Comparison

Pulse Citadel vs DEADGRID

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

Head to head
About

Pulse Citadel

Engage in a compact sci-fi defense experience where you bring a dormant machine to life. Launch combat simulations, convert defeated enemies into energy, and strategically expand your defense system through a research grid. Unlock powerful weapons and abilities to overcome waves of adversaries.

Highlights
  • Hand-authored research grid
  • Automated Citadel combat
  • Unlockable weapons
  • Active abilities
  • Prestige rebuild perks
  • Local progression tracking
Features
Read full description

Pulse Citadel is a compact sci-fi defense game about bringing a dormant machine fully online. Choose one visible research node, launch a combat simulation, and turn destroyed enemies into Charge for the grid. Completed nodes reveal new signals, open new branches, and push the Citadel from a bare core into a layered defense system. Plan routes through a circuit-like research grid, unlock weapons and active abilities, and build toward the final simulation. Combat power comes from your research decisions, prestige rebuilds, ability timing, and simulation speed choices rather than temporary in-run shopping. Features: - Hand-authored research grid with weapon, ability, utility, hybrid, core, and prestige routes - Automated Citadel combat against waves of incoming enemies - Unlockable weapons including Bolt, Arc Lattice, Rail Spike, and Drone Ring - Active abilities including Shockwave, Stasis Pulse, and Overcharge - Prestige rebuild perks and a deliberate final-threat path - Local progression, settings, and achievement tracking

About

DEADGRID

Experience intense arcade zombie survival with endless waves and permadeath. Master an arsenal of 33 weapons, strategically deploy defenses, and choose dynamic upgrades to conquer the apocalypse. Customize your survivor and enjoy pure, optimized gameplay.

Highlights
  • Endless zombie waves
  • Permadeath runs
  • 33 unlockable weapons
  • Strategic deployables and turrets
  • Dynamic upgrade system
  • Four zombie types with advanced AI
  • Customizable survivor skins
Features
Read full description

DEADGRID 3 IS HERE: rebuilt from the ground up. Way better graphics, and we tackled your #1 complaint: overheating and micro-crashes. Blast endless zombie waves, conquer thousands of levels, duel real players in Ranked and team up in Duo co-op. 160 premium 3D skins, 36 guns, 28 real-world arenas. How long can you survive? A WHOLE NEW LOOK All 160 skins are remodelled as premium 3D characters, each with its own signature emote and idle animation. All 36 guns are rebuilt, piece by piece. 11 redesigned islands move and breathe. And every arena is alive: crowds, flags, fireworks, water, traffic. COOL, STABLE, SMOOTH Overheating and micro-crashes were the things you complained about most, so we rebuilt the game natively to fix them. It adapts to your phone to stay cool, holds a silky 60 fps and barely sips battery in the background. Touch scrolling is buttery smooth too. TRY BEFORE YOU BUY Tap a skin in the shop and it drops onto your island to perform its signature emote. Love it? It's yours. THE CLIMB A campaign ladder thousands of levels deep, and no two rungs are alike. Every level rolls its own horde, weather, rule and goal: one-hit-point runs, total blackouts, meteor storms, assassination contracts, armoury drops and boss fights. Clear a stage and fly on to the next city. 28 REAL PLACES ON EARTH Times Square, Shibuya Crossing, the Champs-Élysées, Copacabana, Terreiro do Paço, the Taj Mahal, Chichén Itzá, the Giza Plateau, the Acropolis, the Dubai Fountain, Sydney Opera House, Brandenburg Gate and more. Plus worlds of our own like The Garden, Sporewood, Rustyard and Cindermaw. Every layout placed by hand, never generated. RANKED DUELS: THE ARENA Duel real opponents: last one standing wins. Buy rage zombies and send them hunting your rival, grab a random upgrade every round and fight your way from Bronze to Challenger. DUO CO-OP Team up with a friend or matchmake with a stranger. Shared horde, shared glory. Revive each other, fire off quick chat and see how deep two survivors can go. MORE WAYS TO PLAY Endless survival with permadeath. INFECT, where YOU are the outbreak. FREE FOR ALL, where everyone carries the same gun. TEAM DEATHMATCH, six against six. And tournaments with prizes for the top 400. ARSENAL OF 36 WEAPONS Pistols, SMGs, shotguns, rifles, snipers, launchers, energy weapons, flamethrowers and wilder things. Loot weapon crates mid-run, build your loadout on the fly and collect hundreds of finishes: GOLD, ONYX, SYNTHWAVE, NOSFERATU, VOIDLINE, RAINBOW… 14 KINDS OF UNDEAD Walkers, runners, tanks, boomers, spitters, bladesmen who cut bullets out of the air, wardens with hooked chains, gravekeepers who raise the dead, bat swarms and bosses that shake the ground. Smart pathfinding routes them around your cover. They hunt, they don't just shamble. TURRETS & DEPLOYABLES Three turret types, barriers, claymores, explosive barrels and the legendary clapping monkey. Build choke points, then watch the horde walk into them. PROGRESS THAT LASTS • GAME PASS: 101 tiers of exclusive skins, chests and emotes • SEASONS, MISSIONS and daily streaks that always pay out • SPECS and BONUSES: permanent upgrades for every future run • THE VAULT: chests packed with skins and finishes • YOUR ISLAND: 11 islands to unlock and a weapon rack to show off your guns • 160 SKINS and 32 EMOTES to talk trash in style Already playing? Your DEADGRID 2 progress comes with you. COMPETE WITH THE WORLD Global leaderboards, a top-1000 board, friends with live presence, duo invites and profiles that show off your island and weapon rack. Available in 20 languages. Free to play and never pay-to-win. To keep it that way, a short ad plays once every 10 games. Never in the middle of a fight. Sorry about that, and thanks for playing! Download DEADGRID and see how long you last.

Screenshots

Pulse Citadel4 screens
DEADGRID4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Pulse Citadel at daily against DEADGRID's every 2 days. DEADGRID's advantage is review sentiment (92% vs 67%) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pulse Citadel sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and DEADGRID sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DEADGRID holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: DEADGRID has 53 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Pulse Citadel's written reviews are positive against 92% of DEADGRID's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pulse Citadel ships an update daily, DEADGRID every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pulse Citadel versus DEADGRID: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPulse CitadelDEADGRID
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (4 ratings)4.8 (53 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews92.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings453 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB414 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperBlindsided GamesAfonso Quinaz

Customer experience

Pulse Citadel

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%

DEADGRID

All ratings53 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews66 reviews
Positive92.4%
Neutral4.5%
Negative3.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pulse Citadel

One-time1
  • Full Game Unlock$2.99
6 purchases

DEADGRID

One-time6
  • Scrap$0.99
  • Cache$4.99
  • Crate$9.99
Show 3 more
  • Pallet$19.99
  • Container$49.99
  • Motherlode$99.99

Questions

Is Pulse Citadel free?
Pulse Citadel is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DEADGRID free?
DEADGRID is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pulse Citadel or DEADGRID?
DEADGRID is rated higher. Pulse Citadel averages 4.5 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while DEADGRID averages 4.8 from 53 ratings.
Do Pulse Citadel or DEADGRID have ads?
Neither Pulse Citadel nor DEADGRID shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pulse Citadel or DEADGRID?
Pulse Citadel ships an update daily, and DEADGRID every 2 days. Most recently, Pulse Citadel was updated on October 6, 2026 and DEADGRID on October 12, 2026.

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