Comparison

ISSEN vs Elska

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

Head to head
About

ISSEN

Features
Read full description

ISSEN is a calm-then-explosive samurai timing game. Breathe, focus, and release a single perfect stroke. In the stillness of a sumi-e ink world, one flash of the blade decides everything. THE WAY OF ONE CUT Wait for the moment. Swipe one arc to slash every target in range. A dead-center cut becomes a True Issen - time slows, ink bursts across the screen, and your combo soars. One stroke can cut several at once. A SUMI-E INK WORLD Hand-painted Japanese ink-wash visuals: black sumi ink, a single stroke of vermilion, and the beauty of empty space. Stillness and motion in sharp contrast - quiet calm, broken only by the flash of your blade. BREATH AND FOCUS Land True Issen cuts and keep your combo to fill the Breath gauge. Release it to enter focus: the world slows, the cut window widens, and you chain huge combos in the decisive moment. READ THE FLAMES - Red: cut it - a dead-center hit is a True Issen - Blue: timing targets to read and slash - Gold: cuts only on a perfect center hit - a big bonus that restores a life MORE TO MASTER - Boss duels: one-on-one showdowns - Daily Cut: a fixed daily challenge, the same for everyone - Dojo: unlock 6 blade-trail skins - Records and encyclopedia: chase your personal bests - Stage select: replay any cleared stage FEATURES - Pure one-stroke control - easy to learn, deep to master - Satisfying slow-motion on every perfect cut - Original Japanese instrumental soundtrack (shakuhachi and koto) - 12 languages supported - One-handed, portrait play - No internet required after install Free to play, supported by ads. Breathe. Focus. The world slows. Then - one flash.

About

Elska

Embark on a chaotic cartoon adventure as a loyal dog fighting zombie animals. Wield unique weapons and unlock abilities to survive intense waves of mutated creatures across diverse maps. Customize your canine hero and choose from different classes to save the world.

Highlights
  • Fast-paced top-down shooter gameplay
  • Play as a brave dog, Elska
  • Fight mutated zombie animals
  • Unlockable abilities and canine determination
  • Round-based zombie waves
  • Two distinct maps
  • Customizable dog with accessories
Features
Read full description

The world has gone wild—but one dog hasn’t. Elska is a fast-paced, top-down cartoon shooter where you play as a brave, loyal dog named Elska, the only survivor of a mysterious lab explosion that turned all animals into bloodthirsty zombies. With nothing left but instinct, grit, and an experimental power pulsing through her veins, Elska takes the fight to the infected in a desperate mission to save the world. After the accident that unleashed Promethium Kyanite—a powerful energy source gone wrong—the animals Elska once called friends have mutated into savage creatures. Rats, cats, wolves, raccoons, and foxes... now roam the ruins of the lab and beyond, attacking anything in sight. But Elska isn’t running away. She’s loading up. Armed with unique weapons, unlockable abilities, and canine determination, you’ll face round-based zombie waves across 2 DIFFERENT maps, each more intense than the last. In game there are different classes to chose from. Each class has a different bundle of abilities. You can customize your dog and try different accessories with different effects.

Screenshots

ISSEN3 screens
Elska4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Elska at none against ISSEN's shown. ISSEN's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ISSEN ships an update every 4 days, Elska every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
ISSEN versus Elska: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterISSENElska
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size166 MB294 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperKenji KobayashiJA Games

In-app purchases

None

ISSEN

No in-app purchases

None

Elska

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ISSEN free?
ISSEN is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Elska free?
Elska is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do ISSEN or Elska have ads?
ISSEN shows ads; Elska does not.
Which is updated more often, ISSEN or Elska?
ISSEN ships an update every 4 days, and Elska every 3 weeks. Most recently, ISSEN was updated on September 19, 2026 and Elska on September 10, 2026.

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