Comparison

Luminosus vs Neolysium

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

Head to head
About

Luminosus

A unique puzzle game blending Tetris-style gameplay with color-matching mechanics. Plan your moves ahead to create white blocks for higher scores. Offers classic and marathon modes, leaderboards, and achievements for endless fun.

Highlights
  • Color-matching puzzle mechanics
  • Strategic planning ahead
  • Classic and Marathon modes
  • Global leaderboards
  • Achievements
  • Controller support
  • Color blind and night modes
Features
Read full description

**Editors pick for “New games we love” in 135+ countries** **Editors pick for “New and noteworthy games” in 150+ countries** **Editors pick for “What we are playing this week”** **Editors choice "Indie corner"** Luminosus is a unique and challenging puzzle game that combines the fun of matching colors on a Tetris-esque board. Puzzle pieces can be changed back and forth as many times as you want, so a red block will change a yellow piece orange but another red piece will change it back to red. If a piece is influenced by all three colors it is turned white and scores significantly more when cleared. In this way the game requires planning more steps ahead than your standard piece-dropping puzzle game. With its simple but addictive gameplay, Luminosus offers hours of entertainment and a twist on the classic Tetris and Puyo experience. Features: • Classic mode for a relaxing experience • Marathon game mode for the ultimate challenge • Compete against the world on the leaderboard • Achievements • Controller support • Color blind and night modes • Unique and challenging gameplay that combines Tetris with color matching

About

Neolysium

This strategy card game challenges players to build a thriving environment and generate energy. It focuses on decision-making and strategic creativity with positive, non-violent gameplay. Enjoy a pure gaming experience with no ads or data collection.

Highlights
  • Strategic card play
  • Environment building
  • Energy generation
  • Decision making
  • Non-violent gameplay
  • No ads
  • No personal data collection
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Neolysium the strategy card game for building a better world. Each hand is a new challenge to create a thriving environment that generates abundant energy. The game will test your decision making skills and strategic creativity while promoting a positive non-violent gameplay suitable for all ages. The game has no ads, does not collect any personal information, and is built solely for your enjoyment. How to play You start the game with 4 cards in hand and 10 spaces to play cards. Each turn you will draw a card from the deck and choose to either play a card to build your environment or discard. The objective is to maximize the amount of energy your environment produces. The game is over when you have used all of your playable spaces or your deck has run out of cards. Cards have attributes that can produce energy, create play spaces, add more cards to your deck, and other abilities to be discovered. Certain cards require other cards to be played first so having an understanding of your deck is important for developing an effective strategy. Every turn is a critical decision in managing spaces, card count, and energy output.

Screenshots

Luminosus4 screens
Neolysium4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Neolysium at Free against Luminosus's $0.29. Luminosus's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.2) and device support (4 vs 2). On review sentiment, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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

Neolysium is free to download; Luminosus costs $0.29 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Luminosus holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 13 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 71% and 71% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Luminosus ships an update fortnightly, Neolysium every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and August 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Luminosus versus Neolysium: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLuminosusNeolysium
Price$0.29Free — better
Rating4.9 (17 ratings) — better4.2 (13 ratings)
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews71.4% of reviews
Number of ratings17 — better13
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS14.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size114 MB73 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShort Circuit StudioSamuel Anderson

Customer experience

Luminosus

All ratings17 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral14.3%
Negative14.3%

Neolysium

All ratings13 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral15.4%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral21.4%
Negative7.1%

In-app purchases

None

Luminosus

No in-app purchases

None

Neolysium

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Luminosus free?
Luminosus costs $0.29, with no in-app purchases.
Is Neolysium free?
Neolysium is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Luminosus or Neolysium?
Luminosus is rated higher. Luminosus averages 4.9 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while Neolysium averages 4.2 from 13 ratings.
Do Luminosus or Neolysium have ads?
Neither Luminosus nor Neolysium shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Luminosus or Neolysium?
Luminosus ships an update fortnightly, and Neolysium every 9 days. Most recently, Luminosus was updated on September 17, 2026 and Neolysium on August 31, 2026.

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