Comparison

Victorian Idle City Builder vs Scratch Inc.

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

Head to head
About

Victorian Idle City Builder

Build and manage a thriving Victorian-era city. Expand your empire by constructing diverse buildings, managing your population's needs, and optimizing intricate supply chains. Engage in strategic resource management and handle city incidents to create a prosperous civilization.

Highlights
  • Build a Victorian city empire
  • Manage population needs and happiness
  • Strategic resource and supply chain management
  • Construct diverse buildings and industries
  • Handle city incidents and social order
  • Manage multiple cities simultaneously
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Victorian Idle, where you'll embark on an extraordinary journey of city-building in the age of innovation and industry! BUILD YOUR EMPIRE Start with a modest settlement and watch it flourish into a bustling Victorian paradise. Construct essential buildings, establish trade routes, and create a thriving ecosystem where every decision shapes your city's future. MANAGE YOUR POPULATION Guide your citizens from peasants to scientists Provide housing, food, and essential services Keep your population happy and productive React to their evolving needs and demands STRATEGIC RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Master intricate supply chains Balance production and consumption Trade resources with merchants Optimize your city's efficiency DIVERSE BUILDINGS AND INDUSTRIES Construct homes for different social classes Build factories and workshops Establish markets and trading posts Create entertainment venues and public services UNIQUE GAMEPLAY FEATURES Handle unexpected city incidents Use propaganda to maintain social order Manage multiple cities simultaneously Engage in challenging mini-games for crucial decisions PLAYER-FRIENDLY EXPERIENCE Intuitive interface designed for mobile Cloud saves to secure your progress IMMERSIVE VICTORIAN ATMOSPHERE Step into a beautifully crafted world where industrial progress meets architectural elegance. Every building, every citizen, and every decision you make contributes to your unique Victorian story. Can you transform your humble beginning into a prosperous Victorian empire? The challenge awaits in Victorian Idle! Note: Victorian Idle is regularly enhanced with new content and features to ensure a fresh and engaging experience for our players.

About

Scratch Inc.

Build an empire by scratching cards and earning points in this idle/incremental game. Upgrade your cards, unlock automation, and compete on global leaderboards. Enjoy endless upgrades and prestige for faster progression, all without ads.

Highlights
  • Scratch cards to earn points
  • Upgrade cards and unlock automation
  • Prestige for faster progression
  • Global leaderboards
  • Playable offline
  • No ads
Features
Read full description

Build an Empire, From Scratch Scratch cards, earn points, and grow your empire in this idle/incremental game. Upgrade your cards, unlock automation, prestige across industries, and climb the leaderboards — all with no ads, ever. • Endless Upgrades – Boost your point gain, match multipliers, grid size, and so much more. • Prestige for Progress – Reset to climb faster across deep progression layers. • Achievements with Rewards – Earn Gold and multipliers by completing fun challenges. • Global Leaderboards – Compete with others across the world across a variety of challenges. • Playable Offline – Play anywhere anytime • No Ads. No Wait Timers. Just Progress and Big Numbers. Made by a solo dev. Built to respect your time. (A reimagining of my first game)

Screenshots

Victorian Idle City Builder4 screens
Scratch Inc.4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Scratch Inc. at none against Victorian Idle City Builder's shown. Scratch Inc. also leads on ratings volume (1.9K vs 211) and review sentiment (93% vs 82%). Victorian Idle City Builder's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, update cadence and in-app purchases 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. Victorian Idle City Builder sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Scratch Inc. sells 5 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 — 4.6 for Victorian Idle City Builder against 4.7 for Scratch Inc.. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Scratch Inc. has 1.9K ratings behind it against 211, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Victorian Idle City Builder's written reviews are positive against 93% of Scratch Inc.'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Victorian Idle City Builder versus Scratch Inc.: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVictorian Idle City BuilderScratch Inc.
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (211 ratings)4.7 (1.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.2% of reviews93.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2111.9K — better
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size127 MB40 MB
Age rating4++12
DeveloperAlexandre DuboisMakopaz LLC

Customer experience

Victorian Idle City Builder

All ratings199 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral5.0%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews118 reviews
Positive82.2%
Neutral6.8%
Negative11.0%

Scratch Inc.

All ratings1,934 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral3.4%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews468 reviews
Positive93.2%
Neutral4.3%
Negative2.6%

User reviews

Victorian Idle City Builder

From 211 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great resource management idle game
  • 💡 Innovative ad system (player choice)
  • 👍 Respectful of player time
  • 👍 Engaging gameplay loop
  • 👍 Well-designed production chains

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Laggy performance on some devices
  • 🐛 Overheating phone
  • 🐛 Offline progress issues
  • 🐛 Unclear interface for colonies
  • 🐛 Lack of information on building stats

Scratch Inc.

From 1.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Enjoyable gameplay
  • 🚀 Satisfying idle mechanics
  • 💡 Active developer listening to feedback
  • 👍 Optional in-app purchases
  • 👍 Polished interface

Room to improve

  • 💰 In-app purchases feel expensive
  • 🔧 Needs more balance and content
  • 🐛 Offline rewards not working consistently

Bugs and requests

Victorian Idle City Builder

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • Lost all progress after offline play
  • Game freezes on startup
  • Game crashes after a while or during mini-games
  • Music loop stops and game freezes
  • Phone overheating and lagging
Show 12 more
  • Interface issues in offline mode on phone
  • Cannot remove certain buildings (e.g., gun turrets)
  • Newspaper system glitches
  • Ads cause music to stop
  • Game not truly offline
  • Starting with negative money
  • Income not increasing despite upgrades
  • Buildings disappearing during epidemics
  • Sliding puzzles (4x4) are unsolvable
  • Trade routes not working offline
  • Depot missing on island
  • Game freezes after a few seconds on startup

Requested features

31 requests
  • Battery saving feature
  • Automatic RAM optimization
  • Automatic trading/buying/selling
  • More new houses (e.g., Horse farm, Military barracks)
  • More cultural, industrial, agricultural houses from different regions
Show 26 more
  • More map areas
  • More technology boards
  • Feature to change flag
  • Better overview of buildings
  • Combine 'Resources' and 'Overview' menus
  • Calculator for ship cargo
  • Option to keep newspaper settings
  • Turn off tutorial after first use
  • More information on building outputs
  • Add visual city view
  • Improve ship upgrade system
  • Add timer for trade routes
  • Increase cargo capacity for ships
  • Make puzzles easier or fix 4x4 slide puzzle solvability
  • Add a Discord button
  • Add a building to automatically manage peasant needs
  • Add sugar processing building on islands
  • Improve offline mode interface
  • Add visual city/building details
  • Improve income generation
  • Make game more accessible for blind players
  • Add record of events like fires/riots/illness
  • Fix music stopping after ads
  • Add exponential building creation when holding button
  • Rework incident system (hospitals, etc.)
  • Add more variety to background music

Scratch Inc.

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Offline rewards rarely triggering
  • Lacking sound effects

Requested features

2 requests
  • More skin tone options for avatar
  • Better variety and more offline rewards

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Victorian Idle City Builder

One-time4
  • 50 gems$0.49
  • Ads free$3.49
  • 500 gems$3.49
Show 1 more
  • 1000 gems$5.99
5 purchases

Scratch Inc.

One-time5
  • 20 Gold$1.99
  • 55 Gold$4.99
  • 120 Gold$9.99
Show 2 more
  • 260 Gold$19.99
  • 750 Gold$49.99

Questions

Is Victorian Idle City Builder free?
Victorian Idle City Builder is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Scratch Inc. free?
Scratch Inc. is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Victorian Idle City Builder or Scratch Inc.?
Scratch Inc. is rated higher. Victorian Idle City Builder averages 4.6 out of 5 from 211 ratings, while Scratch Inc. averages 4.7 from 1.9K ratings.
Do Victorian Idle City Builder or Scratch Inc. have ads?
Victorian Idle City Builder shows ads; Scratch Inc. does not.
Which is updated more often, Victorian Idle City Builder or Scratch Inc.?
Victorian Idle City Builder ships an update weekly, and Scratch Inc. weekly. Most recently, Victorian Idle City Builder was updated on November 4, 2026 and Scratch Inc. on November 8, 2026.

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