DANMAKU vs DAFO
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DANMAKU
Engage in intense bullet-hell combat across 8 stages with 16 unique bosses. Choose from 8 different ships, each with distinct flight patterns and abilities. Strategically select weapons, armors, and companions to overcome escalating challenges and improve your pilot level with every run.
- 8 stages with 3 difficulty levels
- 16 unique bosses and mid-bosses
- 5 distinct weapon types
- 4 armor types with trade-offs
- 3 companion options
- Pilot level progression
- Graze and bomb mechanics
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DANMAKU Shooting - STELLAR FORCE 8 stages, 16 bosses. Every run you fly a different ship. ◆ 8 Stages, 3 Difficulties Route → mid-boss → route → boss. About 13 minutes a run. Clear NORMAL to open HARD, clear HARD to open LUNATIC. Higher difficulties give bosses more bullet patterns — and pay more coins. ◆ 16 Bosses One boss and one mid-boss per stage. You never fight the same one twice. ◆ 5 Weapons — not better and worse, but good at different things Vulcan / Spread / Laser / Homing / Reflect. Laser struggles on the route; Spread struggles on bosses. "Next run I'll take this one" is the reason to go again. ◆ 4 Armors — every one costs you something Heavy gives +3 HP and slows you down. Phase takes 2 HP away and pays you more the closer you fly to bullets. ◆ 3 Companions Gunner, shield, medic. Buy them, take up to two along. ◆ Pilot Level It always goes up when you play. A run you lose is not a run wasted. ◆ Graze and Bombs Skim a bullet and the coins climb. When there's no way through, bomb it. ◆ 8 Ships A small hitbox, more firepower, an extra bomb. They differ in how they fly, not just how they look.
DAFO
An arcade-style digging game with intuitive mechanics. Players can explore endlessly, manage upgrades, and aim for high scores in this solo-developed tribute. The experience is open to player interpretation with no set story.
- Arcade-style digging gameplay
- Intuitive, easy-to-learn mechanics
- Endless replayability
- High-score chasing
- Player-driven interpretation
- Upgrade management
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DIG AROUND & FIND OUT is a solo-developed arcade-style digging game built as a personal tribute to my grandparents, with characters inspired by them. The game has no defined story—players are free to interpret the experience in their own way. Its design focuses purely on gameplay: simple, intuitive mechanics that make it easy to pick up and play immediately. Each run can be as short or as long as the player wants. You can jump in for a quick attempt or spend time refining your strategy and pushing for a higher score. The challenge comes from going deeper, managing your upgrades, and improving with each run. At its core, it’s an endlessly replayable high-score game that rewards both casual play and dedicated grinding, all built from the ground up by a single developer.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: DAFO at none against DANMAKU's shown. DAFO also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks) and ratings volume (14 vs 1). DANMAKU's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.2). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. DANMAKU sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and DAFO sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for DANMAKU against 5.0 for DAFO. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: DAFO has 14 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
DANMAKU ships an update every 2 weeks, DAFO every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DANMAKU | DAFO |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (14 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 14 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | MIZOU, CO., LTD. | Thomas Rich |
Customer experience
DANMAKU
DAFO
In-app purchases
DANMAKU
- Supporter Pack$4.99
DAFO
- 1 DAFO Heart ($0.99)$0.99
- 6 Hearts ($4.99)$4.99
- 15 Hearts ($9.99)$9.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- 32 Hearts ($19.99)$19.99
- 82 Hearts ($49.99)$49.99
- 175 Hearts ($99.99)$99.99









