Comparison

The Shadow Sun vs The Quest

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

Head to head
About

The Shadow Sun

Embark on a dark fantasy adventure in this Western action RPG. Explore a detailed world, engage in real-time combat, and uncover an epic story filled with intrigue and danger. Customize your character and make choices that impact the narrative.

Highlights
  • Epic dark fantasy story
  • Visceral real-time combat
  • Deep character customization
  • Multiple quest solutions
  • Companion system
  • Extensive exploration
Features
Read full description

The ultimate Western action RPG has arrived on iOS! Embark on an epic dark fantasy in the grand tradition of great, story-driven RPGs from PC and console, created by veterans of the Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate, and The Witcher franchises. SLIDE TO PLAY - 4/4 “The Shadow Sun is one of the most captivating experiences I’ve had with a role-playing game in quite some time.” DIGITALLY DOWNLOADED - 4.5/5 “The Shadow Sun floored me from start to finish.” ARCADE SUSHI - 8.5/10 “If you’re a fan of RPGs at all, then The Shadow Sun belongs in your Games folder.” POCKET GAMER - 8/10 (Silver Award) “The Shadow Sun replicates a tabletop RPG experience almost perfectly - right down to the carefully crafted fantasy world in which it's set.” TOUCHARCADE - 4/5 “With a compelling story, plenty of content, and a character customization system that works, Shadow Sun succeeds in its goal as a Western RPG.” APP-S.RU - 4/5 “The Shadow Sun is one of the few truly great RPGs for the iPhone, iPad and in the absence of competitors could easily sit next to Baldur's Gate.” PORTABLE GAMING REGION “The Shadow Sun is pretty much what I imagine a “real” Dragon Age mobile game should be.” ** Featured in Apple’s Best New Games category! ** With The Shadow Sun, Ossian Studios brings together all its expertise from working with Dungeons & Dragons and The Witcher in order to create a deep, story-driven RPG experience for iOS. Prepare yourself for visceral real-time combat, a gorgeously detailed world to adventure in, complex characters to interact with, and an epic tale of an ancient city held within the grip of a mysterious plague. Enter a world that has felt an alien touch upon its sun. An ever-increasing shadow that creeps across the sun's brilliant face, with consequences that are only now becoming horrifically apparent... HOURS OF ADVENTURE • A 10-hour adventure where you explore the decadent imperial city of Shar and the exotic desert lands around it, delving into a story filled with intrigue, danger, and shocking surprises. • Explore over 70 unique areas and uncover 200+ unique items, hidden secrets, and ancient treasures. • A handy journal tracks your quests and a detailed codex notes new characters, places, and creatures you encounter. • An original orchestral soundtrack and amazing soundscape will immerse you into this dark fantasy world. TRUE ROLE-PLAYING • Create your own male or female character and customize their attributes and appearance. • Choose from among 30 attacks, spells, and skills to suit your favourite play style, and develop those abilities exactly how you want as the game progresses. • Solve quests in multiple ways and have new NPC dialogue options open up depending on your skills. • Ally with one of four companions to adventure alongside you, each with their own personality and abilities, and win their friendship or suffer their disapproval depending on your choices. • Adopt a faithful dog companion to fight by your side. UNIVERSAL APP Play on any of these supported devices, with graphics that scale with the device. • iPad 1, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad mini with Retina display • iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s • iPod touch 3, iPod touch 4, iPod touch 5 * In-app purchases are purely optional! * The 3 starter packs are optional DLC that have extra content and quests, none of which are required to enjoy the game. The in-depth hint guide also provides a full walkthrough and gameplay tips, along with details on companions, secrets, monsters, and other helpful information. Visit our official site for more news and info about The Shadow Sun: http://www.ossianstudios.com/ Drop by our forums and talk directly with the development team: http://www.ossianstudios.com/forum/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OssianStudios Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OssianStudios YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/OssianStudios

About

The Quest

Embark on a hand-drawn open-world RPG adventure with grid-based movement and turn-based combat. Explore a vast kingdom, customize your character with various skills and gear, and make choices that shape your destiny. Uncover mysteries, face dangerous creatures, and complete quests in a world full of magic and intrigue.

Highlights
  • Hand-drawn open world exploration
  • Grid-based movement
  • Turn-based combat
  • Customizable characters and skills
  • Main story and side quests
  • Day/night cycle and weather system
  • In-game card game
Features
Read full description

The Quest is a beautifully hand-drawn open world role playing game with old school grid-based movement and turn based combat. In the kingdom of Monares trouble is brewing. The governor of Freymore is missing and the island is in tumult. The mages all prophesy a dark shadow looming over the safety of the kingdom. As an Agent of the king, it's your job to find out what is happening and avert any danger. Choose from five customizable races and an array of skills, weapons, armor and enchantments, and explore a huge world of four cities and a wilderness of mountains, caves, lakes and forests – full of mystery, magic and intriguing challenges. Meet the many inhabitants, each with its own agenda and attitude towards your character. Some will be helpful, some greedy or lascivious or just plain mean. You will have many choices, including some that may place you against the law, along your way to the dramatic ending of your own choosing. Key Features: - Pursue a long and dramatic main story and solve many optional side quests. - Create a highly customizable character and cast dazzling spells, enchant powerful items, concoct potent potions and persuade people to further your goals. - Discover an open world with interesting locales, day/night cycle, weather, fascinating people, dangerous creatures, readable books, pick-able locks, repairable items, houses that can be broken into, dungeons, traps and much more. - Play an absorbing card game with three different decks, accessible at the inns.

Screenshots

The Shadow Sun4 screens
The Quest4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: The Quest at none against The Shadow Sun's 4. The Quest also leads on chart position (#109 vs unranked). The Shadow Sun's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $7.99) and rating (4.5 vs 4.3). 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

The Shadow Sun costs $0.99 and The Quest $7.99 up front. The Shadow Sun sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. The Quest asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

The Shadow Sun holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 62 and 151 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of The Shadow Sun's written reviews are positive against 77% of The Quest's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 17, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
The Shadow Sun versus The Quest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Shadow SunThe Quest
Price$0.99 — better$7.99
Rating4.5 (62 ratings) — better4.3 (151 ratings)
Positive reviews75.1% of reviews76.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings62151 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#109 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.1 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size797 MB398 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperOssian Studios Inc.Redshift

Customer experience

The Shadow Sun

All ratings62 ratings
Positive82.3%
Neutral12.9%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews257 reviews
Positive75.1%
Neutral8.9%
Negative16.0%

The Quest

All ratings151 ratings
Positive78.1%
Neutral7.3%
Negative14.6%
Written reviews111 reviews
Positive76.6%
Neutral6.3%
Negative17.1%

User reviews

The Shadow Sun

From 62 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Engaging story and gameplay
  • 🎨 Impressive graphics and atmosphere
  • 💰 Good value for the price
  • 🕹️ Smooth and responsive controls
  • 🔍 Enjoyable exploration and side quests

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🕹️ Clunky camera and navigation
  • ⏱️ Game felt too short for some
  • 🔍 Lack of mini-map or waypoints

The Quest

From 151 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎮 Deep, engaging old-school RPG gameplay
  • 🗺️ Large open world with extensive exploration
  • 📖 Rich storytelling and quest variety
  • 🎨 Beautiful hand-drawn graphics and art style
  • ⏰ Massive content with hundreds of hours of playtime

Room to improve

  • 🎮 Clunky and dated movement controls
  • 🗺️ Confusing map system with limited visibility
  • 📖 Vague quest descriptions and objectives
  • 🎨 Sprite-based graphics not appealing to everyone
  • ⚔️ Monotonous turn-based combat

Bugs and requests

The Shadow Sun

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when saving or entering certain areas
  • Inventory and equipment issues
  • Compatibility problems on older devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Multiplayer or co-op mode
  • More character customization options
  • Larger open world and expanded content
  • Improved UI and quality-of-life features

The Quest

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Sound not working on some devices
  • Crashes on iPhone 12 and other devices
  • Weapon bobbing animation glitch
  • Game doesn't support iPhone X+ screen resolutions
  • Black bars on newer iPhone models
Show 4 more
  • Broken quests in certain areas (Vastares)
  • Quest completion not registering properly
  • Character poisoning without cure availability
  • Sound issues after iOS updates

Requested features

13 requests
  • Controller/gamepad support (MFi controllers, Bluetooth)
  • Cloud save functionality across devices
  • Language translations (Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean)
  • iPhone X and newer screen resolution support
  • iCloud sync for cross-device play
Show 8 more
  • Quest markers on map
  • Updated quest journal with descriptions
  • Enemy respawning system
  • Bulk item selling feature
  • Quick save button
  • Expansion packs in HD versions
  • Split controls for iPad (movement and attack on different sides)
  • More NPC visual variety

In-app purchases

4 purchases

The Shadow Sun

One-time4
  • Hint Guide$0.99
  • Warrior Starter Pack$0.99
  • Rogue Starter Pack$0.99
Show 1 more
  • Mage Starter Pack$0.99
None

The Quest

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Shadow Sun free?
The Shadow Sun costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is The Quest free?
The Quest costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, The Shadow Sun or The Quest?
The Shadow Sun is rated higher. The Shadow Sun averages 4.5 out of 5 from 62 ratings, while The Quest averages 4.3 from 151 ratings.
Do The Shadow Sun or The Quest have ads?
Neither The Shadow Sun nor The Quest shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Shadow Sun or The Quest?
The Shadow Sun ships an update every 3 months, and The Quest every 3 months. Most recently, The Shadow Sun was updated on October 17, 2026 and The Quest on October 17, 2026.

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