Comparison

Drop Duchy vs Phantom Words

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

[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!

About

Phantom Words

Unscramble letters by sliding rows and columns to form words. Discover hidden letters as you play, with increasing complexity and new mechanics introduced. Offers multiple game modes for varied challenges.

Highlights
  • Sliding row and column puzzles
  • Hidden letter discovery
  • Progressive difficulty
  • Multiple game modes (Classic, Endless, Daily, Lightning)
  • iCloud sync across devices
  • Game Center leaderboards
Features
Read full description

We made Phantom Words for anyone who loves that small, satisfying moment when a jumble of letters suddenly turns into a word. Each board begins scrambled, with most of the letters hidden behind ghost tiles. Slide rows and columns like a 2D Rubik’s Cube, then look for words running across or down the board. Whenever you make one using a tile for the first time, another letter appears. Once every tile is used, the puzzle is complete. Longer words are worth more, while tiles lose value each time you use them. Yellow means a tile is nearly spent; red means you’ve leaned on it too often. Later boards introduce gaps that split rows and columns, multi-letter tiles that keep their letters together, wildcards that can stand in for any letter, and locked tiles that stay fixed until you use them in a word. And if a solution feels messy, you can always come back and find a more elegant one. There are four ways to play: • Classic has 99 handmade levels with increasing difficulty and evolving mechanics. • Endless starts small and procedurally grows while you play. • Daily Challenge gives everyone a new board each day, plus a streak to keep going. • Lightning Mode is the same word hunting, but against the clock. Classic, Endless, and Daily Challenge aren’t timed, so there’s no rush. You get a full score breakdown after each level and can replay it whenever you want. Your progress and settings sync across your devices with iCloud. There are also Game Center leaderboards if you care about high scores. We hope you enjoy discovering the words we’ve hidden for you.

Screenshots

Drop Duchy4 screens
Phantom Words4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Drop Duchy at Free against Phantom Words's $2.99. Drop Duchy also leads on device support (4 vs 2). Phantom Words's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and chart position (#17 vs unranked). On review sentiment, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Drop Duchy is free to download; Phantom Words costs $2.99 up front. Drop Duchy sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Phantom Words sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Phantom Words holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 20 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Drop Duchy's written reviews are positive against 93% of Phantom Words's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drop Duchy ships an update daily, Phantom Words every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Drop Duchy versus Phantom Words: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrop DuchyPhantom Words
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.4 (11 ratings)4.8 (20 ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews93.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1120 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank—#17 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size304 MB130 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperDoghowl Games LtdFleon Labs

Customer experience

Drop Duchy

All ratings11 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%

Phantom Words

All ratings20 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive93.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Drop Duchy

One-time2
  • Base Game Offer$12.99
  • Base Game$14.99
3 purchases

Phantom Words

One-time3
  • Kind Supporter$2.49
  • Generous Supporter$4.99
  • Huge Supporter$9.99

Questions

Is Drop Duchy free?
Drop Duchy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Phantom Words free?
Phantom Words costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Drop Duchy or Phantom Words?
Phantom Words is rated higher. Drop Duchy averages 4.4 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while Phantom Words averages 4.8 from 20 ratings.
Do Drop Duchy or Phantom Words have ads?
Neither Drop Duchy nor Phantom Words shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drop Duchy or Phantom Words?
Drop Duchy ships an update daily, and Phantom Words every 5 days. Most recently, Drop Duchy was updated on October 3, 2026 and Phantom Words on October 15, 2026.

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