Comparison

Paranoia vs Diabolical

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

Head to head
About

Paranoia

Navigate a complex narrative where your doctor might be your greatest threat. This multiple-choice game challenges you to survive a perilous situation.

Highlights
  • Multiple choice gameplay
  • Survival challenges
  • Narrative-driven
  • Interactive story
Features
Read full description

When you think your doctor may be trying to kill you, life gets complicated. Survive this multiple choice game if you can.

About

Diabolical

Become the ultimate criminal mastermind in this text-based interactive novel. Make choices to build an evil empire, hire minions, and achieve world domination, or destruction. Explore different villain archetypes and romance options.

Highlights
  • Choose your villainous path
  • Hire and manage minions
  • Make impactful story choices
  • Develop your evil empire
  • Explore romance options
  • Achieve world domination or destruction
Features
Read full description

Start practicing your evil laugh! As the world's greatest criminal mastermind, choose a lair, hire a minion, and steal the world's largest ball of aluminum foil! (Or, destroy the world. FINE.) "Diabolical" is a 130,000-word interactive novel by Nick Aires, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based--without graphics or sound effects--and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Famous, feared, or filthy rich—why not all three? You've got the money and the motives to build an evil empire worthy of the most ruthless villain the world has ever seen. Crush the good guys and terrorize the populace! Stamp a big red "FAIL" on your enemies' foreheads! Plunder your way to world domination – or sit back and pet your kitty while your henchmen do it for you. Will you be a high-tech daredevil, a ruthless military soldier, or an apparition terrifying to behold? What calling card will you leave at the scene of your crimes? Whatever your choices, the results will be diabolical. • Play a villainous story of scheming, grandstanding, and laughing evilly. • Interview and hire the best possible (or best available) minion. • Decide when to use trickery, when to use force, and when to hide behind henchmen. • Choose the ultimate, guaranteed-to-be-infamous nickname. • Play as male or female, with straight, gay, and bisexual romance options. • Destroy the world!

Screenshots

Paranoia4 screens
Diabolical4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Paranoia at 4.6 against Diabolical's 4.1. Diabolical's advantage is ratings volume (45 vs 9). On price, review sentiment, 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

Both are free to download. Paranoia sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Diabolical sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Paranoia holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Diabolical has 45 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Paranoia's written reviews are positive against 77% of Diabolical's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paranoia ships an update every 16 months, Diabolical every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Paranoia versus Diabolical: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterParanoiaDiabolical
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (9 ratings) — better4.1 (45 ratings)
Positive reviews82.6% of reviews — better77.0% of reviews
Number of ratings945 — better
Update frequencyEvery 16 monthsEvery 13 months — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.012.0
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB30 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperHosted Games LLCChoice of Games LLC

Customer experience

Paranoia

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral11.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive82.6%
Neutral8.7%
Negative8.7%

Diabolical

All ratings45 ratings
Positive75.6%
Neutral6.7%
Negative17.8%
Written reviews61 reviews
Positive77.0%
Neutral6.6%
Negative16.4%

Bugs and requests

Paranoia

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Diabolical

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Bug fix???

Requested features

14 requests
  • Sequel needed
  • More like this game
  • Werewolf story
  • More choices that affect story
  • Choice of alien game
Show 9 more
  • More vs hero interaction
  • Longer battles
  • More villain POV things
  • Improved sequel
  • More customization (lairs, sidekicks, stats)
  • More interactive than other gamebooks
  • More improvements to character development
  • More content like this
  • More interactive releases

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Paranoia

One-time1
  • Remove Advertising$4.99
1 purchases

Diabolical

One-time1
  • Chapters 3 through 12$4.99

Questions

Is Paranoia free?
Paranoia is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Diabolical free?
Diabolical is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Paranoia or Diabolical?
Paranoia is rated higher. Paranoia averages 4.6 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Diabolical averages 4.1 from 45 ratings.
Do Paranoia or Diabolical have ads?
Both Paranoia and Diabolical show ads.
Which is updated more often, Paranoia or Diabolical?
Paranoia ships an update every 16 months, and Diabolical every 13 months. Most recently, Paranoia was updated on September 29, 2026 and Diabolical on October 20, 2026.

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