Nicole vs Crunchyroll
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Nicole
Experience college life while unraveling a campus mystery. Engage in daily activities, take part-time jobs, and interact with intriguing characters. You might even find yourself dating the culprit.
- Dating sim gameplay
- Campus mystery storyline
- Part-time jobs for income
- Explore various locations
- Multiple dating options
- Multiple endings
Read full descriptionHide full description
Nicole is thrilled that she managed to get into her first choice school and is looking forward to experiencing college life there. However, as soon as she moves into the university dorms, she finds out that there’s been a series of mysterious disappearances going on around the campus! So far, three girls have already gone missing and Nicole could be next if she’s not too careful – not quite the ideal college experience Nicole had in mind. Nicole is a dating sim that revolves around your day-to-day life as a college student. You can take up part-time jobs to earn money, explore various locations, do recreational and extra-curricular activities, and meet intriguing characters like Darren, Kurt, Jeff and Ted. You might even get to date the culprit! - Four different boys to date: Jeff, Ted, Darren & Kurt with 10 different endings - Discover the true identity of the culprit. Careful, you could be dating him! - Life simulation gameplay with several places to visit and activities to choose from - Classic dating sim with several statistics and items to buy
Crunchyroll
Experience an award-winning time travel visual novel where your choices alter the past. Unravel a conspiracy involving SERN and a mysterious figure from the future. Engage with characters through a unique phone trigger system to shape the narrative and discover multiple endings.
- Time travel adventure game
- Branching plot based on player choices
- Phone trigger system for interaction
- Multiple endings with 6 playable characters
- Full voice acting
- Over 30 hours of gameplay
Read full descriptionHide full description
Crunchyroll Ultimate or Mega Fan Membership Required STEINS;GATE is the award-winning time travel science-fiction interactive visual novel developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus. It is widely considered to be one of the finest Visual Novels ever made. STEINS;GATE follows a rag-tag band of tech-savvy young students who discover the means of changing the past via mail, using a modified microwave. Their experiments into how far they can go with their discovery begin to spiral out of control as they become entangled in a conspiracy surrounding SERN, the organisation behind the Large Hadron Collider, and John Titor who claims to be from a dystopian future. Interaction with the game takes place through the “phone trigger” system, where the player can receive calls and text messages and decide whether to reply to them or not, changing the outcome of the game’s plot. Features: - A suspenseful adventure game based on time travel! - The story takes place in Akihabara and revolves around science-fiction, touching on subjects such as SERN, John Titor, "IBN5100" PC and more! - The plot will progress in a specific direction depending upon the player's choices and responses! - Play as one of 6 characters with various endings for each! (Including one male character) - Full voice acting! - More than 30 hours of total game-play! - Featuring an original plot by Chiyomaru Shikura, character design by huke, gadget design by SH@RP and scenario development by Naokata Hayashi (5pb.)! ———— Crunchyroll Premium members enjoy an ad-free experience, with full access to Crunchyroll's library of over 1,300 unique titles and 46,000 episodes, including simulcast series that premiere shortly after premiering in Japan. In addition, membership offers special benefits including offline viewing access, discount code to Crunchyroll Store, Crunchyroll Game Vault access, streaming simultaneously on multiple devices, and more! Privacy Policy: https://www.crunchyroll.com/games/privacy Terms: https://www.crunchyroll.com/games/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Crunchyroll at every 2 weeks against Nicole's every 20 months. Nicole's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Nicole sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Crunchyroll sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $13.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for Nicole against 4.1 for Crunchyroll. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 108 and 40 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 61% of Nicole's written reviews are positive against 63% of Crunchyroll's.
Nicole ships an update every 20 months, Crunchyroll every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on November 4, 2026.
| Parameter | Nicole | Crunchyroll |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (108 ratings) — better | 4.1 (40 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 61.3% of reviews | 63.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 108 — better | 40 |
| Update frequency | Every 20 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 118 MB | 1.5 GB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Celso Riva | Crunchyroll, LLC |
Customer experience
Nicole
Crunchyroll
Bugs and requests
Nicole
Reported bugs
3 issues- Ending glitches preventing true endings
- Progress loss after exiting the app
- Compatibility issues on older devices
Requested features
4 requests- More free content in trial version
- Ability to switch between love interests
- Longer gameplay duration
- Improved save/load functionality
Crunchyroll
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Nicole
- Add 100 units of in-game currency$0.99
- Unlock all male romances$5.99
Crunchyroll
- Mega Fan [Monthly]7 Days trial$13.991 Month
Questions
Is Nicole free?
Is Crunchyroll free?
Which has better reviews, Nicole or Crunchyroll?
Do Nicole or Crunchyroll have ads?
Which is updated more often, Nicole or Crunchyroll?
Other comparisons















