Imperium vs Lanternfall
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Imperium
Lead the Roman legions to victory against barbarian hordes and Carthaginians. Strategize your battles and become the champion Rome needs. A tactical autobattler set in ancient Rome.
- Tactical autobattler gameplay
- Lead Roman legions
- Battle barbarian hordes
- Conquer Carthaginians
- Strategic combat
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The barbarian hordes of Gaul, and the cunning Carthaginians have almost brought Rome to its knees. The Roman people pray to Jupiter for a champion to drive out these enemies, will that champion be you?
Lanternfall
Engage in a turn-based tactical combat game where your lantern is your primary weapon. Navigate eight floors of a dark forest, outsmarting enemies with perfect information and strategic use of four core actions. Unlock new abilities and customize your lantern to overcome increasingly challenging foes.
- Turn-based tactical combat
- Perfect information gameplay
- Four core actions: step, strike, shove, flare
- Dynamic forest environments
- Unlockable boons and lantern types
- Daily challenges and leaderboards
- Offline play
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Your lantern is the weapon. Raise it and everything beside you backs off a hex. Whatever has nowhere to go, against a tree, the forest's edge or another creature, is cornered: it burns, and it staggers. Lanternfall is a turn-based tactics game for one thumb. Eight floors of dark forest, one action a turn, and every enemy announces exactly what it will do next. Wolves show the claw. Archers draw the line. Boars show the charge. If you get hit, it is because you ended your turn somewhere you shouldn't have. WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT • Perfect information. No hidden dice, no surprise damage. Every loss is readable. • Four verbs: step, strike, shove, flare. The shove moves the board; the flare stuns everything within two hexes. • A forest that changes shape. Wolves hunt in packs. Archers back away when touched. Boars charge down lines and throw you. Weavers web the way to the gate. Crows drive the pack. Stumps wake under your feet. From floor 3 an old one walks every floor. • Two named encounters. Floor 4 is barred until the Old Bear falls. Floor 8 is the den: when the Den Mother falls, you have walked out. TWENTY-ONE BOONS, LEARNED ONE WALK AT A TIME Four families: Flame, Blade, Cloak and Light. Keystones change what a verb does. Pairs appear only when you hold both halves. Every walk that ends, win or lose, teaches the next boon, so there is always something new in the forest. THE CAMP Embers come back from every walk. Spend them on five ways to carry the lantern: the Wanderer, the Lamplighter, the Duelist, the Warden, the Torchbearer. Each starts something in hand, costs you something, and tilts the gates toward its family. THE DAILY One shared forest a night, the same for everyone, with a nightly board and a weekly ladder. One missed night a week is forgiven. DEEPER NIGHTS Walk out of a depth and its nights open: no keepsake, two hearts, a bold pack, no second chances, each for more embers. MADE THE HONEST WAY Depths 1 and 2, the Camp, the kits, every boon and the daily are free. One optional purchase, Lanternfall Deep, opens depth 3 and everything below it. A small Supporter Pack adds lantern colors and your name in the credits. No subscriptions, no ads, no consumables, no energy timers. Nothing is collected about you. Works offline. Sound follows your silent switch. Every walk is written down in the Chronicle, and any page can be shared.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Lanternfall at 5.0 against Imperium's 4.2. Lanternfall also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). Imperium's advantage is ratings volume (30 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, 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
Both are free to download. Imperium sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Lanternfall sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lanternfall holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Imperium has 30 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Imperium ships an update every 2 weeks, Lanternfall weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Imperium | Lanternfall |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (30 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 30 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 89 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Rene Slump | NICHOLAS DANIEL MINIERI |
Customer experience
Imperium
Lanternfall
In-app purchases
Imperium
- Pouch of Gems$3.99
- Chest of Gems$12.99
Lanternfall
- Supporter Pack$2.99
- Lanternfall Deep$4.99









