Comparison

POOLS™ vs Only Tower Defense

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

Head to head
About

POOLS™

This app offers a slow, reflective, and immersive experience focused on exploration and atmosphere. It evokes feelings of unease and curiosity through its unique environments, inspired by liminal spaces and internet phenomena. Discover changing worlds and subtle narratives without traditional gameplay mechanics.

Highlights
  • Slow, reflective exploration
  • Atmospheric and immersive environments
  • Inspired by liminal spaces
  • Unfolding narrative through exploration
  • Six distinct chapters
  • Unique sound design
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

Only Tower Defense

Features
Read full description

Defend the path. Read the weather. Tap with timing. Only Tower Defense is a cozy, pastel-painted strategy game where every tap matters. Place towers, freeze the swarm, zap the boss, and stack tactical buffs across 200 waves of escalating pressure. — SIX TOWERS, SIX ROLES • Sapling — fastest fire rate, best DPS per coin • Ice — pure crowd control, slows up to 6 enemies • Lightning — chain damage that arcs across packs • Sniper — long range, armor-piercing single shots • Poison — stacking damage over time • Honeysong — summons friendly golems — ACTIVE INTERACTION Tower defense doesn't have to be passive. • Skill Shots — tap to drop Ice Ball, Stone Hit, or Wind Push • Perfect Tap — hit the timing window for a critical bonus • Traps — slime, mine, and spring traps along the path • Tactical Choices — wave-break cards with risk vs reward • Tower Repair — bosses can disable your towers; hold to fix • Weather System — rain buffs lightning, snow buffs ice, storm strikes randomly — 200 WAVES, 13 MAPS, 19 ENEMY TYPES Every level is a 200-wave survival run with mini-bosses every 5 waves, full bosses every 10. Enemy variety unlocks gradually — normal, fast, swarm, tank, shielded, flying, armored, coated, healer, splitter, phase, and more. — CHAOS MODE Run-based endless mode with random rules: glass cannon, swarm rush, lockdown, fog bomb, boss rush. 60–300 second timers with coin rewards. — BUILT FOR PLAY • Pastel palette designed for long sessions • Optimized 30Hz engine, frame-stable through chaos • 12 language support (English, Turkish, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Hindi) • Privacy-first analytics, no PII collected • Auto-renewable subscription or lifetime unlock — both optional Tap into Only Tower Defense and start defending the meadow. ——— Only Tower Defense+ is offered as an auto-renewable subscription (Premium Monthly / Premium Yearly) or as a one-time Premium Lifetime unlock. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at purchase confirmation. A subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; you can manage or cancel anytime in Apple Account > Subscriptions. Terms of Use (Apple standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://mustafabaykal.com/onlytowerdefense/privacy

Screenshots

POOLS™4 screens
Only Tower Defense4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: POOLS™ at none against Only Tower Defense's shown. On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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 Only Tower Defense sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
POOLS™ versus Only Tower Defense: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPOOLS™Only Tower Defense
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.6K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews79.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.6K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.9 GB49 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperTensoriMUSTAFA BAYKAL

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)

Only Tower Defense

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

POOLS™

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

Only Tower Defense

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly7 Days trial$59.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$99.99

Questions

Is POOLS™ free?
POOLS™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Only Tower Defense free?
Only Tower Defense is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do POOLS™ or Only Tower Defense have ads?
Only Tower Defense shows ads; POOLS™ does not.

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