Comparison

ISLANDERS vs Dawnmaker

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

Head to head
About

ISLANDERS

A relaxing city-building game focused on creative placement of structures to earn points. Unlock new building sets and expand your island settlements with intuitive, stress-free gameplay in a minimalist world. Enjoy offline play with no ads or timers.

Highlights
  • Cozy, minimalist building experience
  • Procedurally generated islands
  • Strategic yet relaxing gameplay
  • Offline play
  • No ads or interruptions
  • Clean, vibrant visuals
  • Peaceful soundtrack
Read full description

ISLANDERS is a relaxing city-building experience where calm creativity meets light strategy. Place buildings to earn points based on nearby structures, unlock new sets, and expand your peaceful island settlements. There are no timers, no micro-transactions, and no stress — just intuitive gameplay in a serene, minimalist world. Features: • A cozy, minimalist building experience • Procedurally generated islands every round • Strategic yet relaxing gameplay loop • Offline play with no ads or interruptions • Clean, vibrant visuals and a peaceful soundtrack Explore, build, and unwind — one island at a time. Download now and start your cozy minimalist city-building journey ... Minimum Device Requirements • Requires devices running iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 • Devices with 4 GB RAM or higher (iPhone 11 or newer; iPad 10th Generation or iPad Pro 3rd Generation) • CPU: Apple A13 Bionic (iPhone) or A12X Bionic (iPad) • RAM: 4 GB • Storage: 1 GB available space Please note that controllers are not supported. Designed for intuitive touchscreen play. Languages Supported: English, Español, Português ,Français, Italiano, Deutsch, Polski, Türkçe, Русский, Українська, 中文, 中文, 한국어, 日本語

About

Dawnmaker

A solo strategy game blending city building and deck building mechanics. Rebuild a world shrouded in toxic smog by constructing buildings, acquiring powerful cards, and upgrading your lighthouse to reclaim lost lands and technologies.

Highlights
  • City building mechanics
  • Deck building gameplay
  • Resource management
  • Lighthouse upgrades
  • Smog reclamation
  • Technology recovery
Read full description

Dawnmaker is a solo strategy game combining elements of city building and deck building to create a board game-like experience. In a world covered by a toxic Smog, only you can rekindle the ancient lighthouses and bring light and life back. Construct buildings, gain new cards, generate resources and improve your central lighthouse to unlock new building space. Optimize your deck - gain increasingly powerful cards as you improve your city. Your cards and buildings interact in various ways: choose them wisely to create the most powerful combinations! Build efficient cities - make the best of your limited space by optimally positioning your buildings. Improve your lighthouse to repel the Smog and expand your city. Manage your resources - grow farms, build industries, develop science and inspire your people to create the rarest of resources: Eclairium! Reclaim the lost continent - the continent of Heksiga has been covered by a toxic Smog. Repair and improve magical lighthouses to repel that Smog and reclaim the land, region by region. Recover lost technologies - explore vestiges of the old Empire and rediscover technologies that were lost to the Smog.

Screenshots

ISLANDERS4 screens
Dawnmaker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Dawnmaker at 5.0 against ISLANDERS's 4.4. Dawnmaker also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 65%) and update cadence (daily vs every 3 weeks). ISLANDERS's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $8.99) and ratings volume (29 vs 2). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

ISLANDERS costs $4.99 and Dawnmaker $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Dawnmaker holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ISLANDERS has 29 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of ISLANDERS's written reviews are positive against 100% of Dawnmaker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ISLANDERS ships an update every 3 weeks, Dawnmaker daily. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
ISLANDERS versus Dawnmaker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterISLANDERSDawnmaker
Price$4.99 — better$8.99
Rating4.4 (29 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings29 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#152 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size656 MB144 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperCoatsink SoftwareAcram Digital

Customer experience

ISLANDERS

All ratings29 ratings
Positive86.2%
Neutral10.3%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive64.7%
Neutral11.8%
Negative23.5%

Dawnmaker

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

ISLANDERS

No in-app purchases

None

Dawnmaker

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ISLANDERS free?
ISLANDERS costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Dawnmaker free?
Dawnmaker costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ISLANDERS or Dawnmaker?
Dawnmaker is rated higher. ISLANDERS averages 4.4 out of 5 from 29 ratings, while Dawnmaker averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do ISLANDERS or Dawnmaker have ads?
Neither ISLANDERS nor Dawnmaker shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ISLANDERS or Dawnmaker?
ISLANDERS ships an update every 3 weeks, and Dawnmaker daily. Most recently, ISLANDERS was updated on September 26, 2026 and Dawnmaker on September 19, 2026.

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