Incremental ELM Quest 2 vs Idle Nebula Drift
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Incremental ELM Quest 2
Explore a world where elemental forces are merging, cataloging creatures and uncovering a deep mystery. This offline RPG features extensive progression systems, a vast bestiary, and a narrative told through field reports. Earn rewards even while offline.
- Catalog over 4000 unique creatures
- Level up over 300 hero classes
- Explore elemental portals
- Offline progression
- Narrative told through field journals
- Deep progression systems
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A free incremental RPG you can play entirely offline. No ads, no paywall, and every goal in the game is reachable without spending a cent. The world's eight elemental forces were once held apart. Now they are bleeding together, and everything is changing. You are a Cataloguer: a licensed scholar sent into the saturated zones to document what lives there. Encounter creatures, record them, and fill the Manifest, one species at a time. The more you catalogue, the more the world opens up, and the closer you come to the thing nobody wants to talk about: why everything is falling apart. If you've always wanted to play a uniquely idle monster collecting adventure with the patience of a nature documentary and the wit of a dungeon crawl, this is your chance. Explore portals, return to new species and new regions, and watch the Manifest fill in like a field journal. WHAT YOU'LL FIND • Over 4,000 creatures to find, fight, and catalogue. Each holds a small piece of the overall narrative. • Over 300 classes to equip and level up. Send your hero into elemental portals and take control as battles unfold. • Offline progression that unlocks early and never stops: your hero keeps earning and your disciples keep hunting while the app is closed. • Every portal is graded. The threat ratings are, unfortunately, accurate. • 16 narrators bring the world alive through their lost dossiers. Sixteen cataloguers came before you and its on you to find out why they stopped writing. • Deep progression: level classes, raise disciples, study at the university, upgrade your guild license, master insignias, power up skills, and more. • Rare enemy variants, an ever-expanding ladder of achievements, and Game Center leaderboards (purely optional). FAIR BY DESIGN The whole game is offline, free, and ad-free. The optional purchases are purely cosmetics that support a solo, part-time developer. I'm an incremental game fan who got bored waiting for the next one to drop. Made by one person as a part-time passion project. Thank you for giving it a shot!
Idle Nebula Drift
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Out past the Carina Veil, a little observatory drifts through the dark. It's yours. And as long as its gardens keep glowing, the light holds. Idle Nebula Drift is a cosmic idle game that moves with your real day. When the sun's up where you are, your world runs on solar light. When it sets, everything turns lunar, and the Void leans in a little closer. You're always growing something, and always holding something back. The cycle just changes the shape of the day. All of it keeps ticking while you're gone, so there's always something waiting when you come home. THE GARDEN Plant living starlight across your beds. Solar blooms while the sun is up, lumen blooms once it sets, each one growing into the fuel your wardens run on. The garden doesn't stop when you close the app, so come back to a harvest. THE WATCH Your wardens keep an endless patrol against the swarm pouring out of the Void. The fighting runs on its own, climbing sector after sector and banking what it earns, day and night, no babysitting. Sooner or later you hit a wall too big to push through. That's the whole point. FALL BACK, CLIMB HIGHER Let a run go, bank it into Stellar Ash, and start again stronger. Nothing is capped, so every reset makes the next climb faster and pushes the wall a little further out. It's the idle treadmill done right: progress you can feel, not a grind you resent. YOUR WARDENS Gather a crew with real character. The steady Sentinel who just won't fall. The Arcwright who hits like a collapsing star. The Void Scout out hunting crests. Rank them up on what your garden grows and build a line that plays the way you do. THE WEEKLY CLIMB Take your deepest run public. Every week the leaderboard resets and players push for the top. Pick a name, plant your flag, and see how your little patch of light stacks up against the rest of the galaxy. HOW IT PLAYS All of it is free. No sign-up, no wall at the door, you're in within seconds. Your save lives in the cloud so it stays safe, and if you ever want it on a new phone, just add an email. Ads only show up when you ask for one, for a reward, never in the middle of anything. If you want to move faster there are gems, passes, and warden packs, but they're yours to ignore. A quiet, endless climb that respects your time and your attention. Tend the light. Hold the line. Drift on.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Incremental ELM Quest 2 at none against Idle Nebula Drift's shown. Idle Nebula Drift's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support 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. Incremental ELM Quest 2 sells 16 one-off in-app purchases and Idle Nebula Drift sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Incremental ELM Quest 2 ships an update every 4 days, Idle Nebula Drift every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Incremental ELM Quest 2 | Idle Nebula Drift |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (53 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 84.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 53 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 192 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | +9 | 12+ |
| Developer | Eric Marin | Tiana Doran-Pelechaty |
In-app purchases
Incremental ELM Quest 2
- Cosmetic: D- Pack$0.99
- Support Tip$0.99
- Support Coffee$4.99
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- Cosmetic: S- Pack$6.99
- Cosmetic: SS- Pack$7.99
- Cosmetic: S+ Pack$7.99
- Cosmetic: SS+ Pack$8.99
- Cosmetic: SSS- Pack$9.99
- Cosmetic: SSS Pack$9.99
- Cosmetic: SSS+ Pack$9.99
- Cosmetic: Letter of Patronage$9.99
- Support Lunch$9.99
- Cosmetic: Founder's Edition$19.99
- Support Dinner$19.99
- Support Updates$29.99
- Support Next Game$49.99
Idle Nebula Drift
- Day-1 Burst$1.99
- Starter Pack$2.99
- Conservatory Bed$3.99
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- Wayfarer Bundle$12.99
- Nebula VIP$12.99
- Triple Drift (3x Drift)$12.99
- Clear Skies (No Ads)$12.99
- Voyager Bundle$24.99
- Void Hunter Pack$69.99
- Galactic Ascendant$129.99
Questions
Is Incremental ELM Quest 2 free?
Is Idle Nebula Drift free?
Do Incremental ELM Quest 2 or Idle Nebula Drift have ads?
Which is updated more often, Incremental ELM Quest 2 or Idle Nebula Drift?
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