Comparison

Drop Duchy vs Starlift

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

Starlift

A fast-paced puzzle game where matching three blocks ignites them and launches everything above. Explore eleven unique worlds with different gravity mechanics and challenge yourself in various game modes.

Highlights
  • Unique gravity mechanics per world
  • Branching star chart Voyage mode
  • Multiple game modes: Endless, Time Attack, Versus, Royale
  • Online multiplayer and daily challenges
  • One-handed portrait gameplay
  • No ads or account required for solo play
Features
Read full description

Blocks rain down. Line up three and they don't disappear: they ignite, and everything stacked on top lifts off with them. Starlift is a fast portrait puzzle game built for thumbs. Drag blocks up and down their columns, light a row or a column, and ride the stack into orbit. Too heavy to fly? Match again in mid-air and boost it the rest of the way. ELEVEN WORLDS, ELEVEN KINDS OF GRAVITY Every planet plays differently. Halcyon is balanced. Brine is slow and floaty. Cinder is heavy and rewards columns. On Aerie only chained ignitions launch anything, on Ferrum stacks hop instead of float, on Vesper rows fly and columns fizzle, and on Bazaar it rains items. Win new worlds as you fly the Voyage. VOYAGE Follow the rain to its source across a branching star chart. Each world has a keeper with a health bar and a signature attack: slabs of slag, belt rocks, a shield that only one big lift can break. What you launch is the damage. Three acts, a finale against the Rainmaker, and three endings that depend on the routes you fly. MODES • Endless: the rain speeds up until you are overrun. • Time Attack: two minutes, highest score. • Versus: a computer rival at three difficulties. • Royale: last world standing against seven rivals. Tap a rival's field to aim your launches. • Daily Launch: one run that is identical for every player that day, with a global board. • Online: Quick Match drops you into a Royale for up to eight in seconds, or play friends by room code in a 1v1 duel or a Royale. Computer players fill the empty seats. ITEMS Bombs, boosters, drills and prisms fall with the blocks. Tap one to light its fuse. MADE FOR THE PHONE • One-handed portrait play with big blocks, and two-thumb dragging if you want it. • Every block type has its own shape as well as its own colour. • A hands-on tutorial that teaches by doing. • Sound, music, haptics and reduced flashing each have their own switch. • No ads. No account. Solo play works offline. FREE TO START Play free: two worlds in Endless and Time Attack, the opening of the Voyage, one Daily Launch run and three online Quick Matches a day, and joining friends' rooms. One purchase unlocks the full game: nine more worlds, Versus and Royale against the computer, the whole Voyage, unlimited Quick Match, three Daily Launch runs a day, and hosting rooms for friends. No subscription. PRICE AND TERMS Starlift is free to download. The full game is a single in-app purchase of $4.99 (USD; the price may differ in other countries). You pay once and keep it. There is no subscription. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://starlift.banjtheman.xyz/privacy/

Screenshots

Drop Duchy4 screens
Starlift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Starlift at 100% against Drop Duchy's 61%. Starlift also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and update cadence (every 2 days vs weekly). Drop Duchy's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and ratings volume (69 vs 4). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Drop Duchy sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Starlift sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Starlift holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drop Duchy has 69 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 61% of Drop Duchy's written reviews are positive against 100% of Starlift's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drop Duchy ships an update weekly, Starlift every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Drop Duchy versus Starlift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrop DuchyStarlift
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (69 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings69 — better4
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.1 GB114 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperDoghowl Games Ltd.Banjo Obayomi

Customer experience

Drop Duchy

All ratings36 ratings
Positive86.1%
Neutral5.6%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive60.9%
Neutral8.7%
Negative30.4%

Starlift

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Drop Duchy

One-time2
  • Base Game Offer$8.99
  • Base Game$9.99
1 purchases

Starlift

One-time1
  • Full Game$4.99

Questions

Is Drop Duchy free?
Drop Duchy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Starlift free?
Starlift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Drop Duchy or Starlift?
Starlift is rated higher. Drop Duchy averages 4.6 out of 5 from 69 ratings, while Starlift averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Drop Duchy or Starlift have ads?
Neither Drop Duchy nor Starlift shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drop Duchy or Starlift?
Drop Duchy ships an update weekly, and Starlift every 2 days. Most recently, Drop Duchy was updated on November 8, 2026 and Starlift on November 6, 2026.

Other comparisons