Sidius Nova vs Arcane Trigger
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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!
Arcane Trigger
Defend your cottage from shadow creatures pouring from a dimensional rift. Utilize an arcane rifle, craft unique ammunition, and strategically combine buffs to survive increasingly difficult waves and challenging bosses in this roguelike shooter.
- Arcane rifle combat
- Bullet crafting with varied attributes
- Mix and match trajectory buffs
- Roguelike progression
- 7 distinct bosses
- 240 unique bullet types
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After years of diligent work, the young mage finally saved up enough to build a beautiful cottage in the woods—only to find it sits right at the convergence point between the Shadow Plane and the Material Plane. Every time night falls, entropic shadow creatures pour forth from the rift, laying waste to everything nearby. 200 sealing artifacts, 40 events, 15 difficulty tiers, and 7 wildly distinct bosses await you! Take up your arcane rifle! Squeeze the trigger and rain down fury on these ill-mannered pests! Mix and match to craft devastating high-damage trajectories. Some buffs rely on proper positioning, so think carefully before you pull the trigger. Don't forget to forge new bullets! Click the winged hammer in the bottom-left corner to craft new ammunition with varied attributes — choose from 240 unique bullet types! When the smoke clears, the roguelike spirit remains. At the end of each run, select the optimal build buffs based on your current setup.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Sidius Nova at 84% against Arcane Trigger's 25%. Sidius Nova also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.7) and ratings volume (49 vs 3). Arcane Trigger's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, ads, monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Sidius Nova sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Arcane Trigger asks for nothing beyond the download.
Sidius Nova holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sidius Nova has 49 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Sidius Nova's written reviews are positive against 25% of Arcane Trigger's.
Sidius Nova ships an update every 3 months, Arcane Trigger every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sidius Nova | Arcane Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (49 ratings) — better | 2.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.3% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 49 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 190 MB | 907 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Stefan Schmitt | MiniWhale |
Customer experience
Sidius Nova
Arcane Trigger
Bugs and 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
Arcane Trigger
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Sidius Nova
- Genius (RP earned x2)$0.99
- Laboratory (8,000 RP)$1.99
- Singularity (Unlock Everything)$3.99
Arcane Trigger
No in-app purchases









