Comparison

POOLS™ vs Ultimate Chicken Horse

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

Head to head
About

POOLS™

Explore, admire, and listen in this slow, reflective experience. It's an intentionally uneventful journey through uncanny and eerie environments, rewarding patience and quiet attention. Discover a world that subtly changes as you advance, inspired by internet phenomena like liminal spaces and The Backrooms.

Highlights
  • Exploration-focused gameplay
  • Relaxing and reflective atmosphere
  • Eerie and uncanny environments
  • Slow-paced, uneventful experience
  • World changes as you advance
  • Six chapters, 10-30 minutes each
Features
Read full description

Explore, admire and listen. That’s it. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. Immersive. POOLS isn’t a traditional game. it’s slow, reflective, and intentionally uneventful, perhaps a bit like virtual museum. So take your time. Breathe. POOLS unfolds slowly, rewarding patience and quiet attention. No monsters chasing you or jumping at your screen. Yet it can feel oppressive at times by invoking quiet fears of getting lost, the dark, tight spaces and the strange beauty of liminal space architecture. There's no typical story. But as you explore and advance further, you start to notice that the game's world changes around you, deeper you go… Rooms look and feel… different. Base game features six chapters, each lasting 10-30 minutes. Inspired by the internet phenomena Liminal spaces, Found footage and The Backrooms, especially the Poolrooms concept. One of the original artists behind the Poolrooms concept is Jared Pike.

About

Ultimate Chicken Horse

A party platformer where players collaboratively build obstacle courses as they play. Strategically place traps and platforms to reach the finish line before your friends, or hinder their progress to score points. Enjoy online or local multiplayer with a variety of animal characters and creative level design tools.

Highlights
  • Online and local multiplayer for up to 4 players
  • Collaborative level building with traps and platforms
  • Unique game flow combining strategy and platforming
  • 17 diverse levels with unique features
  • Build and share custom levels
  • Play as various animal characters
  • Customizable rule sets and game modes
Features
Read full description

*NOTICE - TRY BEFORE YOU BUY* - Play the beginning for free. A one-time in-app purchase unlocks the full game. No ads. Ever wish you were a wall-jumping, arrow-dodging, trap-setting horse, besting your animal pals in a race through a peril-laden obstacle course that you all built together? Wish Granted! Ultimate Chicken Horse is a party platformer where you and your friends build the level as you play, placing deadly traps before trying to reach the end of the level. If you can make it but your friends can't, you score points! Play online or locally with your animal buddies and experiment with a wide variety of platforms in all sorts of strange locations to find new ways to mess with your friends. Key Features - Online and local play for up to 4 players - Unique game flow, from strategic block placement to twitch control platforming - 17 levels with different features - Build and share custom levels - Additional Controller Support (please note not all controllers are support at this time) - Compete for global best times on Challenge levels across all platforms - Shared controller mode to play multiplayer with one controller - Huge library of blocks to create an infinite variety of levels - Customizable rule sets and game modes - Play as a chicken, horse, sheep, raccoon and other wonderful animals - Fun, cartoony art style - Sweet funky soundtrack Please note: this is primarily a multiplayer game. Challenge levels can be created and played alone, but unlocking characters and levels requires playing one of the main game modes (like Party Mode) which are only multiplayer.

Screenshots

POOLS™4 screens
Ultimate Chicken Horse4 screens

Verdict

The call

POOLS™ and Ultimate Chicken Horse both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 80% of POOLS™'s written reviews are positive against 50% of Ultimate Chicken Horse's. Ultimate Chicken Horse's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. POOLS™ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Ultimate Chicken Horse sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for POOLS™ against 4.6 for Ultimate Chicken Horse. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.8K and 1.3K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of POOLS™'s written reviews are positive against 50% of Ultimate Chicken Horse's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

POOLS™ ships an update every 4 weeks, Ultimate Chicken Horse monthly. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
POOLS™ versus Ultimate Chicken Horse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPOOLS™Ultimate Chicken Horse
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.8K ratings)4.6 (1.3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.3% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1.8K — better1.3K
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.9 GB825 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperTensoriNoodlecake

Customer experience

POOLS™

All ratings1,795 ratings
Positive88.0%
Neutral3.2%
Negative8.8%
Written reviews674 reviews
Positive80.3%
Neutral6.1%
Negative13.6%

Ultimate Chicken Horse

All ratings1,161 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral3.4%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews248 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral10.5%
Negative39.5%

User reviews

POOLS™

From 1.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Immersive experience
  • 🔒 No ads
  • 👍 Incredible attention to detail
  • 👍 Realistic graphics and sound
  • 👍 Eerie and creepy atmosphere

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Boring after a while
  • 🐛 Lack of variety in environments

Ultimate Chicken Horse

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun game
  • 🚀 Game is enjoyable

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitchy and crashes
  • 🎮 Controls are janky
  • 💰 Need to pay for subscription

Bugs and requests

POOLS™

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Unable to move on iPad Pro
  • Glitches reported

Requested features

3 requests
  • Expand to different Backrooms-inspired themes
  • Add a multiplayer mode
  • Introduce more interactive elements (e.g., monsters, items to discover)

Ultimate Chicken Horse

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Game won't load locally
  • Game kicks out when loading

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add free chat
  • Add ability to view scoreboard during game
  • Add controller support

In-app purchases

1 purchases

POOLS™

One-time1
  • POOLS: Full Game$9.99
2 purchases

Ultimate Chicken Horse

One-time2
  • Unlock Full Game$1.99
  • Unlock Full Game$9.99

Questions

Is POOLS™ free?
POOLS™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ultimate Chicken Horse free?
Ultimate Chicken Horse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, POOLS™ or Ultimate Chicken Horse?
Ultimate Chicken Horse is rated higher. POOLS™ averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.8K ratings, while Ultimate Chicken Horse averages 4.6 from 1.3K ratings.
Do POOLS™ or Ultimate Chicken Horse have ads?
Neither POOLS™ nor Ultimate Chicken Horse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, POOLS™ or Ultimate Chicken Horse?
POOLS™ ships an update every 4 weeks, and Ultimate Chicken Horse monthly. Most recently, POOLS™ was updated on November 10, 2026 and Ultimate Chicken Horse on November 10, 2026.

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