Comparison

Sorcery! vs Beyond the Chiron Gate

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

Head to head
About

Sorcery!

Embark on an epic four-part adventure across a land filled with monsters, traps, and magic. Make thousands of choices that dynamically rewrite your story and engage in unique touch-based sword duels. Master 48 magic spells with wondrous effects to shape your journey.

Highlights
  • Hand-drawn 3D world map
  • Thousands of interactive choices
  • Dynamically rewritten story
  • Unique touch-based sword dueling
  • 48 magic spells with story effects
  • Outwit monsters with weaknesses
Features
Read full description

An epic four-part adventure through a land of monsters, traps, and magic. Start your story here! FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY! *** Rock Paper Shotgun Best RPG of 2016 *** "You should choose to own this adventure" -- Eurogamer "Inkle's adaptation of Sorcery! takes the genre to a whole new level" -- Kotaku "This is some of 2013′s best interactive storytelling" -- IGN UK "Beautifully realised ... this gripping tale has us well and truly hooked" -- Pocket Gamer (Gold Award) "Incredibly impressed" -- Touch Arcade Top 10 Best Mobile Games of 2013, Mashable.com Top 20 of 2013, Touch Arcade Top 25 of 2013, Gamezebo + Plot your own journey across a hand-drawn 3D world map + Fully interactive story, with 1000s of choices + The story is rewritten on the fly based on how you play + Unique touch-based sword-duelling, with procedurally-generated descriptions of the action + Adapted from the best-selling gamebook series by legendary game designer Steve Jackson + Outwit monsters by learning their weaknesses and tells + 48 magic spells to master, with weird and wonderful effects that change the story "Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my time writing a review when I should really just be pointing at a game and demanding that people play it. This is one of those times. Steve Jackson's Sorcery! is an absolutely marvellous fantasy storybook adventure. Lushly illustrated and expertly told, it should not be missed by anyone even remotely interested in the genre." -- Gamezebo "Let’s not mince words here... Sorcery’s unique blend of tabletop-like roleplaying (including an incredible combat system quite unlike anything I’ve seen before), and elaborate branching pathways with custom scripts preserving the feeling of Steve Jackson’s work make me now want to… no, HAVE TO acquire an iOS device" - Just Press Start From legendary designer Steve Jackson, co-founder of Lionhead Studios (with Peter Molyneux), and Fighting Fantasy and Games Workshop (with Ian Livingstone); and inkle, the studio behind the award-winning, App Store featured Frankenstein, Sorcery! is an interactive adventure like never before. The app uses inklewriter technology to tell your journey in real-time, shaping the story around your choices. The text itself changes based on how you play and what you do, and in combat, the action is description on the fly based on how you play. Featuring original illustrations by John Blanche, new character art by Eddie Sharam (DC Comics), an interactive map by Mike Schley (Wizards of the Coast) and music by David Wise (Donkey Kong Country). "The Shamutanti Hills" is Part 1 of 4. Part 2, "Kharé: Cityport of Traps", is out now, and will load all of your completed Part 1 games to continue your adventure. Part 3 is coming later this year (but while you wait, check out our new game, 80 DAYS).

About

Beyond the Chiron Gate

Embark on a text-based space exploration adventure. Discover alien worlds, manage your crew, and upgrade your ship to uncover the secrets of ancient civilizations. Your mission is to gather data and reach the home system of the mysterious Gatebuilders.

Highlights
  • Text-based space exploration
  • Discover exotic planets
  • Manage a space crew
  • Upgrade ship technology
  • Gather data
  • Uncover ancient civilizations
Features
Read full description

Explore an endless universe filled with exotic planets, strange life forms, and ancient civilisations in this text-based space exploration game. Manage a crew of space explorers and upgrade their ship with new technology. Brave dangerous worlds to gather the data you need to reach the home system of the mysterious Gatebuilders.

Screenshots

Sorcery!4 screens
Beyond the Chiron Gate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sorcery! at $4.99 against Beyond the Chiron Gate's $9.99. Sorcery! also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 5 months) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 13.0). Beyond the Chiron Gate's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.5) and review sentiment (86% vs 73%). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Sorcery! costs $4.99 and Beyond the Chiron Gate $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Beyond the Chiron Gate holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 188 and 68 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of Sorcery!'s written reviews are positive against 86% of Beyond the Chiron Gate's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sorcery! ships an update every 6 weeks, Beyond the Chiron Gate every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Sorcery! versus Beyond the Chiron Gate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSorcery!Beyond the Chiron Gate
Price$4.99 — better$9.99
Rating4.5 (188 ratings)4.7 (68 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.8% of reviews85.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings188 — better68
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank—#101 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size166 MB93 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperinkleSpace Goblin Games

Customer experience

Sorcery!

All ratings188 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral5.3%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews312 reviews
Positive72.8%
Neutral10.6%
Negative16.7%

Beyond the Chiron Gate

All ratings66 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral1.5%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews35 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral5.7%
Negative8.6%

User reviews

Sorcery!

From 188 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Immersive story and gameplay
  • 🎨 Beautiful artwork and illustrations
  • 🔮 Unique spell casting mechanics
  • 🗺️ Interactive map and world exploration
  • 🔁 High replay value with multiple paths

Room to improve

  • ⏱️ Short gameplay for the price
  • 💰 Expensive for a partial story
  • 🔁 Rewind feature cheapens decisions
  • 🤔 Simplistic combat system

Beyond the Chiron Gate

From 68 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Immersive narrative and storytelling
  • 🚀 Engaging gameplay loop
  • 💡 Well-written and descriptive text
  • ❤️ High replayability
  • ✨ Compares favorably to Seedship

Room to improve

  • 💰 Pricey for a mobile game
  • 🔄 Repetitive events and scenarios
  • 📉 Unbalanced difficulty and RNG
  • 😥 Focus on crew injury/death can be discouraging
  • 🧩 Game feels unfinished to some

Bugs and requests

Sorcery!

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Occasional crashes reported
  • Compatibility issues on older devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Longer and more expansive story
  • Multiple save slots
  • Deeper RPG mechanics
  • Improved combat with dice rolls

Beyond the Chiron Gate

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • VoiceOver clicks on links, ending the game
  • Music turns off when app is put in background
  • Bug where actions are chosen without consent after picking 'continue'
  • Music volume adjustment control is good, but background play is desired

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add more event types or variations
  • Improve interface and touch controls
  • Add a back button
  • Allow music to play in the background
  • Increase effectiveness of medic crew members
Show 3 more
  • More unique endings
  • More options throughout the game
  • Font pitch and script type selection

In-app purchases

None

Sorcery!

No in-app purchases

None

Beyond the Chiron Gate

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sorcery! free?
Sorcery! costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Beyond the Chiron Gate free?
Beyond the Chiron Gate costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sorcery! or Beyond the Chiron Gate?
Beyond the Chiron Gate is rated higher. Sorcery! averages 4.5 out of 5 from 188 ratings, while Beyond the Chiron Gate averages 4.7 from 68 ratings.
Do Sorcery! or Beyond the Chiron Gate have ads?
Neither Sorcery! nor Beyond the Chiron Gate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sorcery! or Beyond the Chiron Gate?
Sorcery! ships an update every 6 weeks, and Beyond the Chiron Gate every 5 months. Most recently, Sorcery! was updated on October 26, 2026 and Beyond the Chiron Gate on October 25, 2026.

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