Comparison

Catchup vs Celestile

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

Head to head
About

Catchup

Master a beautiful abstract strategy game by connecting hexes to create the largest group. Features include a challenging AI, online multiplayer, and pass-and-play options. Learn the simple rules and strive for difficult mastery.

Highlights
  • Interactive tutorial
  • Challenging AI opponent
  • Online turn-based multiplayer
  • Two-player pass-and-play
  • Minimalist graphics
  • Customizable colors
  • Leaderboards & Achievements
Read full description

Catchup is a simple game of surprising turnarounds. "Catchup is as elegant as a game can reasonably be, presented in a marvelously user-friendly way.” -Pocket Tactics (5-star review) "If you're even a little bit into strategy games, you need to get some Catchup all over your mobile device." -Touch Arcade (4 & 1/2 star review) Can you have the largest group at the end of the game? Connect your hexes to master this beautiful abstract strategy game. Features: - an interactive tutorial to teach you how to play - a challenging AI opponent whose difficulty changes as you play - online turn-based multiplayer via Game Center - two-player pass-and-play on the same device - beautiful and haunting music by Tori Kamal - minimalist graphics with customizable colors - Game Center Leaderboards & Achievements - simple and easy to learn rules and gameplay - difficult to master strategy Here are all the rules: 1. One player plays all the hexes of one color and the other player plays all the hexes of the other color. The first player begins by claiming 1 empty hex for their color. 2. Starting with the second player, each player must claim 1 or 2 hexes on their turn. 3. If the largest group of hexes at the end of a turn is larger than the largest group of hexes at the beginning of that turn (regardless of color), the next player may claim up to 3 hexes on their turn. (This does not apply after the first player claims a single hex in step 1 above.) 4. The game ends when the board is full. The player with the largest group wins. If the players’ largest groups are the same size, compare their second-largest groups, and so on, until you come to a pair which aren’t the same size. Whoever owns the larger of the two wins. Catchup is an original Board Game designed by Nick Bentley.

About

Celestile

Engage in turn-based space conquest with deterministic combat. Expand your empire, research technologies, and outmaneuver rivals to achieve victory through domination or ascendancy. Features unique factions, strategic combat, and a deep tech web.

Highlights
  • Deterministic combat with no luck
  • Expand, build, research, and out-think rivals
  • Two win conditions: Domination and Ascendancy
  • Eight unique factions with strengths and weaknesses
  • Strategic tech web across five disciplines
  • Fog of war that hides fleets, not geography
  • Portrait mode for one-handed play
Features
Read full description

A turn-based 4X strategy game with no dice. Every attack shows its exact result before you commit, and that number is what happens. No luck. Just the plan you made. Claim a cluster of space one tile at a time — expand, build, research, and out-think up to fourteen rival empires. TWO WAYS TO WIN Domination — hold every planet on the map. Ascendancy — finish ahead of every rival inside 40 rounds. DETERMINISTIC COMBAT The forecast above your units is the outcome. Attack, defence, terrain and tech resolve to one number, and you see it before you commit. A fight you lose is a fight you misread, not one the dice took from you. EIGHT FACTIONS, EACH WITH A COST Every faction has one real strength and one real weakness. Hive Mind builds mines for 1 energy and pulls 50% more out of them. Swarm fields cheaper units and one extra per planet, but defends 10% weaker. Nothing here is a straight upgrade, so choosing is an actual decision. TERRITORY YOU HAVE TO EARN Every planet projects a zone of control, and you can only build inside your own. Put three Moon Lasers in a planet's zone and that zone widens. Growth is a build order, not a land grab. A TECH WEB THAT FITS ON ONE SCREEN Five disciplines — Warfare, Doctrine, Aeronautics, Stellar and Lunar — three tiers each. Fifteen technologies on a radial web you read at a glance instead of scrolling. FOG THAT HIDES FLEETS, NOT GEOGRAPHY You see your own zones plus a tile, and a tile around every unit. Ground you have already explored stays on the map, dimmed. An enemy fleet standing on it does not. AN ECONOMY YOU CAN LEVERAGE Deposit energy in the bank and draw interest. Or borrow against the future and settle a balloon payment five rounds later. Miss it and the Galactic Bank sends dreadnoughts to collect. EIGHT UNIT CLASSES Scout, Marine, Rover, Fighter, Bomber, Mech, Artillery, Dreadnought. Build a military university for a class and every unit of that class attacks 10% harder for the rest of the game, anywhere on the map. BUILT FOR A PHONE, NOT PORTED TO ONE Portrait, one-handed, low-poly worlds on deep space navy. The board scales with the field — a tight 12x12 grid against a single opponent, up to 24x24 against fourteen. Four difficulty levels. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO No account. No login. No internet connection. No chat. There is one interstitial ad, and only from your third match of the day. Buy any faction and it never appears again. Players in the EEA, UK and Switzerland never see it at all. WHAT IS FREE Two factions — Hive Mind and Swarm — and the whole game around them: every map size, every unit, every technology, both win conditions, all 63 achievements. Six further factions are a one-time purchase each. No subscription. 63 achievements, a five-star rating for every faction, and a career record that persists between games. Nine languages: English, Spanish, Russian, German, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Korean, Japanese. Frosty Robot Studio.

Screenshots

Catchup3 screens
Celestile4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Catchup at none against Celestile's 6. Celestile's advantage is update cadence (every 11 days vs every 101 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 88%). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Celestile sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Catchup asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Catchup against 4.8 for Celestile. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 5 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Catchup's written reviews are positive against 100% of Celestile's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Catchup ships an update every 101 months, Celestile every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Catchup versus Celestile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCatchupCelestile
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (11 ratings)4.8 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 101 monthsEvery 11 days — better
Ads—Yes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB17 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperMartin GriderFrosty Robot Studio, LLC

Customer experience

Catchup

All ratings11 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral9.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive88.2%
Neutral5.9%
Negative5.9%

Celestile

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Catchup

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

Celestile

One-time6
  • Collective Faction$1.99
  • Nomad$1.99
  • Wardens$1.99
Show 3 more
  • Ascendant$1.99
  • Warbound$1.99
  • Forge$1.99

Questions

Is Catchup free?
Catchup is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Celestile free?
Celestile is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Catchup or Celestile?
Celestile is rated higher. Catchup averages 4.7 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while Celestile averages 4.8 from 5 ratings.
Which is updated more often, Catchup or Celestile?
Catchup ships an update every 101 months, and Celestile every 11 days. Most recently, Catchup was updated on November 1, 2026 and Celestile on October 31, 2026.

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