Comparison

Hard Time vs Rooftop Run

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

Head to head
About

Hard Time

Simulate life as an inmate in a challenging prison environment. Manage your health, mental state, and attributes while interacting with other inmates and guards. Earn money, improve your skills, and try to survive.

Highlights
  • Create and customize inmate
  • Survive in a prison with 12 areas
  • Manage health and mental state
  • Improve character attributes (Strength, Agility, Intellect, Reputation)
  • Earn money through work or trade
  • Interact with 100+ inmates and civilians
  • Navigate prison laws and wardens
Features
Read full description

Create your own inmate and attempt to survive in a prison where every sentence is a "death" sentence! Rub shoulders with up to 100 fellow inmates in a sprawling facility of 12 unique areas, each filled with fully interactive furniture and props. Plus a life beyond the gates populated by real civilians, with wardens enforcing dozens of different laws to keep you as far away from it as possible. Each day, you will find your health and mental state slipping away. Both can be restored by sleeping - which is also a good way to pass time. You won't always be permitted to sleep, though, so consuming food and drink bridges the gap. These, along with many other activities such as reading or watching TV, can also help to improve your mental state. If you "lose your mind" you will temporarily lose control of your character - and will almost certainly get into trouble! Your character also has a set of attributes that you are challenged to improve: - STRENGTH indicates how much damage you can inflict or absorb. You can improve it by fighting or lifting weights. - AGILITY determines how fast you move. You can improve it by jogging in the yard or scoring baskets. - INTELLECT reflects your knowledge - including fighting skills such as counters. You can improve it by reading books. - REPUTATION is how much other prisoners respect you. It can be improved by accomplishing tasks or intimidating others. There are also opportunities to earn money - whether you work for it with a broom, trade items at a profit, or run with a gang. Having money increases your opportunities to grease the wheels and make your life inside easier. You may find that you need to go to the toilet from time to time, in which case you must race to the bathroom! Alternatively, you could find a toilet to sit on or grab some toilet paper to spare your blushes. Failing to do so will damage your reputation and mental state. I regret that there is more to this game than I could ever explain here, so I hope you enjoy figuring some things out for yourself! Upgrade to "VIP" to enjoy the full experience without ads - plus access to the editor that allows you to customize your character and every other. BASIC CONTROLS: (*Look out for tutorials within the actual game) A = Attack (on its own to kick, with a direction to punch) G = Grapple / Throw weapon R = Run P = Pick-Up / Drop T = Taunt (interact with handheld props) OTHER CONTROLS - Press ATTACK and RUN together to launch a powerful attack. - Press any button with any direction (or none) in a grapple to trigger different moves. - Press RUN and PICK-UP together to set fire to a small object (which can then be used to set fire to a large object). - Touch the clock to pause the game and bring up options to exit. - Touch any speech bubble to speed through conversations. PERFORMANCE - If you find your device struggles to display lots of characters, considering keeping the "Population" option low. - "Speed Up Frame Rate" sleeping will require good performance at the default frame rate. - Head to the "Display" options to tone down other features.

About

Rooftop Run

Experience the thrill of urban parkour by running, jumping, and sliding across rooftops. Master freestyle movements and overcome hundreds of challenging levels with spectacular 3D visuals and intuitive controls. Fulfill your parkour spirit and escape enemies in this exciting game.

Highlights
  • Rooftop running and jumping
  • Freestyle parkour movements
  • Hundreds of thrilling levels
  • Spectacular 3D visuals
  • Intuitive controls
  • Escaping from enemies
Features
Read full description

Get ready to run, jump, roll, and slide over buildings to move from one rooftop to another in an urban environment in quick and exciting ways. Parkour is a sport that combines rolling, running, jumping, and sliding from one point to another to overcome challenges. Rooftop Run is the best parkour and freestyle running game available for you, to get from one point to another in an urban environment most quickly and excitingly possible. Master freestyle running, do amazing movements, and finish hundreds of thrilling levels. This game features spectacular 3D visuals, intuitive controls, and well-designed levels. It is simple to use yet hard to master. Do incredible parkour skills while completing hundreds of intense levels. Fulfill your crazy spirit of parkour sport by dashing, running, jumping, and climbing from one point to another in an urban environment. Feel the thrill of - Epic jumps - Glass breaking - Escaping from the enemies Be the MASTER of the parkour game by playing Rooftop Run! Download it NOW!

Screenshots

Hard Time4 screens
Rooftop Run4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Rooftop Run at 4.8 against Hard Time's 4.0. Rooftop Run also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (25K vs 4.3K). Hard Time's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Hard Time sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Rooftop Run sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Rooftop Run holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Rooftop Run has 25K ratings behind it against 4.3K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 71% of Hard Time's written reviews are positive against 69% of Rooftop Run's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hard Time ships an update every 3 months, Rooftop Run fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Hard Time versus Rooftop Run: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHard TimeRooftop Run
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (4.3K ratings)4.8 (25K ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.7% of reviews — better68.5% of reviews
Number of ratings4.3K25K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB420 MB
Age rating+1712+
DeveloperMDickie LimitedMad Hook

Customer experience

Hard Time

All ratings4,305 ratings
Positive74.7%
Neutral6.2%
Negative19.0%
Written reviews454 reviews
Positive70.7%
Neutral10.1%
Negative19.2%

Rooftop Run

All ratings24,921 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral2.8%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews372 reviews
Positive68.5%
Neutral12.1%
Negative19.4%

User reviews

Hard Time

From 4.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fun and addictive gameplay
  • 👍 Unique prison simulation experience
  • 😊 Nostalgic and memorable
  • 🎮 Great mobile game

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🤖 Annoying AI behavior
  • 💰 Monetization issues
  • 🕰️ Repetitive and grindy

Rooftop Run

From 25K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Best mobile parkour game
  • 👍 Satisfying and addictive gameplay
  • 🚀 Smooth controls and animations
  • 👍 Fun and challenging levels
  • 🚀 Great graphics and visuals

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Repetitive levels
  • 🔋 Excessive ads
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🐛 Unresponsive jump/wall-run mechanics
  • 🔋 Coins have no purpose

Bugs and requests

Hard Time

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes after ads
  • Inconsistent character controls
  • Unrealistic physics and damage
  • Inability to complete certain tasks

Requested features

6 requests
  • Online multiplayer mode
  • Expanded map and exploration
  • More customization options
  • Improved warden/police functionality
  • Additional game modes
Show 1 more
  • Localization to other languages

Rooftop Run

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Falling through the map
  • Enemies blocking paths
  • Unresponsive controls
  • Freezing/crashing on certain levels
  • Ads appearing during gameplay

Requested features

7 requests
  • Endless/procedurally generated levels
  • More level variety (night, lava, etc.)
  • Character customization and skins
  • Ability to replay previous levels
  • Additional parkour mechanics (vaulting, wall-climbing, etc.)
Show 2 more
  • Offline mode without ads
  • Online/multiplayer features

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Hard Time

One-time1
  • VIP Upgrade$2.99
1 purchases

Rooftop Run

One-time1
  • No Ads.$2.99

Questions

Is Hard Time free?
Hard Time is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Rooftop Run free?
Rooftop Run is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Hard Time or Rooftop Run?
Rooftop Run is rated higher. Hard Time averages 4.0 out of 5 from 4.3K ratings, while Rooftop Run averages 4.8 from 25K ratings.
Do Hard Time or Rooftop Run have ads?
Rooftop Run shows ads; Hard Time does not.
Which is updated more often, Hard Time or Rooftop Run?
Hard Time ships an update every 3 months, and Rooftop Run fortnightly. Most recently, Hard Time was updated on October 16, 2026 and Rooftop Run on October 15, 2026.

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