Magic Research 2 vs Unnamed Space Idle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Magic Research 2
Embark on a magical quest as a rookie wizard to find or create the Philosopher's Stone. Utilize over 120 spells, transmute hundreds of items, and lead a team of wizards in a semi-automated combat system. Explore dozens of areas, uncover secrets, and experience over 60 hours of gameplay.
- Over 120 distinct spells
- Transmute over 250 items
- Control a team of wizards
- Semi-automated combat system
- Explore dozens of areas
- Discover secrets and storylines
- Retirement bonuses for faster progress
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Experience the long-awaited sequel to Magic Research! In Magic Research 2, you are a rookie wizard with a single ambition: to find or create the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary magical item that is said to be able to cure any illness. As you do so, you will learn more than you ever imagined about Magic and about the world around you. What kinds of adventures await you? * Use your arsenal of more than 120 distinct spells to make progress * Study the Elements! Learn new ways to use Magic in your path to mastery * Transmute (magically craft) over 250 different items to help you on your journey * Control a team of Wizards that will cast Spells for you * Enjoy a deep, semi-automated combat system as you make your way through dozens of areas to explore * Discover tons of secrets - many of which will change the way you play the game! * Encounter over a hundred distinct Storylines with powerful bonuses along your journey * Restart the game and make progress faster each time with retirement bonuses * Over 60 hours of addictive gameplay - with a clear ending! (Or perhaps more than one...?) * Optimized both for phones and tablet devices You do not need to have played Magic Research in order to enjoy Magic Research 2!
Unnamed Space Idle
Engage in an unfolding sci-fi idle game battling alien waves. Customize your ship with unlockable weapons and defenses, making strategic choices across multiple evolving systems to increase your power and progress.
- Destroy alien waves
- Ship customization
- Progressive weapon/defense unlocks
- Multiple evolving systems
- Strategic decision making
- Prestige system
- Crafting modules
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No ads! Destroy unending waves of alien ships in this long form, unfolding, sci-fi idler. Unnamed Space Idle is an unfolding sci-fi idle game that plunges you into a relentless battle against an alien menace that has decimated humanity. Voted r/incremental_games "Best F2P game" 2024 & 2025. Customize your ship with an array of progressively unlocked weapons and defenses, strategically tailored to counter specific enemy types. With a plethora of unfolding systems and abundant options, you'll face crucial choices as you steadily increase you power through progression and prestige. A Myriad of Different Systems Discover over 10 distinct systems, each offering unique mechanics that evolve and expand over time. Core - Upgrade your Weapon, Defense and Utility cores with salvage gathered from enemies. Compute - Improve your combat stats over time in traditional Idle Game fashion Synth - Craft and improve modules and recipes to increase your power in various ways. Void Device - Slot in void shards dropped by enemies for different combinations of upgrades. Prestige - Unlock different ships, weapons, defenses and utilities. Reactor - Feed void matter into your reactor to power various system boosts. Research - Harness the research data obtained from different sectors to unlock various upgrades. And More... Impactful, Understandable Decisions Choose wisely when equipping your ship with weapons and defenses, selecting power-altering modules, or determining the optimal combination of shards to use. The distinction between optimal and sub-optimal choices can significantly impact your progress. But while there are a lot of decisions to be made, they are all plainly understandable so that the optimum, or at least very near optimum decision making is within your grasp! Consistent Progress and Unlocks Well paced progression combined with the amount of different systems, upgrades and enemies, means something new is frequently just around the corner.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Unnamed Space Idle at Free against Magic Research 2's $4.69. Magic Research 2's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and chart position (#24 vs unranked). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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
Unnamed Space Idle is free to download; Magic Research 2 costs $4.69 up front. Unnamed Space Idle sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Magic Research 2 asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Magic Research 2 against 4.6 for Unnamed Space Idle. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 120 and 250 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Magic Research 2's written reviews are positive against 77% of Unnamed Space Idle's.
Magic Research 2 ships an update every 3 days, Unnamed Space Idle every 2 days. Both last shipped on November 8, 2026.
| Parameter | Magic Research 2 | Unnamed Space Idle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.69 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (120 ratings) — better | 4.6 (250 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 82.1% of reviews — better | 76.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 120 | 250 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #24 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 126 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Matias Ezequiel Colotto | JDOG CORP |
Customer experience
Magic Research 2
Unnamed Space Idle
User reviews
Magic Research 2
From 120 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fantastic sequel, better than the first
- 👍 Incredible sense of progression
- 💡 Fun build types, best in genre
- 👍 Incremental masterclass, gold standard
- 👍 True semi-idle masterpiece
Room to improve
- 🐛 Extremely complicated, tedious timers
- 🐛 UI is absolutely atrocious
- 🐛 Time pieces cap out at 100k
- 🐛 UI issues, not easy to navigate
- 🐛 Sorting doesn't sort exactly as wanted
Unnamed Space Idle
From 250 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Addictive gameplay
- 👍 Deep and complex mechanics
- 👍 Constantly evolving game
- 👍 Frequent updates
- 👍 Free-to-play friendly
Room to improve
- 📱 Tiny UI elements
- 📱 Small font size
- 📱 Unreadable text on mobile
- 📱 UI not optimized for mobile
- 📱 Difficult to interact with buttons
Bugs and requests
Magic Research 2
Reported bugs
6 issues- App instantly crashes on open
- Game crashes on startup
- App started rapidly pushing buttons on its own
- Overheating phone
- Lags and gets choppy in the late game
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Compendium doesn't unlock for bosses unless already beat
Requested features
9 requests- DLC or sequel news
- macOS version
- Better automation and convenience features
- Tweak familiar search time down
- Release the next one
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- More Please
- Auto fight boss button
- Compendium unlocks bosses before beating them
- Less dialogue and descriptions, more functional text
Unnamed Space Idle
Reported bugs
15 issues- UI is too small on mobile devices
- Font size is too small, making text unreadable
- Game crashes during fleet auto battles
- Cannot open on iPadOS 14.8.1
- Game freezes when playing on mobile network
Show 10 moreShow fewer
- AI Smart Crafting not working
- Module queue automation doesn't correctly identify materials
- Buttons for base upgrades not working after last update
- Small text and UI elements make interaction difficult
- Game stuck in landscape mode
- Dark red text on black background is hard to read
- UI elements overlap or are difficult to press
- Some text and buttons are too small to read or interact with on smaller phones
- The game is not optimized for mobile screens, leading to unreadability and difficulty in control
- Inability to copy and paste
Requested features
12 requests- UI rework for mobile
- Improve UI readability
- Optimize UI for smaller screens
- Add French translation
- Add Turkish language support
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Option to restart game
- Better mobile screen utilization
- Adjust module queue automation
- Fix AI smart crafting
- Improve collision detection for projectiles
- Consider fantasy-oriented theme
- Add audio to the game
In-app purchases
Magic Research 2
No in-app purchases
Unnamed Space Idle
- 200 AI Points$1.99
- QOL Bundle$2.49
- Spacemas Bundle$2.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- RetroFuture Cosmetic$3.99
- Spaceversary Bundle$3.99
- 550 AI Points$4.99
- Essentials Bundle$4.99
- 1200 AI Points$9.99
- Advanced Bundle$9.99
- 2600 AI Points$19.99
Questions
Is Magic Research 2 free?
Is Unnamed Space Idle free?
Which has better reviews, Magic Research 2 or Unnamed Space Idle?
Do Magic Research 2 or Unnamed Space Idle have ads?
Which is updated more often, Magic Research 2 or Unnamed Space Idle?
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