Comparison

PATHLOCK vs Dash Rift

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

Head to head
About

PATHLOCK

Engage in a minimalist 1v1 strategy board game where players strategically place pawns and walls to outmaneuver opponents. Enjoy quick, skill-based matches with no luck or pay-to-win elements.

Highlights
  • 1v1 strategy, no luck
  • Easy to learn, hard to master
  • Fast matches
  • Pass-and-play mode
  • Bot opponents (Easy, Medium, Hard)
  • Online matchmaking
  • Private friend rooms
Features
Read full description

Move your pawn or place a wall. Be the first to cross the board. That's the whole rule — and the start of a thousand decisions. PATHLOCK is a clean, premium strategy board game where every turn forces a choice: race forward, or build a wall to slow your rival down. Walls can twist the path but can never fully trap an opponent, so the duel always comes down to pure tactics. Simple to learn in 30 seconds, deep enough to play for years. WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT • True 1v1 strategy — no luck, no dice, no pay-to-win. Just you, your opponent, and the board. • Easy to learn, hard to master — beginners start instantly, experts find endless depth. • Fast matches — a full game fits into a coffee break. GAME MODES FOR EVERY MOMENT • Pass-and-play — share one device and challenge a friend across the table. • Bot opponents — train against Easy, Medium, or Hard AI that actually fights back. • Online matchmaking — get paired with a real opponent in seconds. • Private friend rooms — share a room code and start a match with anyone, anywhere. FAIR BY DESIGN PATHLOCK is built on one promise: never pay to win. Every purchase is purely cosmetic or a convenience like removing ads. Skill decides the match — nothing else. PERFECT IF YOU LIKE • Chess, checkers, and abstract strategy • Tactical puzzles and pathfinding challenges • Quick competitive 1v1 games with friends • Board games with deep, skill-based gameplay Think two moves ahead. Block the path. Lock the win. Download PATHLOCK and start your first duel now. — Subscriptions and purchases are optional and cosmetic only. Terms: https://pathlock.bovasoft.com/terms · Privacy: https://pathlock.bovasoft.com/privacy · Apple Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Dash Rift

Features
Read full description

Dash Rift: Shifting Logic – Construct the Maze. Secure the Row. Forget the chaos of random chance. Dash Rift is a pure, deterministic duel of spatial dominance and tactical entrapment. Built on a dynamic 9x9 grid, every match is a handcrafted battle of foresight, geometry, and psychological pressure. There are no dice, no random power-ups, and no luck. Just you, the board, a single pawn, and an evolving sequence of barriers waiting to be dropped. Can you outmaneuver the machine? THE STRATEGY REVOLUTION In Dash Rift, you don't just navigate the battlefield—you design it. Your goal is simple: be the first to guide your pawn to the opponent's home row. The catch? You both possess an arsenal of custom walls and six special abilities to physically block, outrun, or outmaneuver each other. It's a high-stakes balancing act where you must build complex mazes to stall your opponent, while ensuring you leave yourself a viable corridor to break through. KEY FEATURES The Adaptive Pathfinding Engine Powered by a sophisticated graph-evaluation algorithm, the AI constantly calculates shortest-paths and survival risks in real-time. It analyzes your corridors and acts aggressively to box you in, forcing you to think multiple turns ahead or be permanently outflanked. Decaying Neutral Barriers The board starts pre-populated with unpredictable neutral walls that possess a limited lifespan. With every turn, their counters tick down. When they expire, they vanish—abruptly opening up closed lanes or forcing you to adapt to a completely new grid architecture. Six Special Abilities, One Chance Each Timing is everything. Once per match, each ability can turn the tide: Dash two squares in a flash, Break a rival wall apart, Swap places with your opponent, Push them back a step, drop an unbreakable Mega Wall, or claim an Extra consecutive move. Deploy them wisely — you only get one shot at each. Minimalist Tactical Aesthetic Experience an architectural, high-contrast canvas where red and blue paths violently intersect. The UI is engineered for absolute clarity, featuring rounded grid cells, glowing move hints, full 180-degree local PVP view adjustments, and seamless layout transitions. The Tactical Rewind Made a fatal positional error? Use the built-in Undo system to rewind time and explore a different timeline. Perfect your defensive placement and test "what if" scenarios against the AI until your logic is completely airtight. GAMEPLAY HIGHLIGHTS: • Pure Strategy: A zero-luck experience where victory is a testament to your geometric and pathfinding IQ. • The Golden Path Rule: You can block your opponent, but you can never completely seal them off. At least one valid path to the goal must always exist for both players. • Six Special Abilities: Dash, Break, Swap, Push, Mega Wall, and Extra — each a once-per-match trump card. • Local PvP: Challenge friends in a tense, face-to-face 1v1 battle of wits on a single device with a self-correcting upright interface. • Fluid Motion: Crisp pawn animations, tactile custom painting, and structural feedback make every wall drop, Dash, and Swap feel impactful. The rift is open. The walls are ready. The countdown is ticking. Download Dash Rift today and construct your victory.

Screenshots

PATHLOCK4 screens
Dash Rift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Dash Rift at 13.0 against PATHLOCK's 16.4. On price, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PATHLOCK sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Dash Rift sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PATHLOCK ships an update every 2 weeks, Dash Rift weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
PATHLOCK versus Dash Rift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPATHLOCKDash Rift
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.413.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size78 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBora OksuzogluOne Date Private Limited

In-app purchases

8 purchases

PATHLOCK

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly$12.991 Year
One-time6
  • 50 Diamonds$2.99
  • 120 Diamonds$4.90
  • 260 Diamonds$9.90
Show 3 more
  • Remove Ads$9.99
  • 550 Diamonds$19.90
  • 1200 Diamonds$39.90
1 purchases

Dash Rift

One-time1
  • Ad-Free$4.99

Questions

Is PATHLOCK free?
PATHLOCK is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Dash Rift free?
Dash Rift is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PATHLOCK or Dash Rift have ads?
Both PATHLOCK and Dash Rift show ads.
Which is updated more often, PATHLOCK or Dash Rift?
PATHLOCK ships an update every 2 weeks, and Dash Rift weekly. Most recently, PATHLOCK was updated on November 5, 2026 and Dash Rift on October 31, 2026.

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