Comparison

Gargoyles vs Illuminaria

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

Head to head
About

Gargoyles

Command a strategic army of gargoyles to defend against attacking automatons and predators. Evolve your gargoyles through unique trees, harvest pixies, and follow a compelling story to uncover the source of the attacks. Features include diverse enemies, randomly assigned gargoyle perks, and in-game achievements.

Highlights
  • Strategic gargoyle army placement
  • Pixie harvesting and resource management
  • Gargoyle evolution with multiple trees
  • Defeat diverse enemies and automatons
  • Engaging story campaign
  • Randomly assigned gargoyle perks
  • 22 in-game achievements
Features
Read full description

Lulu ported a gargoyle from the Between. She had last seen a gargoyle when she was ten. Her grandmother had brought her to the forest, and helped her feed a pixie to the strange unmoving creature. This gargoyle, too, ate a pixie from Lulu’s careful hand. It sang a pure note of pleasure. Then it spoke into Lulu’s mind. At that moment the automatons attacked. Place your gargoyle army strategically to harvest pixies and defeat the hordes of attacking automatons and predators. Level your gargoyles, evolving them into more-powerful forms in three different evolution trees. Try a tanky Boulder for defense and a Black Mage for ranged vapor-type damage—or maybe experiment with the Lure ability of the multirow Manticore. In the main campaign, follow Lulu and her companion gargoyle Poe to discover the source of the automatons and how to stop them. Your gargoyle army stays with you as you proceed through each battle of the campaign. With your favorite evolutions and best battle tactics, you might make it to victory. FEATURES • 24 distinct enemies including vaporwolves, tetrapods, and lightbats • every gargoyle pup is different because of its randomly assigned perks (some rare!) • 22 in-game achievements • pause the combat at any time • save and load the game at any time • tutorial, game tips, and an “easy” difficulty setting are available if wanted • optional story mode • original music by Joel Roston • no in-app purchases or ads

About

Illuminaria

Build and manage multiple bases, command robot swarms for resource gathering and defense. Explore dungeons, research technologies, and assemble an army of golems to reclaim a world from darkness.

Highlights
  • Robot swarm control
  • Multi-base management
  • Automated resource gathering
  • Base defense systems
  • Dungeon expeditions
  • Golem army creation
  • Technology research
Read full description

Mine resources, manage and defend multiple bases. Go on expeditions, fight in auto-battles, research new technologies, and create your army of golems to drive out the darkness and bring back the light. ■ Control a swarm of robots using simple interactions Choose where to build, what resources to gather, and then watch the robots do the heavy lifting. They'll gather the resources, build, load weapons, fight, and respond to the world around them. ■ Defend your bases from incoming attacks Vicious enemies of darkness will attack your base, attempting to destroy your reactors and steal your resources. Build turrets and load them up with ammunition to repel the attacks. ■ Build multiple bases and manage them all at the same time Instead of having a sandbox world, you'll need to build several smaller bases with finite space. Be on the lookout as all the bases keep functioning at all times and can be attacked by the enemies. ■ Venture into dungeon-like expeditions to battle and find precious relics Adventure and explore to find hidden treasures, and fight enemies in auto-battles. This way, you'll get rare resources to use to your advantage. ■ Research new technologies in different regions The game will have five regions, each with new resources and technologies to discover. ■ Liberate the world by lighting beacons and crafting your own army The world of Illuminaria was taken over by darkness. Unravel the story about what happened on the planet as you clean and liberate the five regions by lighting beacons and sending your armies of golems to attack.

Screenshots

Gargoyles4 screens
Illuminaria4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Gargoyles at every 8 months against Illuminaria's every 25 months. Gargoyles also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 83%) and price ($1.99 vs $4.99). On rating, ratings volume, 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

Gargoyles costs $1.99 and Illuminaria $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Gargoyles holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Gargoyles's written reviews are positive against 83% of Illuminaria's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gargoyles ships an update every 8 months, Illuminaria every 25 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Gargoyles versus Illuminaria: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGargoylesIlluminaria
Price$1.99 — better$4.99
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better4.8 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better83.3% of reviews
Number of ratings56 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 months — betterEvery 25 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.6
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB520 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperKarl VoskuilSelva Interactive

Customer experience

Gargoyles

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Illuminaria

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Gargoyles

No in-app purchases

None

Illuminaria

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gargoyles free?
Gargoyles costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Illuminaria free?
Illuminaria costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Gargoyles or Illuminaria?
Gargoyles is rated higher. Gargoyles averages 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Illuminaria averages 4.8 from 6 ratings.
Do Gargoyles or Illuminaria have ads?
Neither Gargoyles nor Illuminaria shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gargoyles or Illuminaria?
Gargoyles ships an update every 8 months, and Illuminaria every 25 months. Most recently, Gargoyles was updated on October 24, 2026 and Illuminaria on October 24, 2026.

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