Dawnmaker vs Elarion
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- City building mechanics
- Deck building gameplay
- Resource management
- Lighthouse upgrades
- Smog reclamation
- Technology recovery
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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.
Elarion
Engage in tactical turn-based combat by building an 8-card deck and strategically spending Aether to power up your characters. Collect over 70 unique characters across six factions, master their synergies, and climb the ranked ladder to earn seasonal rewards. Explore a rich world and customize your collection with cosmetic items.
- Strategic Aether combat system
- 70+ collectible characters
- Faction synergies and bonuses
- Ranked competitive matchmaking
- Deep lore and character stories
- Cosmetic customization
- Player-to-player Night Market
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Enter Elarion - a fractured metropolis where reality shattered and six factions now battle for control. Build your deck, master your strategy, and rise through the ranks in this deep, tactical collectible card game. STRATEGIC AETHER COMBAT Build an 8-card deck and draw 4 cards each match. Both players start with 12 Life and 12 Aether. Each round, secretly select a card and commit Aether to power it up. Your Attack is calculated as Power x (1 + Aether Spent) - the higher Attack wins. The winner deals their card's Damage to the opponent. Reduce your enemy's Life to 0 to claim victory! 70+ UNIQUE CHARACTERS Collect and master characters from Elarion's warring factions: - Nocturne: Shadow operatives and assassins - Ironheart: Industrial warriors and constructs - Wildborn: Mutated survivors with primal power - Veilwalkers: Reality-bending Aether mages - Silvertongue: Manipulators and information brokers - Fleshbound: Bio-horror cultists seeking transformation FACTION SYNERGIES Activate powerful clan bonuses by including multiple cards from the same faction. Each faction has a unique bonus ability - build mono-faction decks or mix and match for versatile strategies. CLIMB THE RANKED LADDER Test your skills against players worldwide. Earn Ranked Points, advance through divisions, and claim seasonal rewards. Every match matters on your path to the top. RICH LORE & WORLD Discover the story of the Aetherfall - the cataclysm that transformed an ordinary city into a battleground of supernatural factions. View character backstories and explore the mysteries of Elarion through in-game lore. CUSTOMIZE YOUR COLLECTION Personalize your experience with alternate card art, card backs, and visual effects. Trade cosmetics on the Night Market and build a collection that's uniquely yours. BATTLE PASS & SEASONAL CONTENT Progress through seasonal battle passes to unlock exclusive rewards. New stories, characters, and events keep the world of Elarion evolving. FAIR PLAY, NO PAY-TO-WIN All characters are available from the start. In-app purchases are cosmetic only - skill determines victory. FEATURES AT A GLANCE: * Priority turn based- Aether combat system * 70+ collectible characters across 6 factions * Faction bonuses and ability synergies * Ranked competitive matchmaking * Deep lore and character stories * Cosmetic customization system * Player-to-player Night Market * Regular seasonal updates & card releases * Play against friends or AI The war for Elarion awaits. Choose your faction. Build your deck. Become a legend.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Elarion at Free against Dawnmaker's $8.99. Elarion also leads on ratings volume (7 vs 2). Dawnmaker's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and in-app purchases (none vs 6). On update cadence and ads 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
Elarion is free to download; Dawnmaker costs $8.99 up front. Elarion sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Dawnmaker asks for nothing beyond the download.
Dawnmaker holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 7 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Dawnmaker's written reviews are positive against 86% of Elarion's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly daily. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dawnmaker | Elarion |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.3 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 85.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Daily | Daily |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 144 MB | 149 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Acram Digital | Robert Templeton |
Customer experience
Dawnmaker
Elarion
In-app purchases
Dawnmaker
No in-app purchases
Elarion
- 200 Aether$1.99
- 500 Aether$2.99
- 1000 Aether$4.99
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- 2500 Aether$9.99
- 5500 Aether$19.99
- 12000 Aether$39.99









