Pixel Conquest vs Instigator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Real-time map strategy
- AI opponents
- Ten difficulty levels
- Random map generator
- Battle strategy learning
Read full descriptionHide 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.
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.
- 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
Read full descriptionHide 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
Verdict
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
Both are free to download. Instigator sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Pixel Conquest asks for nothing beyond the download.
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.
Pixel Conquest ships an update every 5 days, Instigator every 3 days. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.
| Parameter | Pixel Conquest | Instigator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (31 ratings) | 4.5 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 98.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 86 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Bee Cave | Steve North |
Customer experience
Pixel Conquest
Instigator
In-app purchases
Pixel Conquest
No in-app purchases
Instigator
- Weapons Crate$0.99
- Fat Finger Scenario$1.99
- Land Grab Scenario$1.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- 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?
Is Instigator free?
Which has better reviews, Pixel Conquest or Instigator?
Do Pixel Conquest or Instigator have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pixel Conquest or Instigator?
Other comparisons















