Idle Defender vs Duskward
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Idle Defender
Engage in an addictive incremental tower defense experience. Strategically build and upgrade towers to fend off monster raids, expand your territory, and generate idle income. Collect ability cards and research upgrades to become an invincible defender.
- Auto idle tower defense
- Build and upgrade towers
- Simulate monster battles
- Upgrade special abilities
- Discover chests and mines
- Collect ability cards
- Generate idle income offline
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Idle Defender is an addicting incremental game in the tower defense genre with elements of expansion and idle games. Defend the tower zone, which is automatically attacked by monster raids. Combine idle strategy and automatic battles to protect your territories and stop the conquer and tower smash. Build and upgrade a strong tower, defend your territory, and become a champion on the battlefield! Fight off waves of enemies, defend your base, and expand your tower's control radius this idler. Capture mines and chests to earn money, crystals, and ability cards! Reach new levels and unlock new features. Become more powerful and stop the tower conquerors. Join us and become the best idle tower defender! KEY FEATURES - Auto idle tower defense for all players! - Build and upgrade tiny towers to expand your territory and gain more resources! - Simulate battles between a tower and hordes of monsters! - Upgrade special abilities, grow defense, and reduce damage from attacks! - Discover various chests and mines around the towers for additional resources! - Collect cards that add capabilities to towers! - Constantly improve attack and defensive systems against monsters! - Research new upgrades to unlock more parts of the idle game! - Generate idle income in tower defense offline! - Enjoy the addicting incremental gameplay! If you fun of base defense games or idle simulation games, don’t wait! Idle Defender is the ultimate tower defense game for idle game enthusiasts with ever-evolving strategies! Playing this idle defense game is easy. Strategically manage tense and exciting battles. Prevent monsters from destroying the core defense and surrounding areas. Unlock powerful upgrades and abilities to build an even stronger tower. Upgrade your skills, command the battlefield, and become invincible! We’re always happy to hear from our players! Email us your ideas: support@crootosoftware.com NOTE: Idle Defender: Tower Defense is free idle game, but some game elements can be purchased with real money. You can disable in-app purchases in your device settings. A secure internet connection is required to play this incremental idle game.
Duskward
Engage in a one-thumb survivor game, automatically firing weapons as you navigate monster swarms. Level up to choose upgrades, evolve weapons, and unlock new heroes and stages. Progress through permanent upgrades even after defeat.
- One-thumb controls
- Automatic weapon firing
- Weapon evolution system
- Permanent upgrade system
- Multiple heroes and stages
- Pixel art and chiptune soundtrack
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Duskward is a one-thumb survivor game. Move through monster swarms while your weapons fire automatically. Each stage lasts eight minutes, followed by a boss fight. Pick an upgrade every time you level up. Stack arcane bolts, spinning blades, chain lightning, fire flasks and more. Max out a weapon and pair it with the right charm to evolve it. Try a different combination on your next run. Gold from every run buys permanent upgrades in the Armory, even when you fall. Unlock new heroes and work through five stages, from Whisperwood to The Hollow. Clear a stage to unlock its Nightmare mode. IN THE GAME • 5 stages, each with a miniboss and a final boss • 9 heroes with different starting weapons and perks • 9 weapons and 9 evolutions • 11 passive charms and relics • 12 permanent Armory upgrades • 21 achievements and a seven-day reward calendar • Pixel art and a chiptune soundtrack Play in portrait with one hand. The game pauses when you leave the app. Runs work offline, and there is no account to create. Duskward is free with ads and optional purchases. Watch an ad to revive, double your gold or get an extra reroll. Short ads may appear between runs. Remove Ads is a one-time purchase that removes those ads and grants ad rewards instantly, with the usual reward limits. Ads and purchases need an internet connection. Questions or feedback? Email jake@jakehaas.com.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Idle Defender at none against Duskward's shown. Idle Defender also leads on ratings volume (11 vs 1). Duskward's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.5). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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. Idle Defender sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Duskward sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Duskward holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Idle Defender has 11 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Idle Defender | Duskward |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (11 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| 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 | 181 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | CROOTO | John Haas |
Customer experience
Idle Defender
Duskward
In-app purchases
Idle Defender
- Buy No Ads$5.99
- Buy No Ads Full$17.99
Duskward
- 120 Gems$0.99
- Starter Pack$1.99
- Remove Ads$3.99
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- 650 Gems$4.99
- 1,400 Gems$9.99
- 3,000 Gems$19.99









