Comparison

Alter Ego vs Hosted Games

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

Head to head
About

Alter Ego

Experience a text-based life simulation where your choices shape your destiny from birth to death. Navigate over a thousand multiple-choice questions to determine your path, relationships, and career. Play as male or female in this deeply engaging interactive fiction.

Highlights
  • Text-based interactive fiction
  • Branching narrative choices
  • Life simulation from birth to death
  • Male and female character paths
  • Over 1000 multiple-choice questions
  • Updated interface
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

What if you could live your life over again? In this text-based interactive fiction, you choose what happens next. It's in the style of pick-a-path gamebooks, but with over a thousand multiple-choice questions, it's much longer and deeper than traditional gamebooks. Alter Ego starts at birth and ends at death, including two substantially different versions, depending on whether you choose to be male or female. Will you grow up to be confident and happy? Will you fight with bullies, or befriend them? Will you find a date to the senior prom? Will you marry and have kids, or start your own business and become a millionaire? The choice is yours. This game will change your life. (Alter Ego was originally published in 1986 for the Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Apple II, and Macintosh. The current edition of the Alter Ego game is a production of Choose Multiple LLC. This edition includes an updated interface and fixes bugs in the original version of the game, but the content of the game hasn't changed from the original 1986 version of the game.)

About

Hosted Games

Explore a vast library of text-based interactive novels where your choices shape the narrative. Engage in diverse genres from horror and fantasy to romance and sci-fi, all powered by your imagination. Create your own stories using a simple scripting language.

Highlights
  • Vast library of interactive novels
  • Text-based storytelling
  • Choice-driven narratives
  • Multiple genres available
  • Create your own games
  • ChoiceScript programming language
Features
Read full description

The choice is yours! Joust for love and glory, solve an eldritch murder, find romance, or battle aliens with Magitek? "Hosted Games" is a magnificent library of interactive novels, written by authors like you. Hosted Games are entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Try a few of these fan favorites: • Zombie Exodus — Fight your way out of a zombie-filled city in this interactive horror story! • Fallen Hero — Step into the shoes of a telepath turned villain and explore the dark side. • Wayhaven Chronicles — Something stalks the shadows, and it's up to you to find out what! • Sabres of Infinity — Step into the boots of a Royal Dragoon in this tale of war in a fantasy world. • Golden Rose — Explore a medieval Europe where history took a different turn! • Soul Stone War — Fight for the future—your own, and the world's! Your fate is yours. • I, the Forgotten One — Can you defeat the rebellion in your kingdom before your past consumes you? • An Unexpectedly Green Journey — From birth to death, craft your orc's legacy. Are you destined for glory? • Fields of Asphodel — Join the ranks of the Underworld's misfit gods and make it your home! • Tin Star — Ride out into the Old West as a U.S. marshal and craft a legend. Authors just like you have developed these games using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Learn more at https://hostedgames.org

Screenshots

Alter Ego4 screens
Hosted Games4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Hosted Games at Free against Alter Ego's $4.99. Hosted Games also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 17 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). Alter Ego's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 35) and chart position (#199 vs unranked). On review sentiment, ads 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

Hosted Games is free to download; Alter Ego costs $4.99 up front. Hosted Games sells 33 one-off in-app purchases. Alter Ego asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hosted Games holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hosted Games has 1K ratings behind it against 185, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 78% and 77% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Alter Ego ships an update every 17 months, Hosted Games every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Alter Ego versus Hosted Games: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAlter EgoHosted Games
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (185 ratings)4.7 (1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.0% of reviews — better77.5% of reviews
Number of ratings1851K — better
Update frequencyEvery 17 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#199 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB94 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperChoose Multiple LLCHosted Games LLC

Customer experience

Alter Ego

All ratings185 ratings
Positive82.7%
Neutral8.6%
Negative8.6%
Written reviews141 reviews
Positive78.0%
Neutral12.1%
Negative9.9%

Hosted Games

All ratings956 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral1.7%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews213 reviews
Positive77.5%
Neutral6.6%
Negative16.0%

Bugs and requests

Alter Ego

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Inconsistent character and relationship progression
  • Glitches with certain life events and outcomes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more diverse life paths and events
  • Introduce LGBTQ+ relationship options
  • Expand gameplay length and stages of life
  • Modernize the user interface and visuals
  • Implement regular content updates

Hosted Games

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Alter Ego

No in-app purchases

33 purchases

Hosted Games

One-time33
  • Dragon of Steelthorne$2.99
  • Side Stories 21-30$2.99
  • First Bull Run$2.99
Show 30 more
  • Tokyo Wizard$2.99
  • It Takes Three to Tango$3.99
  • Divine Ascension$4.99
  • Samurai of Hyuga$4.99
  • Keeper's Vigil$5.99
  • World War II Armored Recon$5.99
  • Life as a Lich$5.99
  • Velocity: The Race Begins$6.99
  • Keeper of the Sun and Moon$6.99
  • Samurai of Hyuga Book 6$6.99
  • Fallen Hero: Rebirth$6.99
  • Hero or Villain: Genesis$6.99
  • A Kiss from Death$6.99
  • Kitsune$6.99
  • Whiskey-Four$6.99
  • Wayhaven Chronicles: Book One$7.99
  • The Soul Stone War$7.99
  • Leas: City of the Sun$7.99
  • The People's House$7.99
  • Scales of Justice$7.99
  • Tale of Two Cranes$8.99
  • Breach: The Archangel Job$8.99
  • Wayhaven Chronicles: Book Two$8.99
  • Saturnine$8.99
  • The Golden Rose: Book One$11.99
  • Diaspora$11.99
  • Wayhaven Chronicles Three$11.99
  • Fallen Hero: Retribution$11.99
  • An Unexpectedly Green Journey$11.99
  • Fields of Asphodel$11.99

Questions

Is Alter Ego free?
Alter Ego costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hosted Games free?
Hosted Games is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Alter Ego or Hosted Games?
Hosted Games is rated higher. Alter Ego averages 4.4 out of 5 from 185 ratings, while Hosted Games averages 4.7 from 1K ratings.
Do Alter Ego or Hosted Games have ads?
Both Alter Ego and Hosted Games show ads.
Which is updated more often, Alter Ego or Hosted Games?
Alter Ego ships an update every 17 months, and Hosted Games every 10 days. Most recently, Alter Ego was updated on October 19, 2026 and Hosted Games on October 21, 2026.

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