Lums vs Once Upon a Tower
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lums
Engage in a physics-based puzzle adventure where you use five unique characters with distinct abilities to defeat vampires by destroying their hideouts. Explore an organic, dark world filled with intricate details and challenging levels.
- Action physics puzzle gameplay
- Five distinct Lum characters
- Physically realistic real-time 2D soft shadows
- Intuitive touch-device controls
- 68 unique levels
- 204 stars to collect
- Over 50 achievements
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"A Brilliant and Refreshing Puzzler." - Eric Ford, Touch Arcade, 4.5/5 "Lums is a physics puzzler that gives the player an astounding amount of agency, which makes it so much more fun than other, luck-based physics puzzlers." - Carter Dotson, 148 Apps, 4.5/5 + Editor's Choice "Lums demonstrates that there's still some originality left in the dark corners of the physics-based puzzle genre." - Nadia Oxford, Pocket Gamer, 8/10 + Silver Award ---------------------------------------- The Vampires invaded Lums world. The only way to stop them is to destroy their hideouts in the shadows and expose them to the light. Use 5 different Lums in this beautiful action physics puzzle game. Destroy everything with Cannonball Lum, create spotlights with Light Lum, use Antigravity Lum to make their hideouts fly away, or turn them into glass by using Transparent Lum. Sometimes you just need to turn everything into stone. Stone Lum can handle that. Features: - First game on the App Store with physically realistic realtime 2D soft shadows - Completely new type of intuitive and very precise controls which are designed to work on touch devices only - Organic dark world full of small details - 5 characters with very different abilities - 68 unique levels - 204 stars to collect - More than 50 achievements - Leaderboards for best players
Once Upon a Tower
Break free from your tower prison in this adventure game. Armed with a war hammer, you'll battle enemies and escape a dragon. Your rescue is up to you!
- Tower escape adventure
- Battle enemies
- Fight a dragon
- Princess protagonist
- Offline gameplay
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Ever wanted to escape somewhere else? Ever felt like you were trapped in a high tower? Ever found yourself waiting for the valiant knight to save you? Wait no more! Cause he isn't coming -- No, really, he isn't. He was literally eaten by that guardian dragon over there. But fear no more, you have all you need to set yourself free. The brave knight left behind his war hammer, I'm sure you can put it to good use, right? You can beat the enemies. You can escape the dragon. YOU CAN DO THIS! Now let the adventure begin, once upon a tower.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Once Upon a Tower at Free against Lums's $1.99. Once Upon a Tower also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 17 months) and ratings volume (3.3K vs 11). Lums's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On 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
Once Upon a Tower is free to download; Lums costs $1.99 up front. Once Upon a Tower sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Lums asks for nothing beyond the download.
Lums holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Once Upon a Tower has 3.3K ratings behind it against 11, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 92% of Lums's written reviews are positive against 75% of Once Upon a Tower's.
Lums ships an update every 17 months, Once Upon a Tower every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lums | Once Upon a Tower |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.9 (11 ratings) — better | 4.7 (3.3K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 91.7% of reviews — better | 75.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 11 | 3.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 17 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 28 MB | 226 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Vladimir Hrincar | Pomelo Games |
Customer experience
Lums
Once Upon a Tower
User reviews
Lums
From 11 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Creative and original gameplay
- 👍 Intuitive and fun controls
- ✨ Stunning graphics and lighting effects
- 🧠 Mentally stimulating and challenging puzzles
- 🎮 Addictive and engaging gameplay
Room to improve
- 😕 Controls can be tricky initially
- 🤔 Gameplay can be confusing at first
- 👻 Monsters look too cute
- 💰 Overpriced for short gameplay duration
- 🪲 Controls are a bit loose
Once Upon a Tower
From 3.3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💕 Addictive gameplay
- 🎨 Beautiful graphics
- 🎮 Simple but engaging mechanics
- 🚀 Great time killer
- 👍 Empowering female characters
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🔍 Unclear instructions/tutorials
- 🔁 Repetitive levels
- 💰 Aggressive monetization with ads
- 🤖 Unresponsive controls
Bugs and requests
Lums
Reported bugs
2 issues- Game crashes (mentioned once, but resolved by user)
- Touchscreen not responsive on iPad Air (specific device issue)
Requested features
6 requests- Release new levels
- Update for latest iDevices
- Add more levels
- Level editor
- Creepier music and monsters
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- More sinister looking monsters
Once Upon a Tower
Reported bugs
4 issues- Game freezes when watching ads
- Progress resets after crashes
- Challenges not tracking properly
- Compatibility issues on older devices
Requested features
5 requests- More character/princess variety
- Ability to save progress
- Difficulty settings
- Multiplayer mode
- Level editor
In-app purchases
Lums
No in-app purchases
Once Upon a Tower
- Oscura$0.99
- Noriko$0.99
- Lives Pack x10$0.99
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- Loriel$0.99
- Denise$0.99
- Dragon scales x20$0.99
- Lives Pack x25$0.99
- Lives Pack x25$1.99
- Lives Pack x60$3.99
- Lives Pack x200$9.99









