Comparison

Residual vs Elderand

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

Head to head
About

Residual

Explore procedurally generated alien planets, harvest resources, and craft sci-fi tools to survive and repair your ship. Uncover ancient secrets in a non-violent survival platformer with a unique nature engine.

Highlights
  • Procedurally generated worlds
  • Resource harvesting and crafting
  • Sci-fi tool creation
  • Non-violent survival gameplay
  • Alien lore discovery
  • Customizable survival parameters
Features
Read full description

Residual… a new breed of survival platformer from OrangePixel. In a forgotten galaxy full of strange planets, a lone explorer crash-lands on one with an ancient alien secret. Venture forth from the shipwreck across a harsh, unpredictable, procedurally generated world. Harvest food and make campfires to stay alive. Craft science-fiction survival tools like teleporters and mining devices. Unearth alien technology capable of repairing the ship. Hunger, cosmic storms, hostile plant life and the mysterious ooze are among the many obstacles you’ll face. You won’t be alone! PDB (a snarky floating Personal Disaster Bot) will follow and assist you along the way. Sometimes. PDB also helps you discover the hidden lore, revealing the history of the planet as you explore deeper and deeper, assuming you can survive! OrangePixel’s uniquely designed Nature Engine generates 1000’s of planets from a vast set of environment-based rules, then drops explorers on a world brimming with potential. If a planet orbits close to the sun, intense heat, high winds, and sparse vegetation will pose a set of challenges wildly different from other worlds. Further from the sun, long nights make stamina easier to maintain, but reduced solar power turns every suit function—like scanning the planet—into a critical decision. Residual welcomes players to a non-violent survival experience with limitless possibilities and no traditional combat. Jump and descend through colorful, highly detailed pixel art evoking classic 2D platformers. Solve light puzzles to reveal secrets of a long-lost civilization. Select a male, female, or non-binary protagonist, customize survival parameters like how fast time advances, and race to repair the ship, dig up ancient secrets, or collect data entries on hundreds of undiscovered objects.

About

Elderand

Embark on a brutal, skill-based action platformer in a Lovecraftian world. Wield diverse weapons and customize your character with RPG elements to battle terrifying creatures and explore a dark, hand-drawn pixel environment. Collect loot to upgrade your arsenal and uncover the land's secrets.

Highlights
  • Skill-based combat
  • Metroidvania exploration
  • Lovecraftian horror themes
  • RPG character customization
  • Diverse weapon arsenal
  • Hand-drawn pixel art
  • Loot collection and crafting
Features
Read full description

Become the hero of an epic quest in Elderand, a metroidvania that will test your will and skill. Heads will literally roll in this gruesome, retro-inspired action platformer, where only the strong will survive in brutal, skill-based combat against terrifying creatures. Through the darkness and madness, promised glory awaits. Wield a variety of killing instruments and abilities to test your metal against towering, bone-chilling bosses. Explore a twisted Lovecraftian world shrouded in darkness and madness. RPG elements allow you to customize your battle experience to your liking, from your character’s appearance to skills, stats, and weapons. Slay or be slain as you collect glory and treasure in this nightmarish 2D world. Glory and riches await those who can spill the required blood and guts to collect it. KEY FEATURES: •Wield an arsenal of killing devices, including whips, swords, daggers, axes, bows, and more. From a magical staff that shoots bursts of energy to a giant sword, different weapons have different stats and capabilities, so find the ones that you enjoy battling beasts with the most! •Satisfying Metroidvania-style exploration meets terrifying Lovecraftian creatures in this detailed hand-drawn pixel world with glorious gothic aesthetics and handcrafted level design. •RPG elements let you customize your experience to best suit your play style, from your character’s appearance to their skills, stats, and weapons. Collect loot from exploration and fallen enemies and then use it to upgrade your weapons via crafting. •Travel to the many corners of this perilous land, such as an inviting village with merchants, a forest, a temple prison, floating islands, a cursed Cathedral, and the hellscape that is Elderand itself. •More than 60 different enemy types and around a dozen bosses for your slaying pleasure. •Collect lost letters and other correspondence from the poor souls who came before you to learn more about the darkness taking hold of this grim land.

Screenshots

Residual4 screens
Elderand4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Elderand at 4.2 against Residual's 3.5. Elderand also leads on update cadence (weekly vs monthly). Residual's advantage is price ($5.99 vs $6.99) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 11.0). On review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Residual costs $5.99 and Elderand $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Elderand holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 36 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Residual's written reviews are positive against 74% of Elderand's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Residual ships an update monthly, Elderand weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Residual versus Elderand: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterResidualElderand
Price$5.99 — better$6.99
Rating3.5 (14 ratings)4.2 (36 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews73.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1436 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better11.0
Further details — not scored
Size116 MB818 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperPascal BestebroerPlug In Digital

Customer experience

Residual

All ratings14 ratings
Positive57.1%
Neutral28.6%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral22.2%
Negative11.1%

Elderand

All ratings36 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral11.1%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive73.7%
Neutral7.9%
Negative18.4%

In-app purchases

None

Residual

No in-app purchases

None

Elderand

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Residual free?
Residual costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Elderand free?
Elderand costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Residual or Elderand?
Elderand is rated higher. Residual averages 3.5 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while Elderand averages 4.2 from 36 ratings.
Do Residual or Elderand have ads?
Neither Residual nor Elderand shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Residual or Elderand?
Residual ships an update monthly, and Elderand weekly. Most recently, Residual was updated on September 23, 2026 and Elderand on September 22, 2026.

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