Pilgrims vs Howl
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pilgrims
Embark on a playful adventure game where you explore a world, interact with unique characters, and solve puzzles in multiple ways. Discover humorous outcomes and collect achievements in this hand-crafted experience.
- Playful exploration
- Multiple solutions
- Dozens of items and characters
- 45 achievements
- Hand-crafted animations
- Original music
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Try for free. In-app purchase the full game. Pilgrims is a playful adventure game, created by the team behind Machinarium and Samorost. Roam the land as you please and make new friends, share a laugh with your fellow travelers and help them complete their little stories, your way. How many different solutions can you find? It is most enjoyable if you’re into: - Playfulness: Don’t beat it - play with it! Solve the various tasks using dozens of items and unique characters without being obliged to follow a single designated path. - Replayability: Packed with 45 achievements, Pilgrims is a game designed to be played through more than just once. Can you collect them all? - Hand-crafted appeal: Hundreds of unique animations and custom made sound effects result in countless humorous and unexpected outcomes. Try to discover as many as you can! - Original music: Floex (Machinarium, Samorost 3) is back at it with his mix of live instruments and organic electronics, joined by guests on guitar or clarinet.
Howl
Engage in turn-based tactical combat within a dark fairy-tale world threatened by a mysterious plague. Play as a deaf heroine who can foresee enemy moves, utilizing unique arrows and skills to defeat beasts. Explore beautifully illustrated environments and uncover secrets.
- Turn-based tactical combat
- Foretell enemy moves
- Variety of arrow types
- Unlockable skills and upgrades
- Living ink art style
- Multiple chapters and levels
- Save villagers
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This game is free to download and play for a limited number of levels and time. Do you like the game? Then you can easily unlock the full version through the in App purchase! Howl is a turn-based puzzle/tactical folktale set in the Middle Ages, where a mysterious "howling plague" ravages the land. Any who hear the beasts’ howls turn into feral, hungering beasts themselves – further spreading the curse through their own howls. The Heroine of this tale was born deaf, giving her a unique protection against this curse. Play as a daring combat Prophet with the ability to foretell your enemies’ moves. Plan up to six steps ahead to outmaneuver your enemies. Fire a variety of arrows, such as exploding, lightning, or piercing shots, and use skills like Smoke Bombs and Shadow Step’s Invisibility to kill any beasts who stand in your way. Each type of beast offers its own challenges, with some approaching fast, while others taking more powerful hits or attacking from afar. Howl's visuals are created through "living ink", a flowing art style that paints the story as you play. Carve your way through a dark, fairy-tale world made up of obscure yet magical places where you fight to rid the lands of the howling plague. Howl features a total of 5 chapters, including the free Heart of Rot update, each with a distinct visual atmosphere scored by soothing music. Access to this update is FREE for anyone who has bought the Howl base game. You can access this update chapter from the Chapter 3 map at any point after reaching Chapter 3 of the main story. This update features its own chapter map, new enemies, a new boss level, new environment mechanics, the new Lightning Shot skill (which, once unlocked, can be used in the main game!), and an NPC who fights by your side in later levels. Features • Foretell the actions of your enemies in turn-based puzzle/tactics combat. • Play through 60 levels across 4 chapters, plus 18 new levels in the free update chapter! • Beautifully illustrated in a unique, living ink art style. • Outsmart the different wolf species, from fast predators to enormous pack leaders. • Unlock and upgrade new skills like Shadow Step, Exploding Shot, and more. • Save villagers from the claws – and howls – of the wolves. • Plot your route on the world map to uncover new skills and secret paths.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Pilgrims at 4.5 against Howl's 4.2. Pilgrims also leads on ratings volume (480 vs 65). Howl's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (78% vs 64%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Pilgrims sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Howl sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Pilgrims holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pilgrims has 480 ratings behind it against 65, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Pilgrims's written reviews are positive against 78% of Howl's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Pilgrims ships an update every 2 months, Howl every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pilgrims | Howl |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (480 ratings) — better | 4.2 (65 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 64.0% of reviews | 78.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 480 — better | 65 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 413 MB | 477 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Amanita Design s.r.o. | astragon Entertainment GmbH |
Customer experience
Pilgrims
Howl
User reviews
Pilgrims
From 480 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Unique and charming art style
- 🤩 Funny and entertaining gameplay
- 💎 Highly replayable with multiple outcomes
- 🎨 Beautiful animations and sound design
Room to improve
- ⏱️ Extremely short gameplay length
- 💰 Poor value for the price
- 🤔 Misleading description about the content
Howl
From 65 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Beautiful art style and visual design
- 🎵 Excellent music and sound design
- 🧩 Engaging turn-based strategy gameplay
- 🎯 Creative puzzle mechanics with multiple solutions
- 📖 Compelling story and atmosphere
Room to improve
- 🐛 UI elements covering action cards on left screen edge
- 📱 Text too small on mobile devices
- 🌍 Limited language localization options
- ⏱️ Game length feels short for the price
- 💾 Save progress issues and data loss
Bugs and requests
Pilgrims
Reported bugs
1 issue- Restore purchases not working for some users
Requested features
2 requests- Longer story and more content
- Additional chapters or a sequel
Howl
Reported bugs
8 issues- Arrow card hidden by sidebar UI on left screen edge
- Text bubbles blocking enemy action information
- Save data not persisting after app closure
- UI elements too small to read on iPhone
- Tooltip descriptions not displaying correctly
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- Hover mechanics don't work on iPad
- Specific level completion issues (Tower chapter)
- Yellow completion symbol blends with map background
Requested features
10 requests- Movable text bubbles to prevent obstruction
- Character gender/pronoun customization
- More levels and expanded content
- Language localization (Vietnamese, German, etc.)
- UI scaling for smaller phones
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- Ability to select language for voice acting
- More detailed story development
- 3D graphics enhancement
- Clearer level count visibility upfront
- Improved tooltip system for mobile
In-app purchases
Pilgrims
- Pilgrims Full Game$0.99
Howl
- Upgrade to Full Version$3.99








