Comparison

Pixel Conquest vs Instigator

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

Head to head
About

Pixel Conquest

Engage in a classic real-time strategy war game on a dynamic map. Employ cunning tactics to overcome AI opponents across ten challenging levels or utilize a random map generator for endless replayability. Master strategic nuances to achieve victory.

Highlights
  • Real-time map strategy
  • AI opponents
  • Ten difficulty levels
  • Random map generator
  • Battle strategy learning
Features
Read full description

A classic real time map strategy war game. Use strategy and cunning to beat the AI at its own game. Learn more about the nuances of strategy and battle to best your opponenet. work up 10 levels each one harder than the last or start a game with the random map generator.

About

Instigator

Engage in a satirical strategy game where you manipulate global powers to achieve world domination. Employ espionage, propaganda, and arms dealing to turn nations against each other and be the last country standing. Survive the chaos you create and prevent peace from breaking out.

Highlights
  • Start wars and blame others
  • Use espionage and propaganda
  • Sell arms to warring nations
  • Build and expand your empire
  • Survive nuclear winter
  • Prevent global peace
  • Daily challenges and scenarios
Features
Read full description

Pick a country. Start a world war. Make sure everyone thinks it was somebody else. Instigator is a satirical war strategy game about the world's worst diplomat: you. Turn the great powers against each other with leaked "private messages", spy balloons, forged dossiers and very suspicious rocket tests, then sell arms to both sides. You win by being the last country standing. Every rival, big or small, has to fall. STIR UP TROUBLE • More than a dozen dirty tricks, from a whispered rumour to The Big Stitch-Up • Cheap plots backfire more often. Deniable ones rarely do, but when they do it's a disaster: sanctions, retaliation strikes and wars you didn't order • Plant moles, leak secrets, sabotage armies and raid treasuries. Your rivals are planting moles in you, too • Pick on the same country too often and its spies start to notice PRESS THE BIG RED BUTTON • Lift the cover, hold to launch, and watch it land: mushroom clouds, shockwaves and the next morning's front page • Every power has nuclear warheads, from a nervous ten to several thousand. Nuclear winter comes for everyone BUILD AN EMPIRE • Invade your neighbours. Every country is worth something different, every game: soldiers, money, warheads, reach • A bigger empire soaks up the damage aimed at your homeland, but conquered land gets restless SURVIVE WHAT YOU STARTED • Shelters, missile shields, decoy capitals and a strategic bean reserve • Wreck the peace talks: pop the doves, seat sworn enemies side by side and swap the summit fondue for squeezy cheese before the Peace Accord reaches 100% SUPER-WEAPONS (optional purchase) • An Orbital Space Laser (slightly wobbly), a Weather Machine, a Robot Army, a Mind-Control Radio and The Dome • New in the Shipping Container: the Evil Twin, who tears up every treaty and picks a fight with its best friend, and the Forget-Me Fog, which makes the whole world forget what you did • Every one has a catch, and it gets worse each time you use it MORE WAYS TO PLAY • Daily Doom: a new country and a new twist every day, the same for everyone • Peacekeeper (optional purchase): the reverse game, and a whodunit. Somebody is starting all these wars. Find the evidence and unmask the Instigator before the Doomsday Clock strikes midnight • Fat Finger, Land Grab and Post-Truth scenarios (optional purchases) • Free seasonal specials: Night of the Living Nations at Halloween, and Season's Beatings from 1 December, where you pelt Santa's sleigh with sprouts A WORLD THAT FIGHTS BACK • 19 great powers and more than 150 smaller countries, each with its own friends, protectors and grudges • Small countries feud and swallow their neighbours, and new world powers rise right in front of you • Erratic leaders, comic incidents and a new intelligence briefing every game, so no two games play the same COME BACK FOR MORE • A Chaos Rating and 60 ranks, from Innocent Bystander to The Instigator • 38 medals (some of them secret) and free warhead skins, including a rubber duck • Three difficulties, and a star for every country you win with Every leader is fictional. Any resemblance is plausibly deniable. Contains ads. Optional purchases: Remove Ads, the Full Pass (every scenario and no ads), individual scenarios, and Weapons Crates and Shipping Containers of super-weapons.

Screenshots

Pixel Conquest4 screens
Instigator4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pixel Conquest at none against Instigator's 8. Pixel Conquest also leads on ratings volume (31 vs 2). Instigator's advantage is rating (4.5 vs 4.3). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Instigator sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Pixel Conquest asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Instigator holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixel Conquest has 31 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 98% of Pixel Conquest's written reviews are positive against 100% of Instigator's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixel Conquest ships an update every 5 days, Instigator every 3 days. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pixel Conquest versus Instigator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel ConquestInstigator
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (31 ratings)4.5 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews98.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings31 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size86 MB24 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperBee CaveSteve North

Customer experience

Pixel Conquest

All ratings31 ratings
Positive87.1%
Neutral3.2%
Negative9.7%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive98.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative1.8%

Instigator

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Pixel Conquest

No in-app purchases

8 purchases

Instigator

One-time8
  • Weapons Crate$0.99
  • Fat Finger Scenario$1.99
  • Land Grab Scenario$1.99
Show 5 more
  • Post-Truth Scenario$1.99
  • Peacekeeper$2.99
  • Shipping Container$3.99
  • Remove Ads$3.99
  • Full Pass$5.99

Questions

Is Pixel Conquest free?
Pixel Conquest is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Instigator free?
Instigator is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Conquest or Instigator?
Instigator is rated higher. Pixel Conquest averages 4.3 out of 5 from 31 ratings, while Instigator averages 4.5 from 2 ratings.
Do Pixel Conquest or Instigator have ads?
Both Pixel Conquest and Instigator show ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Conquest or Instigator?
Pixel Conquest ships an update every 5 days, and Instigator every 3 days. Most recently, Pixel Conquest was updated on November 6, 2026 and Instigator on November 6, 2026.

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