Dark Ascension vs Incremental ELM Quest 2
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dark Ascension
An idle RPG where you ascend through stages of power, unlocking upgrades, spells, and minions. Automate your progress and collect artifacts in a dark fantasy world. Enjoy offline progress and seasonal events.
- 12 Stages of Ascension
- Deep Upgrade System
- 7 Active Spells
- 6 Minion Companions
- Offline Progress
- Seasonal Events
- Dual Prestige System
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Embrace the darkness and ascend to ultimate power in Dark Ascension, an idle/incremental RPG set in a world of shadow and sorcery. Begin as a fledgling dark mage and harness the flow of mana to fuel your rise through 12 stages of power — from The Awakening to Primordial Darkness. Unlock powerful upgrades, cast devastating spells, command loyal minions, and collect rare artifacts as you build an unstoppable engine of dark energy. FEATURES: - 12 Stages of Ascension — Progress through increasingly powerful tiers of darkness, each with unique pixel art backgrounds and cinematic stage transitions. - Deep Upgrade System — 9 core upgrades with auto-buyer automation, 6 prestige upgrades, 5 challenge upgrades, and 6 transcendence upgrades offer meaningful choices at every stage. - 7 Active Spells — Cast Mana Surge, Dark Harvest, Void Pulse, and more. Set up the auto-caster to manage spells for you, or take direct control for maximum impact. - 6 Minion Companions — Recruit and level minions from the Shadow Imp to the Abyssal Herald, each providing unique passive bonuses to production, clicks, costs, and prestige rewards. - 5 Boss Encounters — Challenge powerful bosses from the Shadow Warden to the Primordial Darkness in real-time DPS battles. Earn exclusive boss artifacts and retry tokens. - Synergy System — Discover 6 upgrade synergy combos that reward smart upgrade pairing with powerful bonus multipliers. - Artifact Collection — Discover 8 artifacts across 4 rarity tiers. Complete 3 artifact sets for massive set bonuses. Enhance artifacts for greater power, or reroll their rarity for a guaranteed upgrade. - Challenge Dungeons — Test your skill in 5 restricted challenge runs that strip away your power and reward you with permanent upgrades. - Dual Prestige System — Rebirth to earn Shadow Shards for permanent bonuses, then transcend to earn Void Crystals for an even deeper layer of power. - Full Automation — Unlock the Shadow Automaton to enable auto-buyers, auto-caster, and auto-prestige with a configurable shard threshold. Let your dark empire run itself. - Seasonal Events — Rotating seasonal events with tiered rewards. Earn bonus resources during Shadow Tide, Ember Harvest, Frost Convergence, and Bloom of Decay. - 5 Premium Themes — Customize your experience with Dark Abyss, Crimson Abyss, Astral, Emerald Depths, and Golden Ascension visual themes. - 25 Achievements — Track your accomplishments and earn permanent bonuses for reaching milestones. - Offline Progress — Your dark empire continues to grow even when you're away, with up to 8 hours of offline progress (extendable through upgrades and the shop). - No Ads — Enjoy a clean, ad-free experience. Optional in-app purchases provide boosts and cosmetics, but everything is earnable through gameplay. No exclusive content locked behind purchases. How far will you ascend?
Incremental ELM Quest 2
Embark on an offline idle RPG adventure as a Cataloguer, documenting over 4,000 creatures and leveling up unique classes. Explore elemental portals, uncover a deep narrative, and progress even when offline. Optional cosmetic purchases support the solo developer.
- Over 4,000 creatures to find and catalogue
- Over 300 classes to equip and level up
- Offline progression and idle gameplay
- Deep progression systems
- Narrative-driven exploration
- Optional cosmetic purchases
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A free incremental RPG you can play entirely offline. No ads, no paywall, and every goal in the game is reachable without spending a cent. The world's eight elemental forces were once held apart. Now they are bleeding together, and everything is changing. You are a Cataloguer: a licensed scholar sent into the saturated zones to document what lives there. Encounter creatures, record them, and fill the Manifest, one species at a time. The more you catalogue, the more the world opens up, and the closer you come to the thing nobody wants to talk about: why everything is falling apart. If you've always wanted to play a uniquely idle monster collecting adventure with the patience of a nature documentary and the wit of a dungeon crawl, this is your chance. Explore portals, return to new species and new regions, and watch the Manifest fill in like a field journal. WHAT YOU'LL FIND • Over 4,000 creatures to find, fight, and catalogue. Each holds a small piece of the overall narrative. • Over 300 classes to equip and level up. Send your hero into elemental portals and take control as battles unfold. • Offline progression that unlocks early and never stops: your hero keeps earning and your disciples keep hunting while the app is closed. • Every portal is graded. The threat ratings are, unfortunately, accurate. • 16 narrators bring the world alive through their lost dossiers. Sixteen cataloguers came before you and its on you to find out why they stopped writing. • Deep progression: level classes, raise disciples, study at the university, upgrade your guild license, master insignias, power up skills, and more. • Rare enemy variants, an ever-expanding ladder of achievements, and Game Center leaderboards (purely optional). FAIR BY DESIGN The whole game is offline, free, and ad-free. The optional purchases are purely cosmetics that support a solo, part-time developer. I'm an incremental game fan who got bored waiting for the next one to drop. Made by one person as a part-time passion project. Thank you for giving it a shot!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Dark Ascension at 5.0 against Incremental ELM Quest 2's 4.6. Dark Ascension also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Incremental ELM Quest 2's advantage is ratings volume (56 vs 2). On price, update cadence, 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. Dark Ascension sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Incremental ELM Quest 2 sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Dark Ascension holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Incremental ELM Quest 2 has 56 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Dark Ascension ships an update weekly, Incremental ELM Quest 2 every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dark Ascension | Incremental ELM Quest 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.6 (56 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 81.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 56 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 193 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Michael Calvert | Eric Marin |
Customer experience
Dark Ascension
Incremental ELM Quest 2
In-app purchases
Dark Ascension
- Boss Retry Token$0.99
- Mana Surge (Small)$0.99
- Dark Essence Pack$1.99
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- Golden Ascension Theme$1.99
- Void Crystal Pack$2.99
- Starter Bundle$2.99
- Permanent 2x Mana$3.99
- Prestige Pack$3.99
- Legendary Crate$4.99
- VIP Pass$9.99
Incremental ELM Quest 2
- Cosmetic: D- Pack$0.99
- Cosmetic: S- Pack$6.99
- Cosmetic: SS- Pack$7.99
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- Cosmetic: S+ Pack$7.99
- Cosmetic: SS+ Pack$8.99
- Cosmetic: SSS- Pack$9.99
- Cosmetic: SSS Pack$9.99
- Cosmetic: SSS+ Pack$9.99
- Cosmetic: Letter of Patronage$9.99
- Cosmetic: Founder's Edition$19.99
Questions
Is Dark Ascension free?
Is Incremental ELM Quest 2 free?
Which has better reviews, Dark Ascension or Incremental ELM Quest 2?
Do Dark Ascension or Incremental ELM Quest 2 have ads?
Which is updated more often, Dark Ascension or Incremental ELM Quest 2?
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