for phones. Iron Roads is so much more than just a desktop game crammed onto a small screen!" Optimise and grow your railways in this challenging train management game. Earn resource tokens by refining your network until your towns are thriving. Avoid queues, jams, or angry passengers to be recognised as the unsung train hero you know you are. Iron Roads is a top-down 2D train management game in which you lay tracks, buy trains, and set their routes until you have an efficient network carrying passengers and cargo between your towns and factories. With board game-inspired mechanics such as resource tokens, geographically-induced space constraints, and innovative track order systems, Iron Roads will appeal to players who relish the more cerebral, optimisation elements of train simulation games, as opposed to more realistic business sim/tycoon-type games. Ultimately, your goal is to set up an efficient rail network that keeps your passengers happy and on-time. Features: - "Try before you buy" model. Download for free, and unlock the entire game with a one off purchase - Universal purchase. Buy once for iOS, macOS, tvOS - iCloud saves, enabling seamless gameplay across your devices
DEADGRID
Experience intense arcade zombie survival with endless waves and permadeath. Master an arsenal of 33 weapons, strategically deploy defenses, and choose dynamic upgrades to conquer the apocalypse. Customize your survivor and enjoy pure, optimized gameplay.
- Endless zombie waves
- Permadeath runs
- 33 unlockable weapons
- Strategic deployables and turrets
- Dynamic upgrade system
- Four zombie types with advanced AI
- Customizable survivor skins
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DEADGRID is a minimalist zombie arena shooter — pure, intense arcade action with real multiplayer. THE CLIMB A campaign ladder thousands of levels deep, and no two rungs are alike. Every level rolls its own horde, its own weather, its own rule and its own goal: one-hit-point runs, total blackouts, meteor storms, assassination contracts. Two modes break the pattern — INFECT, where you ARE the outbreak and hunt the survivors down, and FREE FOR ALL, where everyone carries the same gun and only one walks out. 1,080 WEAPON FINISHES Thirty collectable liveries — GOLD, ONYX, SYNTHWAVE, NOSFERATU, VOIDLINE, RAINBOW and more — across all 36 weapons. Every third rung of the Climb pays one out. Locked finishes stay secret until you earn them. TWELVE HANDCRAFTED ARENAS Fight through Times Square, Shibuya Crossing, the Champs-Élysées, Copacabana, Stonehenge, the Taj Mahal, Chichén Itzá and Terreiro do Paço — plus four arenas of our own: The Garden, Sporewood, Rustyard and Cindermaw. Lava rivers, container mazes, neon crossings. Every layout is placed by hand, never generated. SURVIVE THE APOCALYPSE Endless waves of the undead. Every run is permadeath — beat your best in kills, waves and time survived. RANKED 1v1 — THE ARENA Duel real opponents in last-one-standing combat. Buy rage zombies and send them hunting your rival, earn a random upgrade every round, and climb 8 divisions to the top of the global ladder. DUO CO-OP Team up with a friend or matchmake with a stranger. Shared horde, shared glory — revive each other and see how deep two survivors can go. ARSENAL OF 36 WEAPONS Pistols, SMGs, shotguns, rifles, snipers, launchers, energy weapons, flamethrowers and wilder things — each with its own 3D model. Loot weapon crates mid-run and build your loadout on the fly. NINE ZOMBIE TYPES Walkers, runners, tanks, boomers, jumpers that vault your walls, fire-spitters, bladesmen who cut bullets from the air, gaolers with hooked chains and summoners who raise the dead. Smart pathfinding routes them around cover — they hunt, they don't just shamble. TURRETS & DEPLOYABLES Three turret types, barriers, claymores, explosive barrels and the legendary clapping monkey. Build choke points, then watch the horde walk into them. PROGRESS THAT LASTS • GAME PASS: a 101-tier season track with exclusive skins, chests and emotes • MISSIONS: endless ladders that pay pass XP with bonus chests on every claim • SPECS: permanent lifetime upgrades that make every future run stronger • 42 SKINS to unlock — from the humble Rookie to floating war gods • 32 EMOTES to talk trash in style COMPETE WITH THE WORLD Global leaderboards, a top-1000 board, friends list with live presence, duo invites and player profiles. Daily streaks keep your fire burning. PURE PERFORMANCE Optimized for smooth 60fps. All game audio is synthesized in real time — zero audio files, tiny download. Free to play. Endless waves, thousands of levels. Just pure arcade zombie survival. Any coin pack removes ad breaks forever. Download DEADGRID and see how long you survive.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: DEADGRID at 92% against Iron Roads's 42%. DEADGRID also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). Iron Roads's advantage is device support (5 vs 3). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Iron Roads sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and DEADGRID sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
DEADGRID holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 31 and 53 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 42% of Iron Roads's written reviews are positive against 92% of DEADGRID's.
Iron Roads ships an update fortnightly, DEADGRID every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Iron Roads | DEADGRID |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (31 ratings) | 4.8 (53 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 41.7% of reviews | 92.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 31 | 53 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 74 MB | 384 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Cowleyfornia Studios | Afonso Quinaz |
Customer experience
Iron Roads
DEADGRID
In-app purchases
Iron Roads
- Horseshoe Isle$1.99
- Forgotten Valley$1.99
- Desert Dew$1.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Mistra$1.99
- Futura$1.99
- Full game$2.99
- Full game$4.99
- Full game$6.99
- Full Game$6.99
- Full game$8.99
DEADGRID
- Scrap$0.99
- Cache$4.99
- Crate$9.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Pallet$19.99
- Container$49.99
- Motherlode$99.99
Questions
Is Iron Roads free?
Is DEADGRID free?
Which has better reviews, Iron Roads or DEADGRID?
Do Iron Roads or DEADGRID have ads?
Which is updated more often, Iron Roads or DEADGRID?
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