Close Encounters RPG vs DustFall
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Close Encounters RPG
Embark on a fantasy adventure that transforms your real-world surroundings into a game. Create a unique character, explore your local area to find players and creatures, and engage in strategic combat. Collect loot, learn spells, and develop your adventurer over time.
- Location-based exploration
- Custom character creation
- Strategic combat encounters
- Character progression and loot
- Dynamic weather and time-of-day
- Fantasy creature battles
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Close Encounters RPG is a location-based fantasy role-playing game that turns the world around you into an adventure. Create a custom character by choosing a kindred and class, assigning attributes, and learning spells. Explore nearby locations, discover players, creatures, and loot, then enter strategic encounters. Equip weapons and armor, collect gold, learn magic, improve your attributes, and develop a unique adventurer over time. Features include: • Location-based exploration and nearby encounters • Multiple character kindreds and classes • Combat against players and fantasy creatures • Weapons, armor, spells, loot, and progression • Dynamic weather and time-of-day atmosphere • Optional consumable gold purchases Location access is used while playing to provide nearby game activity and encounters.
DustFall
Embark on a narrative-driven RPG where your real-world steps advance a post-apocalyptic story. Make impactful choices that shape your journey, interact with diverse characters, and face the harsh realities of a ruined world. Experience a unique adventure that blends physical activity with engaging gameplay.
- Real-world step tracking for in-game progression
- Branching narrative with meaningful choices
- Over 300 scenes and multiple endings
- Companion and faction system
- Offline play
- Hardcore permadeath mode
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DustFall is a narrative RPG set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. You were born underground, in Refuge 19, knowing nothing of the world outside. When the water starts running out, you must step into a desert of ruins, caravans and survivors who learned to live without hope. EVERY STEP COUNTS, LITERALLY DustFall moves forward with your real steps. The pedometer turns your everyday walks into miles across the wasteland: the commute, a stroll, the way home… it all pushes the story forward. Walk in real life, advance in the game. CHOICES THAT WEIGH There are no easy answers. Do you help the gravedigger who gives water away, or find out where he gets it? Do you heal the wounded dog and gain a companion, or travel on alone and light? Your choices change the world, your reputation among the factions and the ending of your journey. A WORLD WITH ITS OWN VOICE Talk to everyone: every character holds a piece of the wasteland. The Changed, the caravan traders, the scrap cults, the pirate radio in the background. A world painted in oils to lose yourself in. HARDCORE MODE Think you're tough? Turn on permadeath: if you fall, your save is wiped. • Narrative RPG with real choices and consequences • Over 300 scenes and a dozen endings • Companions, factions, dark humour and tenderness • Offline, no accounts, no purchases • Free, with ads; rewarded ads are always optional • In 10 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Russian, Italian, Turkish, Polish and Indonesian Leave the refuge. The wastes are waiting.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Close Encounters RPG at 4.7 against DustFall's 4.0. Close Encounters RPG also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 4 days). DustFall's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Close Encounters RPG sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. DustFall asks for nothing beyond the download.
Close Encounters RPG holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.
Close Encounters RPG ships an update every 2 days, DustFall every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Close Encounters RPG | DustFall |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3 ratings) — better | 4.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 690 MB | 178 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Eric Neumuller | Adrian Flores |
Customer experience
Close Encounters RPG
DustFall
In-app purchases
Close Encounters RPG
- 250 Gold$0.99
- 600 Gold$1.99
- 1500 Gold$3.99
DustFall
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Close Encounters RPG free?
Is DustFall free?
Which has better reviews, Close Encounters RPG or DustFall?
Do Close Encounters RPG or DustFall have ads?
Which is updated more often, Close Encounters RPG or DustFall?
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