Comparison

Melldows vs Pocket8

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

Head to head
About

Melldows

Design and color your own miniature world in this relaxing sandbox game. Spread forests, create paths, and add structures in a goal-less, creative experience.

Highlights
  • Creative land design
  • Goal-less sandbox experience
  • Forest and path creation
  • Place tents and ruins
  • Cozy and carefree gameplay
Currently charting
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Melldows is a tiny, cozy world-building toy with no goals, scores, or pressure. Shape a small piece of land into your own peaceful place. Sculpt the terrain, grow forests and flowers, draw winding paths, and build a quiet little village. Watch the world come alive with changing light, gentle wildlife, and seasonal colors. There is nothing to win and no correct way to play. Create a wild garden, a hidden settlement, or simply relax and see where your ideas take you.

About

Pocket8

This app brings the PICO-8 fantasy console experience to your mobile device, offering access to thousands of community-made games. Enjoy customizable touch controls or gamepad support, and never lose progress with an instant save system.

Highlights
  • Browse and play community-made PICO-8 games
  • Customizable touch controls and gamepad support
  • Instant save states for unlimited progress saving
  • Portrait and landscape orientation support
  • Locked 60FPS gameplay
Features
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Experience PICO-8 Anywhere: Pocket8 brings the magic of the PICO-8 fantasy console to your pocket. Whether you’re on a commute or relaxing at home, thousands of indie games are a single tap away. A Massive Library in Your Pocket: Discover thousands of community-made games with integrated BBS exploration. From challenging platformers to relaxing puzzles, there’s always something new to play. Download your favorites and build a personal collection that goes offline wherever you do. Controls That Feel Right: Gaming on a touch screen can be a struggle. Pocket8 features high-precision controls that feel as good as a real handheld. Choose between a classic D-pad or virtual joystick, or swap the face buttons positioning to match your playstyle. Wanna go touch-less? Connect a controller and play with a bluetooth gamepad or keyboard. Play Without Interruption: Instant save system lets you freeze time and jump back in to the exact pixel where you left off. Manage an infinite amount of save states per cartridge. Features: Browse & Play: Explore the Lexaloffle BBS to find and download new games instantly. Pro-Style Controls: Fluid movement and adaptive controls. Gamepad and Keyboard support included. Portrait & Landscape: Play comfortably in any orientation. Save Anywhere: Never lose your progress with instant state saves. Pure Performance: Locked 60FPS gameplay for the ultimate retro experience.

Screenshots

Melldows4 screens
Pocket84 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pocket8 at Free against Melldows's $1.99. Pocket8 also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 4 weeks) and ratings volume (10 vs 1). Melldows's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 67%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). On ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Pocket8 is free to download; Melldows costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Melldows holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket8 has 10 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Melldows's written reviews are positive against 67% of Pocket8's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Melldows ships an update every 4 weeks, Pocket8 daily. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Melldows versus Pocket8: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMelldowsPocket8
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.6 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings110 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#189 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB24 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperŁukasz CicheckiJevon Lipsey

Customer experience

Melldows

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Pocket8

Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Melldows

No in-app purchases

None

Pocket8

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Melldows free?
Melldows costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pocket8 free?
Pocket8 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Melldows or Pocket8?
Melldows is rated higher. Melldows averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Pocket8 averages 4.6 from 10 ratings.
Do Melldows or Pocket8 have ads?
Neither Melldows nor Pocket8 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Melldows or Pocket8?
Melldows ships an update every 4 weeks, and Pocket8 daily. Most recently, Melldows was updated on October 11, 2026 and Pocket8 on October 17, 2026.

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