Comparison

DC34 CTF vs CodeBastion

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

Head to head
About

DC34 CTF

Engage in a challenging capture-the-flag game with diverse puzzles spanning cryptography, physical challenges, and hardware integration. Unlock fourteen channels, solve intricate problems without hints, and compete on a live leaderboard for prizes. The game is locked until the DEF CON 34 convention begins.

Highlights
  • Capture the Flag gameplay
  • 14 diverse puzzle channels
  • Cryptographic and physical challenges
  • Hardware integration puzzles
  • Live in-app leaderboard
  • Unlockable prizes
  • Hidden secrets
Features
Read full description

DC34 CTF is a capture-the-flag game built for DEF CON 34. Fourteen channels are dark. Your job is to light them up. Download before the con. The app locks until the convention opens. When the doors open at LVCC West Hall in Las Vegas on August 7, it unlocks and the game begins. FOURTEEN CHANNELS. ONE FINAL TARGET. Every channel is a different kind of puzzle. Some are cryptographic. Some are physical. Some require hardware your phone didn't know it would be using. No hints. No walkthrough. Figure it out. The challenges span XOR ciphers, steganography, DTMF tone analysis, radio direction finding, Bluetooth beacon hunting, geolocation, reverse image search, physical navigation, NFC, speech recognition, and more. Your phone's full sensor suite is in play — camera, microphone, GPS, accelerometer, compass, Bluetooth, NFC. PRIZES The first three players to complete all fourteen channels and claim the final flag receive physical prizes: gold, silver, and copper coins. Finishers four through thirteen get pins. Your rank is permanent — logged to the live leaderboard the moment you scan the hand. THE LEADERBOARD A live in-app finishers board tracks every player who completes the game, ranked by completion time. Watch it fill up in real time. THERE IS MORE The app has secrets that have nothing to do with the flags. Some people will find them. Most won't. REQUIREMENTS iOS 17 or later. Game Center must be enabled — the app authenticates silently at launch. Several challenges require network access, Bluetooth, NFC, location services, camera, and microphone. Grant permissions as the game asks for them or miss the challenges that need them. The app is locked until August 7, 2026 at 9:00 AM PT. Show up at DEF CON 34, LVCC West Hall, Las Vegas. You can play anywhere, but final flag unlocking prizes is only available in-person.

About

CodeBastion

Forge a city from a humble camp into a lasting bastion through strategic idle clicker and incremental city-building mechanics. Manage resources, assign citizens to jobs, research new technologies, and embark on expeditions to expand your legacy.

Highlights
  • Idle clicker and incremental progression
  • Resource and citizen management
  • Deep skill tree with research
  • Expeditions and exploration
  • Timed defense challenges
  • Offline progress
Features
Read full description

Build a city from its first camp into a lasting bastion in Code Bastion, a strategic idle clicker and incremental city-builder. Begin in Summary, where every tap matters. Gather wood, stone, food, and science through quick actions, manage your energy, watch your population, and keep your city moving even while you are away. Your resources continue to grow through citizen jobs and buildings, while seasons, incidents, and storage limits keep every plan under pressure. Move to Development to unlock a large skill tree across economy, construction, society, and expeditions. Each research choice opens new buildings, improves production, increases storage, strengthens manual gathering, expands your population, and prepares your city for the frontier. Turn a fragile settlement into a reliable system of farms, sawmills, quarries, mines, warehouses, markets, universities, barracks, walls, and more. Use the Resources screen to assign citizens to the jobs that matter most. Balance food, wood, stone, iron, coal, steel, gold, science, and influence. Build capacity before production overflows, keep enough workers in essential buildings, and adapt to changing seasons. Missions give every stage of the city a direction. Complete daily tasks, pursue a weekly campaign, and progress through a five-chapter city legacy: found the settlement, grow it into a city, open the frontier, endure its threats, and build a lasting legacy. When the city is ready, enter Expeditions. Train citizens, assign roles, craft preparation items, reveal a procedural map tile by tile, recruit from camps, discover points of interest, and research a catalogue of hidden treasures. Beyond the walls, every expedition can bring resources, experience, discoveries, and risks. Prepare for incursions with passive defenders and a timed defense challenge. Gather temporary materials, build defenses, create weapons, and decide how to hold the line when the frontier strikes back. CODE BASTION FEATURES Idle clicker and strategic incremental progression Quick actions, energy management, and offline progress Deep skill tree with research, upgrades, and unlocks Resources, citizen jobs, buildings, storage, and seasons Daily tasks, weekly campaigns, and city-wide goals Procedural exploration map, expeditions, equipment, and loot Treasure research, defense roles, incursions, and timed battles Five supported languages: English, Spanish, German, French, and Italian Build deliberately, explore carefully, and defend what you have created.

Screenshots

DC34 CTF4 screens
CodeBastion4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: DC34 CTF at every 3 days against CodeBastion's every 2 weeks. CodeBastion's advantage is ratings volume (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, rating, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for DC34 CTF against 5.0 for CodeBastion. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DC34 CTF ships an update every 3 days, CodeBastion every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
DC34 CTF versus CodeBastion: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDC34 CTFCodeBastion
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings14 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJeremy YablanGines Ortiz

In-app purchases

None

DC34 CTF

No in-app purchases

None

CodeBastion

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is DC34 CTF free?
DC34 CTF is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CodeBastion free?
CodeBastion is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, DC34 CTF or CodeBastion?
DC34 CTF and CodeBastion are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 4 ratings respectively.
Do DC34 CTF or CodeBastion have ads?
Neither DC34 CTF nor CodeBastion shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DC34 CTF or CodeBastion?
DC34 CTF ships an update every 3 days, and CodeBastion every 2 weeks. Most recently, DC34 CTF was updated on October 31, 2026 and CodeBastion on October 31, 2026.

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