Comparison

Roll vs Close Cities

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

Head to head
About

Roll

Engage in a relaxing dice-rolling experience where you aim to collect points by rolling dice and strategically upgrading them. This game blends elements of strategy, clicker, and roguelike deckbuilders for a unique dice-building system with deep strategic choices. Enjoy a meditative escape with its minimalistic design and peaceful atmosphere.

Highlights
  • Dice rolling for points
  • Dice upgrading system
  • Strategy and critical thinking
  • Relaxing and meditative experience
  • Unique dicebuilding synergies
  • Highscore chasing
Features
Read full description

In Roll, you have 2500 rolls to collect as many points as possible. Roll your dice to gain points, spend your points to upgrade your dice, and repeat. Borrowing gameplay elements from strategy, clicker, and roguelike deckbuilder genres, Roll creates a perfect balance of relaxation with critical thinking. While the "Clicker"/"Incremental" genre is not known for its variety or depth of game mechanics, Roll offers a unique dicebuilding system which allows you to explore different strategies and synergies between upgrades. Each run will present you with new and interesting decisions creating a huge depth of strategy and keeping the game feeling always fresh. Roll is designed to be a relaxing and meditative experience. Get lost in the satisfying sounds and effects as all your worries melt away. From the minimalistic UI to the slow peaceful music, everything was designed to create the perfect zen environment. If you enjoy building an engine and watching it grow, chasing down highscores, or just need to escape from your own thoughts, then I really hope you'll enjoy my game, Roll. :)

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

Close Cities is a relaxing logic puzzle: build cities along the roads and give every road exactly the cities it needs. Easy to learn, hard to put down. HOW TO PLAY • The number next to each road shows how many cities it needs. • Every city must touch a road, and it can't be on two roads at once. • Cities can't touch side by side; diagonally is fine. • Tap or drag to build. When a city is valid, it lights up in color. 480 LEVELS, TWO MODES • Kingdoms: travel through different eras of history and build each king's empire. • Empires: cities of different sizes and roads that ask for new combinations. AT YOUR OWN PACE • No timer, no rush: think every move through calmly. • Relaxing music and a clean, charming art style. • Play offline: on the subway, while traveling or before bed. • Stuck? Ask for a hint. FOR EVERYONE • A quick tutorial teaches you the rules in a minute. • If you like sudoku and logic puzzles, you'll love it. • Free, with a one-time purchase to remove ads. Close Cities is made by The Pangry, the creators of Broki.

Screenshots

Roll4 screens
Close Cities4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Roll at none against Close Cities's shown. Roll also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly) and review sentiment (79% vs 69%). Close Cities's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On price, ratings volume, 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

Both are free to download. Roll sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Close Cities sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Close Cities holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 463 and 365 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 79% of Roll'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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Roll ships an update every 2 weeks, Close Cities monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Roll versus Close Cities: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRollClose Cities
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (463 ratings)4.8 (365 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.5% of reviews — better69.4% of reviews
Number of ratings463 — better365
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size283 MB165 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJoseph Anthony DistlerJuan Manuel Altamirano Argudo

Customer experience

Roll

All ratings463 ratings
Positive89.4%
Neutral3.0%
Negative7.6%
Written reviews121 reviews
Positive78.5%
Neutral8.3%
Negative13.2%

Close Cities

All ratings365 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral2.2%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive69.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative30.6%

Bugs and requests

Roll

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Upgrade shop issues
  • Crashes and freezes
  • Swiping/tapping issues
  • Incompatibility with older devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Offline mode
  • More dice skins and customization
  • Sandbox mode with unlimited rolls
  • Improved dice management UI
  • More detailed stats and analytics

Close Cities

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Roll

One-time1
  • Roll Premium$3.99
4 purchases

Close Cities

One-time4
  • Hints - Small Pack$0.99
  • Hints - Medium Pack$2.99
  • Remove Ads + Hints$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Hints - Big Pack$5.99

Questions

Is Roll free?
Roll is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Close Cities free?
Close Cities is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Roll or Close Cities?
Close Cities is rated higher. Roll averages 4.6 out of 5 from 463 ratings, while Close Cities averages 4.8 from 365 ratings.
Do Roll or Close Cities have ads?
Close Cities shows ads; Roll does not.
Which is updated more often, Roll or Close Cities?
Roll ships an update every 2 weeks, and Close Cities monthly. Most recently, Roll was updated on November 3, 2026 and Close Cities on November 4, 2026.

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