The Bear vs Close Cities
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Bear
Embark on a friendship adventure with a bear and a little one across a magical universe. This interactive bedtime experience features hand-drawn animations and original music, offering a calming story about togetherness and belonging.
- Interactive bedtime experience
- Friendship-forming adventure
- Hand-drawn animations
- Specially composed music
- Touching story
- Calming experience
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The Bear is an interactive bedtime experience for everyone. The game is free-to-try with no ads. You can play the first chapter for free and unlock the remaining 4 chapters with a single in-app purchase. Lead the bear and the little one through a friendship-forming adventure as they travel across the atmospheric universe of the World of Gra. Relax and stargaze with these weird little characters, as they tell you stories of togetherness, of letting go and of the longing to find a place you belong. The Bear has been lovingly crafted with hundreds of hand drawn animations, specially composed music and a touching story to create a uniquely calming experience, that feels like a bedtime story, read to you by a loved one.
Close Cities
Build beautiful cities on diverse worlds by solving unique puzzles. This relaxing game guides you through 160 levels with a simple tap or drag interface, requiring no architectural knowledge. Conquer each world's challenges and travel through time with its calming soundtrack.
- Build cities on empty maps
- Solve 160 unique puzzle levels
- Intuitive tap and drag controls
- No architectural knowledge needed
- Travel through different worlds
- Relaxing music and pace
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Close Cities is a relaxing puzzle game in which you will have to build cities in different worlds over time. Find a road and start there. Solve all 160 levels and become a Close Cities legend! UNIQUE PUZZLES You will start each level with an empty map that you will have to fill with beautiful cities. Choose the right road, choose the area and tap or drag with your fingers! DOES NOT REQUIRE KNOWLEDGE OF ARCHITECTURE Close Cities offers a fun experience even if you don't know the difference between a square and a bevel. The game's tutorial will show you everything you need to know at a relaxed pace. CONQUER ITS 160 LEVELS Each world has its king and 16 levels that you must solve to build his empire. TRAVEL THROUGH TIME During the course of the game you will discover different worlds over time with relaxed music to let you go.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: The Bear at none against Close Cities's shown. The Bear also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 69%) and ratings volume (1.1K vs 356). Close Cities's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. The Bear sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Close Cities sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Close Cities holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.1K and 356 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 78% of The Bear's written reviews are positive against 69% of Close Cities's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
The Bear ships an update every 2 weeks, Close Cities every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Bear | Close Cities |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.1K ratings) | 4.8 (356 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.1% of reviews — better | 69.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K — better | 356 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.7 GB | 158 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mucks Games | Juan Manuel Altamirano Argudo |
Customer experience
The Bear
Close Cities
Bugs and requests
The Bear
Reported bugs
2 issues- Game resets when leaving the screen
- Compatibility issues with older devices
Requested features
2 requests- Make the full game free
- Add a demo or trial version
Close Cities
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
The Bear
- Buy us a cookie!$0.99
- Unlock all chapters$1.49
- Buy us a coffee!$2.99
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- Buy us lunch!$3.99
Close Cities
- Hints - Small Pack$0.99
- Hints - Medium Pack$2.99
- Remove Ads + Hints$2.99
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- Hints - Big Pack$5.99
