PROTOCOL vs Project 28
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PROTOCOL
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The day dimensional rifts opened, monsters and the Dimension Awakened appeared at the same time. As monsters spread across the world, the government gathered students with dimensional powers and established the Tactical Academy. Become its commander, train your students, and deploy to a city under threat. Control the leader directly and give orders to two fellow agents. Combine their abilities, weapons, and parts to lead a three-person squad. • Survive the waves of monsters. • Train distinctive students and build your squad. • Find powerful combinations, overcome each battle, and protect the city. A two-person indie game. PROTOCOL: Zero Rift
Project 28
Build and defend a settlement by day, then survive relentless night-time hordes. Manage resources, upgrade defenses, and fight off increasingly difficult bosses in a neon-noir horror world. Experience a challenging, adaptive difficulty curve with no forced waiting.
- Build and defend settlement
- Survive endless night hordes
- Adaptive difficulty curve
- Resource management (power, food, people)
- Unlockable arsenal of guns
- Neon-noir horror aesthetic
- One-hand mobile controls
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The city fell to the Bleed. What crawls out of the Marrow only comes at night. You are Ward 28's last anchor - a psychic child with the power to hold a shrinking pocket of the world together. By day you rebuild: raise power, food, and shelter, and ring your settlement with turrets, walls, and militia. When the sun drops, the horde comes. Survive to dawn. PLAY LOOP - DAY: Spend coins to build. Every structure needs resources - solar for power, farms for food, shelter for people - so your settlement grows into a real war-machine, not just a pile of towers. - NIGHT: Auto-fire through swarms of nightmares, dodge, and outlast a boss that comes back meaner every time. - REPEAT: The nights never end. They only get harder - and the run adapts to how strong you actually are, so it stays a knife-edge whether you're a careful builder or a reckless gunner. FEATURES - Endless nights with a fair, self-tuning difficulty curve - chase your Deepest Night record. - Build-and-defend economy: power, food, and people meters that make every structure a real decision. - An arsenal of guns, each changing how you fight - unlock and equip them. - Hand-drawn, neon-noir horror world inspired by animated sci-fi classics. - A cinematic story intro: the fall of Ward 28 and your first desperate night. - One-hand, pick-up-and-play controls built for phones. No timers to wait out. No forced waiting. Just build, fight, and see how far into the dark you can push.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Project 28 at none against PROTOCOL's 10. PROTOCOL's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and 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
Both are free to download. PROTOCOL sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Project 28 asks for nothing beyond the download.
PROTOCOL ships an update every 3 days, Project 28 every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PROTOCOL | Project 28 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 5 days |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 258 MB | 637 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | SungGwon Han | CRB Labs LLC |
In-app purchases
PROTOCOL
- Beginner Package 1$0.99
- Sale Package 3$1.99
- Sale Package 1$2.99
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- Sale Package 2$4.99
- Beginner Package 2$4.99
- Remove Ad$5.99
- Daily Special Mission Ticket$7.99
- Mission Energy Booster (30 Days)$9.99
- Stage Pass$9.99
- Beginner Package 3$14.99
Project 28
No in-app purchases









