Shotgun King vs Drop Duchy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shotgun King
Experience a unique twist on chess where you command a king armed with a shotgun. Fight your way through enemy pieces, strategically reload, and upgrade your abilities to reclaim your kingdom. This roguelike chess adventure offers challenging gameplay and extensive replayability.
- Chess with a shotgun mechanic
- Roguelike progression with upgrades
- 15 difficulty ranks
- Unlockable cards
- Over 100 achievements
- Endless and chase modes
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Chess, but all your army has gone over to the white side, leaving you with nothing but your royal shotgun and your wounded pride. Carried by your dark folly, you decide it's time to teach those white pieces to fear the Shotgun King. Every turn, you may either move your king or shoot at enemy pieces, after what you'll need to move again to reload your shotgun. Avoid checkmate and kill the enemy king to complete the floor. After each floor, you may choose between two random combinations of one upgrade for you and one upgrade for the other side. Choose wisely and keep on winning floors and you just may get your kingdom back. Runs may take ~20 minutes to complete. The game features 15 ranks of difficulty, unlockable cards, over 100 achievements to complete, an endless mode, and now a chase mode where you get continually assailed from all sides!
Drop Duchy
Experience a unique blend of deckbuilding, puzzle, and rogue-lite gameplay. Build a realm by strategically placing tiles, gather resources, and lead your troops to reclaim enemy territory. Each run offers a fresh challenge with procedural generation and meta-progression.
- Deckbuilding, puzzle, and rogue-lite gameplay mix
- Strategic tile placement for resource maximization
- Real-time strategy combat and territory reclamation
- Procedurally generated game experiences
- Meta-progression with over 90 challenges
- Over 110 unique cards for deck building
- Three playable factions: The Duchy, The Order, The Republic
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[TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!] A beloved PC game, now coming to mobile. Metacritic: 83. Very Positive on STEAM - 90%. Drop Duchy takes the iconic geometric puzzle gameplay we all know and love and gives it a fresh perspective: instead of simply clearing lines, you build a realm. A mix of deckbuilding, puzzle and rogue-lite, designed to hone your appetite as a block-stacking tactician. Place tile pieces as you would in a block-dropping game, but align them to maximize their activation rules. Set the right structures next to lush forests, wild rivers and grassy plains to pull out maximum resources and units. Then gather your troops, reclaim the regions under enemy control, and storm the enemy fortress along branching, decision-filled paths. Let your castle take too much damage and the run ends - but defeat is not the end: jump straight back in with a new strategy, and use the experience gained to unlock even more content. Grow in power with over 110 unique cards, trade with markets and guilds, and climb a meta progression of over 90 missions tied to three playable factions: The Duchy, The Order and The Republic. Adapt, conquer, and keep the action moving! FEATURES * An original mix of puzzle gameplay and real-time strategy * A brand new game experience with each run thanks to procedural generation * Play with Factions: The Duchy, The Order, The Republic * Meta progression: over 90 challenges designed to help you through your journey * Build the perfect deck with over 110 unique cards * An elegant and charming art direction to please your eyes * An engaging and ever-evolving soundtrack to please your ears * Choose your path between lakes, glades, forests, villages, guilds… and more!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Drop Duchy at Free against Shotgun King's $6.99. Drop Duchy also leads on device support (4 vs 2). Shotgun King's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (762 vs 36). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads 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
Drop Duchy is free to download; Shotgun King costs $6.99 up front. Drop Duchy sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Shotgun King asks for nothing beyond the download.
Shotgun King holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shotgun King has 762 ratings behind it against 36, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of Shotgun King's written reviews are positive against 61% of Drop Duchy's.
Shotgun King ships an update every 5 days, Drop Duchy weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shotgun King | Drop Duchy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (762 ratings) — better | 4.6 (36 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.1% of reviews — better | 60.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 762 — better | 36 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #76 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 468 MB | 1.1 GB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Plug In Digital | Doghowl Games Ltd. |
Customer experience
Shotgun King
Drop Duchy
In-app purchases
Shotgun King
No in-app purchases
Drop Duchy
- Base Game Offer$8.99
- Base Game$9.99
Questions
Is Shotgun King free?
Is Drop Duchy free?
Which has better reviews, Shotgun King or Drop Duchy?
Do Shotgun King or Drop Duchy have ads?
Which is updated more often, Shotgun King or Drop Duchy?
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