Comparison

MUDBasher vs Chosen's MUD Client

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

Head to head
About

MUDBasher

Experience a reimagined classic text-based adventure game. This app offers a faster, more visually appealing, and feature-rich version of a beloved program from 2012, built for modern devices. Dive into new adventures with enhanced performance and design.

Highlights
  • Classic text-based gameplay
  • Rebuilt for modern iOS
  • Faster performance
  • Improved visuals
  • Enhanced features
Features
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"A Classic Returns, Reimagined" The story of MUDBasher is the story of MUDRammer—a beloved app created with love in 2012, named after a friend's ridiculous character name, that brought joy to text gamers for years. When it could no longer keep up with modern iOS, rather than let it fade away, it was completely rebuilt from the ground up. Same heart, new soul. Faster, prettier, more features, and ready for the next decade of adventures.

About

Chosen's MUD Client

Features
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A modern client for Ancient Anguish — the text-based multiplayer fantasy world that's been running continuously since 1991 — built for iPhone and iPad. If you've played AA before, welcome home. If you haven't: a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) is a text-driven online game where words do the work pictures do in most games. You read a room, decide what to do, and type a command. It's theatre of the mind, with thousands of other players writing the scenes with you. This client is a purpose-built front end for AA — a cockpit that knows how its prompt works, how its areas sound, and how its culture plays. WHAT'S INSIDE • A real terminal — Full telnet with automatic negotiation (NAWS, TTYPE, SGA, ECHO). GMCP- and MCCP-aware. ANSI 16/256/truecolor rendering with bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, inverse. 5,000-line scrollback with drag-to-select auto-copy and clickable URLs. Snaps to the bottom on every command you send. • Tap-to-send links — Data-driven text link rules turn matched MUD output into tappable shortcuts. "The dark door is closed." becomes a tap that sends "open dark door". Edit rules in Settings with a live preview. Display only: nothing fires until you tap. • Game-state HUD — 30+ configurable elements across vitals, combat (aim, attack, defend, wimpy), experience (lifetime and session XP-per-minute), character, wealth, world (game time, reboot countdown), and survival (hunger, thirst, drunk, poison, alignment, followers, and more). The client rebuilds your prompt and syncs it to the MUD. • Mobile-first input — Eight-direction D-Pad with a door action, customizable Quick Commands with an icon catalog, and a history chip that re-sends any of your last five commands plus smart counterparts (enter ↔ leave, open ↔ close). Star up to three aliases for one-tap mobile slots; long-press a slot to edit. • Triggers (Immersions) — Pattern-matched rules that highlight, gag, or play sounds on matching text. Display only — never auto-send. Respects Ancient Anguish's no-bots rule by design. • Aliases — Short keywords that expand into full commands with $0/$1/$2 variable substitution and ; chaining. Ships with sensible defaults. Recursion-safe. • Area-based ambient music — The client detects your location from coordinates or room descriptions and crossfades between tracks. Pick area tracks and battle themes from your native Apple Music library, or load your own files. • Chat, Tells, Party, and Notes — Floating, dockable, resizable social panels. Tabs or independent windows. Autocomplete for recipients. Optionally hidden from the main log so your adventure keeps its thread. • Themes & accessibility — RPG Dark (the default), Classic Dark, and High Contrast (built for low-vision players). Scalable fonts (8–32 pt), input-line wrap slider, and native VoiceOver support. PRIVACY No analytics. No tracking. No ads. No third-party SDKs. Credentials, aliases, triggers, and settings stay on your device. The only network traffic is your single connection to the MUD server — you control the host. NEW PLAYERS The MUD is free to play. Create a character, follow the newbie area, and type `newbie hello!` to say hi. The community is famously welcoming. This is an independent third-party client, developed in coordination with the AA team and promoted on the official Connect page at https://anguish.org/connect.php. The game has been continuously operated by its own team since 1991. SUBSCRIPTION TERMS Optional Support tiers are auto-renewable monthly subscriptions (Small $1.99, Medium $3.99, Large $5.99 USD). Purely cosmetic — nothing is gated. Charged to your Apple ID at confirmation. Auto-renews unless cancelled 24h before period end. Manage anytime in Apple ID settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://ancient-anguish.duckdns.org/privacy.html Adventure awaits. See you in the realms.

Screenshots

MUDBasher4 screens
Chosen's MUD Client4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: MUDBasher at every 6 days against Chosen's MUD Client's every 2 months. Chosen's MUD Client's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MUDBasher ships an update every 6 days, Chosen's MUD Client every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
MUDBasher versus Chosen's MUD Client: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMUDBasherChosen's MUD Client
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (26 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews27.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings26 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAndrew GoldfinchSami Lamti

In-app purchases

None

MUDBasher

No in-app purchases

None

Chosen's MUD Client

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MUDBasher free?
MUDBasher is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chosen's MUD Client free?
Chosen's MUD Client is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do MUDBasher or Chosen's MUD Client have ads?
Neither MUDBasher nor Chosen's MUD Client shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MUDBasher or Chosen's MUD Client?
MUDBasher ships an update every 6 days, and Chosen's MUD Client every 2 months. Most recently, MUDBasher was updated on October 4, 2026 and Chosen's MUD Client on October 1, 2026.

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