Nucleus™ vs Sidius Nova
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Nucleus™
Pilot a spaceship through an arcade-style space shooter. Destroy debris and collect power-ups to enhance your weaponry. The ultimate goal is to build atoms by gathering electrons and delivering them to the nucleus.
- Spaceship piloting
- Space debris destruction
- Weapon power-ups
- Laser weapons
- Heat-seeking bullets
- Shields
- Atom building
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Nucleus is an action packed arcade game with classic roots. You fly a spaceship around while blowing up space debris. There are tons of cool weapons powerups which give you lasers, heat seeking bullets, shields, etc. The goal of the game is to build Atoms by collecting Electrons and taking them to the Nucleus.
Sidius Nova
Lead your species to survival after a homeworld destruction. Collect resources, build ships, and engage in epic space battles. Choose to play as humans or an alien armada, unlocking new ships and strategies as you conquer galaxies.
- Resource collection
- Ship building
- Epic space battles
- Playable factions (humans/aliens)
- Unlockable ships
- Galactic conquest
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by Stefan Schmitt and Ben Jelter -YOUR HOMEWORLD HAS BEEN DESTROYED- Your remaining motherships are the only way to guarantee the survival of your species. Collect resources to build ships for epic space battles. "has the same 'one more turn oh god one more turn' hook that its grander siblings on the PC have" -KOTAKU Also featured on Space Sector! HOURS OF STRATEGIC DEEP SPACE GAMEPLAY Sidius Nova is a strategy game designed from the ground up to provide a deep and satisfying experience on your iOS device. PICK A SIDE Play as the last humans alive or an alien armada. UNLOCKABLE SHIPS Earn new ships as you play! Conquer entire galaxies and expand your fleet by researching new units. New units dramatically expand the gameplay by offering new defensive and offensive strategies. Follow @sidiusnova on twitter to find out more and give us feedback!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Nucleus™ at none against Sidius Nova's 3. Nucleus™ also leads on device support (4 vs 2). Sidius Nova's advantage is review sentiment (84% vs 57%) and rating (4.4 vs 4.2). On price, update cadence, ads and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. Sidius Nova sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Nucleus™ asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sidius Nova holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sidius Nova has 49 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Nucleus™'s written reviews are positive against 84% of Sidius Nova's.
Nucleus™ ships an update every 5 months, Sidius Nova every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Nucleus™ | Sidius Nova |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (9 ratings) | 4.4 (49 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.1% of reviews | 84.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 9 | 49 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 43 MB | 190 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Pangea Software, Inc. | Stefan Schmitt |
Customer experience
Nucleus™
Sidius Nova
Bugs and requests
Nucleus™
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Sidius Nova
Reported bugs
5 issues- Occasional crashing
- Repeated crashing during combat
- Crashing when fighting mothership
- Game progress not syncing between devices
- App leaves residual files after uninstallation
Requested features
16 requests- Add multiplayer/hot seat/skirmish
- Add longer single player campaign
- Add more frequent dialogue
- Add meaningful player-driven plot choices
- Add 'back' button for dialogue
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- Option to skip mothership death animation
- Rework research point system
- Add bonus for multiple fleets
- Improve mothership strength/abilities
- Add iPad version/support
- Add iPhone 5 screen support
- Add Game Center support
- Add cloud saving system
- Add endless mode
- Add asynchronous multiplayer
- Add fast forward button
In-app purchases
Nucleus™
No in-app purchases
Sidius Nova
- Genius (RP earned x2)$0.99
- Laboratory (8,000 RP)$1.99
- Singularity (Unlock Everything)$3.99
