Dark Frequency vs Sub Rosa
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dark Frequency
Battle corrupted beasts with a celestial hammer in a dark, mythic world. This roguelite action survival game features endless waves of enemies, stackable upgrades, and permanent progression. Every run offers a unique challenge, making you stronger with each death.
- Roguelite action survival gameplay
- Intense hammer combat mechanics
- Endless waves of enemies
- Stackable upgrade system
- Permanent progression with Sigils
- Unique Boons for altered gameplay
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The Forge has shattered. The Glass-Beasts have risen. And you are the only thing standing between the world and eternal darkness. You are Crucible-Born, a being of molten glass and beast-soul, hammered into existence by The Ancient One. Armed with a celestial hammer, you must fight through endless trials of corrupted Glass-Beasts, reclaim the scattered Shards, and rekindle the Forge before the world goes cold forever. Every run is different. Every death makes you stronger. Forge your own path through a brutal roguelite system where no two runs play the same. Between waves, choose powerful upgrades that shape how you fight. Stack abilities, build synergies, and discover combinations that turn you from a lone survivor into an unstoppable force of the Forge. Fight with purpose. Strike with weight. Swing your hammer in fast, punishing arcs or charge a ground-shattering slam that sends shockwaves through entire enemy groups. Movement, timing, and positioning matter, dodge through enemy lines, dash to safety, and learn the rhythms of each beast before they overwhelm you. Grow beyond a single run. Spend your earned Shards on permanent Sigils that carry power across every future run. Unlock Boons, game-changing abilities that fundamentally alter how you play. Each session leaves you stronger, more prepared for the next. You will experience Endless waves of Glass-Beasts with scaling difficulty Upgrade system with stackable abilities and unique Boons Permanent progression through Sigils that grow with every run Intense hammer combat A dark, mythic world dripping in forge fire and shattered glass. The Forge remembers every trial.
Sub Rosa
Embark on unique text-based RPG adventures with procedurally generated dungeons. Engage in strategic combat, make narrative choices that shape your journey, and collect relics for meta-progression. Compete weekly in ranked descents for rewards.
- AI-generated dungeons
- Multiple settings and sizes
- Light, four-stat combat
- Relic meta-progression
- Weekly ranked descent
- Trials and ironman modes
- Manuscript aesthetic
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A text-based LitRPG, descended from classic MUDs and rewritten for the phone in your pocket. You do not play a run. You read a book. Each book is five chapters, each chapter a place descended at four depths, and one protagonist walks all twenty of them: your level, your virtues, your health, your gear, your relics and your purse come with you from one descent to the next. There are ten books, in fantasy, pirates, sci-fi, horror and western. Every dungeon is written whole before you arrive, every room in view of the others, so what one room plants a later one pays off, and the road out of one chapter is the road into the next. The walls describe themselves. Enemies have reasons to be there. Choices in narrative rooms are not dice rolls dressed up: they shape what the dungeon becomes. Experience is earned where you earn it. Kill something or read a room truly and the numbers appear beneath the prose, in their own hand: the roll, the damage, the gold, the experience. Cross a level in a corridor and you place the point there, in the room that gave it to you. At the third level, the fifth and the seventh, the dungeon offers you a trait to keep. Chapters open in order. Clear a place at all four depths and the next one opens; lose a descent and the chapter in progress is taken back, though nothing you carried home is. What you take home from a victory is a relic or more, halved in strength but kept in memory, and every descent you finish is written into your chronicle, re-readable as prose long after the dungeon is closed. Combat is four virtues and a single die. Strike, brace, speak, study, each resolved in candlelight. Once a week, a single dungeon is drawn for everyone who dares it. Same rooms, same seed. Descend it and see where you stand: survivor, contender, ascendant, or paragon. Place well and the week pays you in coin and a trophy for your study. Earlier weeks stay on the shelf as unranked practice. (A subscriber feature.) Features - A protagonist per book who levels, learns and lasts all twenty descents - Ten books across five settings, five chapters each, four depths a chapter - Dungeons written whole, each chapter leading into the next - Callings, virtues and passive traits: a build that grows over a whole book - The chronicle: every descent you finish, kept and re-readable - Relics, gear and a purse that survive the door - The weekly ranked descent: one shared dungeon, standings, and prizes - Trials and ironman: harder descents for richer rewards - Manuscript aesthetic: dark parchment, single-candle light Subscription Sub Rosa is free to begin. Free readers open one fantasy or pirates book and walk its first chapter at three depths. A subscription, monthly or a one-time lifetime purchase through your App Store account, opens every book at every depth, a protagonist in each, ironman, the weekly ranked descent, and a new book each month. Sub rosa: under the rose. What is said under the rose stays there. Terms of Use (EULA): https://playsubrosa.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://playsubrosa.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Dark Frequency at free with in-app purchases against Sub Rosa's subscription. On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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 Frequency sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Sub Rosa sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. 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 Dark Frequency against 5.0 for Sub Rosa. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dark Frequency | Sub Rosa |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | Every 6 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 214 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Unmbox Studios | Releasy CORP |
Customer experience
Dark Frequency
Sub Rosa
In-app purchases
Dark Frequency
- Ember Purse$1.99
- Content Extension Pack$3.99
- Forge Reserve$4.99
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- Shards Vault$7.99
Sub Rosa
- Sub Rosa Premium - Monthly$4.991 Month
- Sub Rosa Premium - Lifetime$19.99
Questions
Is Dark Frequency free?
Is Sub Rosa free?
Which has better reviews, Dark Frequency or Sub Rosa?
Do Dark Frequency or Sub Rosa have ads?
Which is updated more often, Dark Frequency or Sub Rosa?
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