Comparison

Cosmic Forge vs Aether Bastion

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Cosmic Forge

Read full description

Cosmic Forge is a deep offline idle game about turning a single iron vein into an interstellar mining empire. START SIMPLE Tap rocks. Upgrade your shaft. Automate with a baseline foreman. Watch a transporter shuttle ore from the mine to the refinery, then to the warehouse, where it sells for Coins. Every component — shaft, transporter, refinery, warehouse — has its own milestone multipliers every 10 levels, so progression keeps unlocking speed and capacity spikes. UNLOCK THE COSMOS Beyond Alpha Asteroid there are comet clusters, planets, moons, anomalies, and singularity zones. Each location type has its own production multipliers and warehouse sell rates — anomaly-grade minerals pay poorly per second but richly per sale. HIRE MANAGERS Common managers enable auto-mining; bonus managers stack passive multipliers and trigger powerful active abilities (instant trips, production boosts, free upgrades). Assign them per mine. Some managers survive prestige. RESEARCH TREE 50+ research nodes across multiple branches — economy, production, transport, offline efficiency, stock capacity, coin multipliers, prestige. Queue active research in parallel slots (expand via Galactic Research). Every tier you complete compounds. PRESTIGE FOREVER Perform a Stellar Reset when the cosmos is ready. Earn Stardust based on your total iron-equivalent across every resource. Spend Stardust on permanent upgrades that carry across runs. Eventually unlock Galactic Ascension — a meta-prestige layer with its own research tree and Dark Matter currency. DAILY CHALLENGES Three challenges per day with streak rewards at 7 and 14 days. Missed days reset the streak but the game doesn't punish absence. OFFLINE EARNINGS Step away for up to a week — Cosmic Forge continues mining at a tapered efficiency schedule and rolls a summary up on your return. Research that was in flight completes while you sleep. COMPLETELY OFFLINE No account required. No internet required. No ads. No in-app purchases. No subscriptions. No tracking. No analytics. No SDKs phoning home. GOD MODE (OPTIONAL) Want to test builds, skip a grind, or just play sandbox? God Mode is free for everyone — a one-tap toggle in Settings (behind a "this may corrupt your save" warning, because it really can). First public release — 0.19.0. Thanks for playing through 100+ pre-release builds with us.

About

Aether Bastion

Defend a growing rift against swarms. Strategically expand your keep and spend resources to bring cores home. Enjoy live co-op multiplayer for up to four players.

Highlights
  • Idle rift defense gameplay
  • Strategic keep growth
  • Resource management
  • Live co-op multiplayer (2-4 players)
  • Seasonal events
Features
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You don’t aim — you grow. Aether Bastion is idle rift defense. One lattice. A swarm on the ring. Grow the keep, spend scrap in the run, and bring cores home. • Ember Tide Opens October 2 • Mid Tide November 16 • Solstice December 21 • Live co-op for 2–4 keepers via Game Center, each on their own device; no couch co-op • No ads. Circle is power; Founder is gems only Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV when those platforms are live. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Cosmic Forge4 screens
Aether Bastion4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cosmic Forge at none against Aether Bastion's 10. Aether Bastion's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Aether Bastion sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Cosmic Forge asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Cosmic Forge versus Aether Bastion: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCosmic ForgeAether Bastion
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—11 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB165 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperQUALITY CAT SP Z O ONoffTech LLC

In-app purchases

None

Cosmic Forge

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Aether Bastion

Subscriptions1
  • Bastion Circle7 Days trial$7.991 Month
One-time9
  • Handful of Gems$0.99
  • Ember Theme$1.99
  • Awakening Pack$2.99
Show 6 more
  • Ember Pack$2.99
  • Purse of Gems$4.99
  • Founder’s Sigil$4.99
  • Chest of Gems$9.99
  • Vault of Gems$19.99
  • Treasury of Gems$49.99

Questions

Is Cosmic Forge free?
Cosmic Forge is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Aether Bastion free?
Aether Bastion is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Cosmic Forge or Aether Bastion have ads?
Neither Cosmic Forge nor Aether Bastion shows ads.

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