Comparison

Hoplite vs Pathways

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

Head to head
About

Hoplite

Engage in challenging turn-based tactical combat on small maps. Strategize your moves carefully to overcome procedurally generated levels and unlock upgrades. Compete with friends on leaderboards and test your skills in daily challenges.

Highlights
  • Turn-based tactical movement
  • Procedurally generated levels
  • Quest mode with upgrades
  • Challenge mode with daily challenges
  • Leaderboard rankings
  • Hard but fair gameplay
Features
Read full description

"Blanket recommendation for this one." - Pocket Tactics (5 stars) "It's very simple to learn, but there's a huge amount of depth to the game" - Touch Arcade (5 stars) Hoplite is a turn-based strategy game focusing on tactical movement around small maps. This game is designed to be hard, yet fair. You'll need to think before you act if you hope to win. Every move counts! Quest Mode: • Make strategical choices to upgrade your abilities as you dive deeper into the underworld. • Earn achievements and unlock access to new upgrades. • Procedurally generated levels give a new experience every play. • Challenge your friends and see how you rank on the leaderboard. Challenge mode: • Jump straight into the action with a randomized set of upgrades. • Try to beat the daily challenge or play predetermined challenges at two difficulty levels.

About

Pathways

A minimalist logic puzzle game where players guide a dot to its home space by drawing colored paths. It offers increasing difficulty levels and daily challenges, with an option for advanced features like custom level creation.

Highlights
  • Draw colored paths to guide a dot
  • Solve spatial reasoning puzzles
  • Progress through increasing grid sizes
  • Daily timed puzzles with score sharing
  • Create and share custom levels
  • No ads, playable offline
Features
Read full description

Pathways is a spatial reasoning logic puzzle with a clean, minimalist design. The goal is simple: move the dot home! How it works: -Each grid has one dot, and one home space -The dot can only move to colored spaces -Use tabs on the side of the grid to draw paths of color -Retract and redraw paths as necessary -Move that dot home! Easy to learn, difficult to master -Start with 3x4 grids to learn the ropes -Up the challenge with 4x4 grids -Put yourself to the real test with 4x5 grids Daily Puzzles -Timed puzzles, share your score with friends -Puzzles increase in difficulty throughout the week -Build your streak! Pathways PRO -Access all packs (375 puzzles + future packs) -Access Daily Puzzle archive to play old puzzles (100+ Daily Puzzles) -Create your own levels, share with friends and/or submit to Pathways to be featured Why Pathways? -Clean, minimalistic design -Simple rules, yet challenging solutions -No ads, no wifi required Up for the challenge? Download Pathways today!

Screenshots

Hoplite3 screens
Pathways4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pathways at Free against Hoplite's $3.99. Hoplite's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 9) and ratings volume (787 vs 26). On rating, 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

Pathways is free to download; Hoplite costs $3.99 up front. Pathways sells 9 one-off in-app purchases. Hoplite 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 Hoplite against 4.8 for Pathways. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hoplite has 787 ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 91% and 90% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hoplite ships an update every 3 months, Pathways every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and July 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Hoplite versus Pathways: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHoplitePathways
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (787 ratings)4.8 (26 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.8% of reviews — better90.0% of reviews
Number of ratings787 — better26
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
Best chart rank#155 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB36 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperDouglas CowleyWilliam Arbuckle

Customer experience

Hoplite

All ratings787 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral3.4%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews238 reviews
Positive90.8%
Neutral2.9%
Negative6.3%

Pathways

All ratings26 ratings
Positive96.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.8%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative5.0%

Bugs and requests

Hoplite

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Crashes on launch with certain OS versions
  • Agility upgrade not functioning properly

Requested features

4 requests
  • More game modes or levels
  • Customization options for the character
  • Landscape mode support
  • Ability to start at higher levels

Pathways

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Hoplite

No in-app purchases

9 purchases

Pathways

One-time9
  • Support Developpment$0.99
  • Support Developpment$1.99
  • Support Developpment$4.99
Show 6 more
  • Pathways PRO$7.99
  • Support Developpment$7.99
  • Support Developpment$9.99
  • Support Developpment$14.99
  • Support Developpment$19.99
  • Support Developpment$29.99

Questions

Is Hoplite free?
Hoplite costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pathways free?
Pathways is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Hoplite or Pathways?
Pathways is rated higher. Hoplite averages 4.7 out of 5 from 787 ratings, while Pathways averages 4.8 from 26 ratings.
Do Hoplite or Pathways have ads?
Neither Hoplite nor Pathways shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hoplite or Pathways?
Hoplite ships an update every 3 months, and Pathways every 2 months. Most recently, Hoplite was updated on September 26, 2026 and Pathways on July 16, 2026.

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