Comparison

Moth Lake vs Daruma Ninja

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Daruma Ninja

Features
Read full description

Fight against ninja warriors and demons, join martial arts tournaments and explore a fantastic imaginary Japanese world: cherry blossoms, bamboo forests, traditional ryokans, waterfalls and fights in the snow. You as a young ninja arrive in a village; a secret power has been sealed in you and the Panda master will teach you how to use it. Daruma Ninja has RPG and classic fighting elements. The visuals will impress you: thousands of particles, HDR lights, volumetric fog and a stunning 60FPS mode...Daruma Ninja is not only advanced graphics, the story is fun and ironic and the characters have a unique personality (voice over was made by professional Japanese actors). Master the noble art of casting shurikens for long distance attacks or execute fatal short range attacks with your katana. For a better experience it is possible to change the FPS settings and quality level in the settings screen! *** The game is 100% offline, with no advertisement or in app purchases ***

Screenshots

Moth Lake4 screens
Daruma Ninja4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Daruma Ninja at every 2 weeks against Moth Lake's every 2 months. Daruma Ninja also leads on price ($0.99 vs $3.99). Moth Lake's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On ads, in-app purchases 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

Moth Lake costs $3.99 and Daruma Ninja $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Moth Lake ships an update every 2 months, Daruma Ninja every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Moth Lake versus Daruma Ninja: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMoth LakeDaruma Ninja
Price$3.99$0.99 — better
Rating4.3 (12 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews72.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size121 MB1.3 GB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperStefano MazzottaSergio Giucastro

In-app purchases

None

Moth Lake

No in-app purchases

None

Daruma Ninja

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Moth Lake free?
Moth Lake costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Daruma Ninja free?
Daruma Ninja costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Moth Lake or Daruma Ninja have ads?
Neither Moth Lake nor Daruma Ninja shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Moth Lake or Daruma Ninja?
Moth Lake ships an update every 2 months, and Daruma Ninja every 2 weeks. Most recently, Moth Lake was updated on November 12, 2026 and Daruma Ninja on November 11, 2026.

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