Silicon Evolution vs Criticality Idle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Silicon Evolution
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Start with a single 8-bit CPU. End up running a quantum supercomputer. Everything in between is up to you. Silicon Evolution is an idle game about building a computing empire across 8 technology eras. Buy hardware, invest in research, prestige to keep your gains, and come back to find your empire still ticking away while you were gone. The research tree has 122 nodes across 11 categories - power, cooling, networking, security, virtualization and more. Each node has 5 levels. It takes a while to work through all of it, and that's kind of the point. Once you hit the 32-bit era, you pick an architecture path that sticks for the rest of the run: - Overclocker: your cycle output goes up 60% and the Boost button lasts twice as long - Architect: knowledge generation goes up 80% and research gets 40% cheaper - Resilience: offline earnings jump 120% and your legacy hardware earns 3x as much Prestige resets your hardware but not your silicon shards, which permanently multiply what you earn. Each run is a bit faster than the last. After enough runs you can reset everything for a leaderboard time and try to beat yourself. Old hardware never disappears - it becomes legacy income that keeps paying out forever. No paywalls. No timers you can pay to skip. The only in-app purchase removes ads, and that's it.
Criticality Idle
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Inspired by real simulation tools used by nuclear engineers, Criticality Idle simulates nuclear reactor physics in a fun way that anyone can understand. Work your way through various reactor layouts, from realistic to silly, and everything in between. Reactor components include fuel, control rods, water, graphite, reflectors, and neutrons, all of which have multiple upgrades to increase power and income. Simulator particle limit can be adjusted based on your device capabilities while still maintaining accurate power and income levels.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is device support: Criticality Idle at 3 against Silicon Evolution's —. Criticality Idle also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 26.2). On price 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. Silicon Evolution sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Criticality Idle sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Silicon Evolution | Criticality Idle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | — | Every 4 days |
| Ads | — | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | — | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.2 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 250 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jan Schmidt | Quantum Fuzz |
In-app purchases
Silicon Evolution
- Make Silicon Evolution AD free$2.99
Criticality Idle
- Zirconium Nugget$0.99
- Night Shift$1.99
- Zirconium Ingot$4.99
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- 2x Offline Efficiency$4.99
- Essential Bundle$4.99
- 2x Income and No Ads$7.99
- Zirconium Slab$9.99
Questions
Is Silicon Evolution free?
Is Criticality Idle free?
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