Comparison

Idle Obelisk Miner vs Arcbound

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

Head to head
About

Idle Obelisk Miner

An idle clicker game where you mine rocks, craft items, and progress through extensive upgrade trees. Engage in both active and idle gameplay with drones and auto-bombing, and unlock powerful artifacts through prestige.

Highlights
  • Obelisk challenges for rewards
  • Extensive upgrade trees
  • Bomb mechanics and upgrades
  • Active and idle gameplay modes
  • Prestige system with artifacts
  • Hold-to-tap mining
  • Completion percentage tracking
Features
Read full description

This is an idle / incremental / clicker game about mining rocks, crafting bars and progressing through vast upgrade trees to progress further into the mines. Idle Obelisk Miner has A LOT of features to keep you engaged, including: ๏ The Obelisk - Build up your stats in order to defeat the obelisk, doing so grants rewards and unlocks new content ๏ LOTS of upgrades - The game features alot of different upgrade trees for a bunch of different stat types, lots of which are locked behind milestones ๏ Bombs - Unlock and level up bombs via the workshop and other means, each providing power and utility! ๏ Active and idle gameplay - You can both play actively by mining, upgrading and firing bombs or you can idle with drones, auto bombing functionality and rewarding offline progress! ๏ Prestige - Unlock powerful artifacts to enhance your stats ๏ Mine via hold-to-tap - No sore fingers here! You can simply hold down on the screen to mine or let your drones and bombs do the work for you! ๏ Completionists - Your completion percentage is tracked so you can work your way to 100%! What are you waiting for? Lets get mining! Privacy Policy: https://checkboxentertainment.com/privacy_policy

About

Arcbound

Design and manage a colony ship as it journeys through deep space. Guide your crew through resource management, social dynamics, and dangerous missions. Build a self-sustaining civilization within a single, evolving starship.

Highlights
  • Grid-based ship construction
  • Simulated resource networks
  • Crew needs and relationships
  • Consequence-driven missions
  • Research new technologies
  • Societal stability management
  • Emergent storytelling
Features
Read full description

Arcbound is a colony simulation game set entirely on a single evolving starship. Everything is connected. And everything can fail at any moment. Design and expand your ship room by room, manage oxygen, power, and crew survival, and guide a fragile civilisation from Earth’s final evacuation into deep space. WHAT YOU DO Design and expand your Arcship room by room Manage oxygen, power, water, and food to keep your crew alive Send missions to Earth to recover resources and survivors Grow your ship into a self-sustaining spacefaring civilisation Every system connects. Every decision has consequences. Inspired by classic colony sims, Arcbound takes the genre into a single fully interconnected starship, where layout, systems, and social dynamics are tightly linked. FROM ESCAPE SHIP TO STAR-BOUND SOCIETY Early Access includes both phases of Arcbound’s journey: Phase 1: The Exodus Stabilise your ship before Earth collapses and prepare for launch. Phase 2: The Voyage Guide a growing civilian population during multi-year transit as your Arcship becomes a living society facing internal pressure, scarcity, and unknown signals from deep space. BUILD YOUR ARCSHIP Start with a small emergency platform and grow it into a fully functioning star-faring vessel. Design living quarters, engineering bays, hydroponics, research facilities, and life-support systems while managing power, water, atmosphere, and maintenance across a fully simulated ship. A well-designed ship creates stability. A poorly planned one barely survives. MANAGE YOUR CREW Your crew are more than workers. They form friendships and rivalries, develop beliefs, suffer stress, and react to the decisions you make as commander. Social relationships and ideology evolve over time, influencing morale, productivity, and the long-term identity of your Arcship. Rescue new survivors, but every arrival may change the culture of your ship. SURVIVE THROUGH MISSIONS Send crews beyond your vessel on dangerous expeditions to secure vital resources. Recover technology, extract survivors, or raid for fuel, missions always return something… but consequences follow. Injuries, conflict, and unexpected events can reshape life aboard your ship long after the mission ends. Missions can trigger injuries, political tension, or unexpected consequences that ripple through life aboard the ship. KEY FEATURES Grid-based ship construction and expansion Fully simulated oxygen, power, water, and resource networks Crew needs, skills, relationships, and ideology systems Consequence-driven mission system Research unlocking new technologies and discoveries Civilian population and societal stability management Emergent storytelling driven by player decisions Pause and time controls for relaxed strategic play Designed for long-form sandbox progression In Arcbound, your entire civilisation exists within a single evolving Arcship. Every decision shapes not just your ship, but the society living inside it. Stabilise your ship before Earth collapses… or carry your failures with you into the void. A CALM SURVIVAL EXPERIENCE Arcbound is designed as a chilled but thoughtful space management experience. Most of the time you’ll be carefully expanding and optimising your ship, until emergencies, social tension, or difficult choices introduce moments of drama. There is no single correct way to survive. Only the ship you build… and the future you create. Join the community on Discord

Screenshots

Idle Obelisk Miner4 screens
Arcbound3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Arcbound at free against Idle Obelisk Miner's free with in-app purchases. Arcbound also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days). Idle Obelisk Miner's advantage is ratings volume (3.9K vs 2) and chart position (#24 vs unranked). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Idle Obelisk Miner sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Arcbound 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Idle Obelisk Miner against 5.0 for Arcbound. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Idle Obelisk Miner has 3.9K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Idle Obelisk Miner ships an update every 5 days, Arcbound every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Idle Obelisk Miner versus Arcbound: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterIdle Obelisk MinerArcbound
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (3.9K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews92.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3.9K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#24 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB336 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperCheckbox EntertainmentDean Lennard

Bugs and requests

Idle Obelisk Miner

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Inconsistent drop rates on certain floors
  • Upgrade costs not clearly displayed
  • Drone fuel timer not working as expected

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved cloud save/cross-device sync
  • More offline progression options
  • Expanded stats and analytics
  • Additional mini-games or side activities

Arcbound

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Idle Obelisk Miner

One-time10
  • Drone Value Pack$0.99
  • Unlocks Megabomb!$1.99
  • Unlocks Transmuter Bomb!$2.99
Show 7 more
  • Limited Sale 1$6.99
  • Mythic Gift Pack$6.99
  • Skill Surge Bundle$6.99
  • 2x Bar Income + 3x Bomb Dmg$9.99
  • Investment Package$12.99
  • 2x Ore and PP Income$12.99
  • Founders Bundle$24.99
1 purchases

Arcbound

One-time1
  • Arcbound - Early Access$9.99

Questions

Is Idle Obelisk Miner free?
Idle Obelisk Miner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Arcbound free?
Arcbound is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Idle Obelisk Miner or Arcbound?
Arcbound is rated higher. Idle Obelisk Miner averages 4.9 out of 5 from 3.9K ratings, while Arcbound averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Idle Obelisk Miner or Arcbound have ads?
Neither Idle Obelisk Miner nor Arcbound shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Idle Obelisk Miner or Arcbound?
Idle Obelisk Miner ships an update every 5 days, and Arcbound every 2 days. Most recently, Idle Obelisk Miner was updated on November 7, 2026 and Arcbound on October 31, 2026.

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