Apex Patrol vs Midgaard by SmartMonsters
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Apex Patrol
Embark on a text-based space adventure as a star cruiser commander. Explore worlds, rescue ships, investigate phenomena, and battle an enemy to save Earth. Your strategic decisions will determine humanity's fate.
- Command a star cruiser
- Visit colonial worlds
- Rescue imperiled vessels
- Investigate stellar phenomena
- Battle a ruthless foe
- Text-based adventure
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Command a star cruiser! Visit colonial worlds, rescue imperiled vessels, investigate stellar phenomena and prepare your ship to battle a ruthless foe. Only you and your crew can save Earth from utter destruction in this text-based adventure.
Midgaard by SmartMonsters
Experience a retro text-based MUD adventure with a focus on community and accessibility. Explore a magical world, manage your character, and interact with thousands of players globally in a friendly, blind-friendly environment.
- Retro text-based MUD emulation
- Graphical character state displays
- In-app game and account functions
- Blind-friendly accessibility
- Friendly and inclusive community
- Cross-world character movement
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Swords! Dragons! Castles! Magical fireballs! Inns with ale! Retro gaming at its most retro! Midgaard is our homage to the text MUDs of decades past. Running on the TriadCity platform, it's an emulation of the classic DikuMUD adventure tradition circa 1994. Midgaard is a labor of love for us. It's where many of us first encountered MUDs and were astonished by their engrossing play and extraordinary potential. It's full of clever ideas, many of which became standards as the tradition evolved. Most importantly, it's fun! It's completely FREE to play, is blind-friendly, and has more women players than men. Best of all, it's friendly! For twenty years SmartMonsters has been free of the flame wars, misogyny, and mean-spiritedness prominent in some other environments. Even our bulletin boards are safe! Visit us today - we can't wait to meet you! As a member of the SmartMonsters universe, Midgaard is one linked World among others. Your characters can move freely between Midgaard, TriadCity, Dungeon, and future Worlds all with quite different "laws of physics". Meet you there! * Simple, straightforward graphical interface with minimal controls. * All major game and account functions available in-app, without having to exit to the Web site. * Graphical displays of character state: health, energy, attributes, skills, etc. * Manage chat channels, natural language parsing, and other features. * Character maintenance: health, energy, experience, Skills. * Store login creds in the Keychain; share them among devices via iCloud. * Access the Players' Guide, FAQ, Message of the Day and other website resources directly within the app. * Create new characters. * Fully mobile: works happily over WiFi or cellular data. * Blind-friendly: thoroughly tested with Voice Over by volunteers from audiogames.net and elsewhere. * Female-friendly: we've had more women players than men for over 20 years. * Very friendly community - apparently all the mean people go to WoW 'cos we have none; even our bulletin-boards are safe! * Thousands of players from all over the world.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Apex Patrol at 91% against Midgaard by SmartMonsters's 0%. Apex Patrol also leads on rating (4.0 vs 3.5) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.6). Midgaard by SmartMonsters's advantage is price (Free vs $6.99) and ads (none vs shown). On ratings volume, in-app purchases 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
Midgaard by SmartMonsters is free to download; Apex Patrol costs $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Apex Patrol holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Apex Patrol's written reviews are positive against 0% of Midgaard by SmartMonsters's.
Apex Patrol ships an update every 10 months, Midgaard by SmartMonsters every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Apex Patrol | Midgaard by SmartMonsters |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.0 (6 ratings) — better | 3.5 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 90.9% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Hosted Games LLC | SmartMonsters, Inc. |
Customer experience
Apex Patrol
Midgaard by SmartMonsters
In-app purchases
Apex Patrol
No in-app purchases
Midgaard by SmartMonsters
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Apex Patrol free?
Is Midgaard by SmartMonsters free?
Which has better reviews, Apex Patrol or Midgaard by SmartMonsters?
Do Apex Patrol or Midgaard by SmartMonsters have ads?
Which is updated more often, Apex Patrol or Midgaard by SmartMonsters?
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