MUDBasher vs Chosen's MUD Client
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Classic text-based gameplay
- Rebuilt for modern iOS
- Faster performance
- Improved visuals
- Enhanced 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.
Chosen's MUD Client
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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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
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.
| Parameter | MUDBasher | Chosen's MUD Client |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.9 (26 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 27.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 26 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andrew Goldfinch | Sami Lamti |
In-app purchases
MUDBasher
No in-app purchases
Chosen's MUD Client
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MUDBasher free?
Is Chosen's MUD Client free?
Do MUDBasher or Chosen's MUD Client have ads?
Which is updated more often, MUDBasher or Chosen's MUD Client?
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