Comparison

Topia World Builder vs Earth Sandbox

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

Head to head
About

Topia World Builder

Shape a vibrant planet as a divine creator. Sculpt landscapes, grow forests, and populate your world with diverse animal life. Witness ecosystems evolve as you manage your creation.

Highlights
  • Create mountains, valleys, rivers, and oceans
  • Spawn and manage large animal herds
  • Observe animal interactions and ecosystems
  • Save and edit worlds
  • Customize land, water, and sky colors
  • Supports landscape and portrait modes
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

From the Award Winning Studio Crescent Moon Games and Glenn Corpes, one of the creators of the original Populous series of games, comes TOPIA WORLD BUILDER, a unique world building sim, tailored for iOS devices. Topia World Builder is a world creation simulation. You become god and shape the land as you choose, by the use of touch controls. Swipe your finger to create mountains, valleys, rivers, and oceans. Watch trees grow, spawn thousands of animals - and watch them live and die on the planet of your creation! Features: -Create Mountains -Create Valleys -Create Rivers -Create Oceans -Spawn various animal types -Build enormous herds of animals -Watch predators attack other animals -Save your worlds so you can edit them later -Change the color of land, water, sky -Play in both landscape and portrait modes

About

Earth Sandbox

Explore the dynamic evolution of a planet by altering its core systems like climate and gravity. Trigger natural events and observe real-time population and ecosystem trends. This experimental simulation game offers unique outcomes with every interaction.

Highlights
  • Earth-focused environmental simulation
  • Interconnected climate and planetary systems
  • Dynamic natural events
  • Real-time population and ecosystem trends
  • Interactive experimentation tools
  • Clean visuals and intuitive controls
Features
Read full description

Earth Sandbox is an experimental simulation game centered on Earth itself. Instead of following a fixed story or objective, the game invites you to explore how a planet reacts when its core systems are changed. Climate, gravity, oceans, and atmosphere interact dynamically, creating unique outcomes every time you experiment. You can adjust environmental conditions, trigger natural events, or push the planet into extreme states. Rising temperatures may reshape ecosystems, shifting gravity alters planetary balance, and sudden disasters can permanently change the world you observe. Natural events such as meteor impacts, earthquakes, volcanic activity, and global climate shifts are part of the simulation. Each event influences the planet differently depending on existing conditions, encouraging experimentation rather than repetition. The simulation is driven by interconnected systems inspired by scientific principles. Population trends, environmental stability, and planetary conditions evolve in real time, allowing you to observe long-term consequences of your actions. Features: • Earth-focused environmental simulation • Interconnected climate and planetary systems • Dynamic natural events and long-term world changes • Real-time population and ecosystem trends • Interactive tools designed for experimentation • Clean visuals with intuitive controls How will your choices shape the future of this Earth? Icon by orvipixel from www.flaticon.com Icon by Freepik from www.flaticon.com Icon by Solid Icon Co from www.flaticon.com Sound Effect by freesound_community from Pixabay Sound Effect by Universfield from Pixabay Sound Effect by Kalvin C from Pixabay Sound Effect by Jeremay Jimenez from Pixabay Music by Grand_Project from Pixabay Music by Music Unlimited from Pixabay Sound Effect by Matthew Vakalyuk from Pixabay Sound Effect by freesound_community from Pixabay

Screenshots

Topia World Builder3 screens
Earth Sandbox4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Earth Sandbox at Free against Topia World Builder's $1.99. Earth Sandbox also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks). Topia World Builder's advantage is rating (3.6 vs 2.1) and ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Earth Sandbox is free to download; Topia World Builder costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Topia World Builder holds the better App Store score, 3.6 against 2.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Topia World Builder has 236 ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Topia World Builder's written reviews are positive against 50% of Earth Sandbox's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Topia World Builder ships an update every 6 weeks, Earth Sandbox weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Topia World Builder versus Earth Sandbox: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTopia World BuilderEarth Sandbox
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating3.6 (236 ratings) — better2.1 (11 ratings)
Positive reviews57.2% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings236 — better11
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidAd-supported — better
Best chart rank#130 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS5.1.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size57 MB389 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCrescent Moon Games LLCHeechang Kim

Customer experience

Topia World Builder

All ratings236 ratings
Positive62.3%
Neutral9.7%
Negative28.0%
Written reviews388 reviews
Positive57.2%
Neutral18.8%
Negative24.0%

Earth Sandbox

All ratings10 ratings
Positive20.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative70.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative40.0%

Bugs and requests

Topia World Builder

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Birds getting stuck over the ocean
  • Land animals drowning in water
  • Inconsistent controls and UI

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add humans and civilization building
  • Introduce natural disasters and weather effects
  • Expand animal and plant diversity
  • Improve ecosystem balance and predator-prey dynamics
  • Implement saving and loading of created worlds

Earth Sandbox

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Topia World Builder

No in-app purchases

None

Earth Sandbox

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Topia World Builder free?
Topia World Builder costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Earth Sandbox free?
Earth Sandbox is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Topia World Builder or Earth Sandbox?
Topia World Builder is rated higher. Topia World Builder averages 3.6 out of 5 from 236 ratings, while Earth Sandbox averages 2.1 from 11 ratings.
Do Topia World Builder or Earth Sandbox have ads?
Earth Sandbox shows ads; Topia World Builder does not.
Which is updated more often, Topia World Builder or Earth Sandbox?
Topia World Builder ships an update every 6 weeks, and Earth Sandbox weekly. Most recently, Topia World Builder was updated on October 26, 2026 and Earth Sandbox on October 25, 2026.

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