Comparison

Trouble With Robots vs Abalon

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

Head to head
About

Trouble With Robots

A collectible card game blending action and strategy. Build powerful decks, customize your strategy for each level, and collect over 40 unique cards to conquer challenges and dominate the battlefield.

Highlights
  • Collectible card game
  • Deck building and customization
  • Direct damage and buffs
  • Adventure through 26 storyline levels
  • Collect over 40 unique cards
  • Unlock new levels and modes
Features
Read full description

Richard Garfield, Game Designer (Magic: The Gathering, King Of Tokyo) says, "It is terrific to be able to play Trouble With Robots again - it is overdue for iOS. It surprised me that it still feels unlike anything else I have played, I would have expected some other game developers to use this obviously good game formula to make a bunch of exciting new games. I hope that it gets the success and attention it deserves - and inspires the new games which >I< deserve!" Shaun Musgrave, Toucharcade.com says, "I enjoyed it just on its cheeky attitude alone, with the surprising depth of the gameplay at higher levels proving to be the icing on the cake. If you give it a try, it will probably win you over the same way." Introducing TROUBLE WITH ROBOTS, a classic fusion between action and strategy! Build the perfect deck in this collectible card game! Apply direct damage, buff your allies, weaken your foes, and come up with your own strategies as you earn stronger cards! --------------------- ADVENTURE through 26 storyline levels and 6 very difficult challenge levels CUSTOMIZE your deck for each unique level COLLECT over 40 cards consisting of creature summon, healing, strengthening, direct damage, and other spells UNLOCK levels and modes to add a new experiences and tons of replay value CONQUER challenges and reap the rewards Collect the most powerful cards and create the ultimate deck to dominate on the battlefield. Become a part of our simultaneously epic and hilarious tale as two opposing forces clash in all out war! We'd like to thank you for playing our game! Keep up to date on all things Trouble With Robots and Art Castle: Website: www.TroubleWithRobots.com Twitter: @ArtCastleHK Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArtCastleHK YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ArtCastleHK www.Play-Asia.com

About

Abalon

Engage in tactical turn-based combat and deck-building strategy in a tabletop-inspired world. Command units, cast spells, and outwit opponents with creative combos and strategic positioning. Explore diverse biomes, collect cards, and build the perfect deck to become a legend.

Highlights
  • Turn-based tactical combat
  • Deck building strategy
  • Top-down battlefield control
  • Over 500 unique cards
  • Character-based abilities
  • Creative combo system
  • Procedurally generated world exploration
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Abalon, a legendary tactical roguelike and deck building RPG! CARDS. DICE. TACTICS. Embark on epic roguelike adventures to explore a tabletop inspired world and discover its secrets. Abalon combines turn based tactical combat with deck building strategy. Defeat monstrous hordes and powerful bosses to reap the rewards of treasures, allies, and spells. Roll the dice and become a dungeon crawling legend! COMMAND LIKE A GOD Command from a top-down perspective that gives you ultimate control over battlefield tactics. Your characters look up to you (literally) as their god to indicate they are ready to receive your orders. Commands are intuitive: Drag cards to cast spells. Drag warriors to enemies to attack. Drag healers to injured allies to heal. Play fast and fluid with 3-5 minute battles and without having to wait for animations. You can even undo failed attacks to try different approaches. Endless possibilities are at your fingertips! OUTWIT YOUR OPPONENTS Defeat overwhelming odds by mastering tactical positions, backstabbing, feinting counterattacks, knocking enemies into allies to trigger combos, leveraging traps for bonus damage and exploiting spell synergies to manipulate the battlefield in your favor. Abalon is deceptively simple to learn with an unrivaled depth of mechanics that are challenging to master. Position matters. Facing matters. Terrain matters. BUILD THE PERFECT DECK Choose compelling characters like squirrel hurling druids, menacing liche kings, psychic lizard wizards and steampunk time traveling rats. Abalon has over 500 cards including 225 hand-crafted characters with distinct strengths and weaknesses. Select your favorite summoner, build your team and construct a deck of 20 cards. Abalon differs from other role-playing games by removing grindy leveling systems in favor of fixed character stats and abilities and interchangeable gear-based upgrades. Use everyone you have and experiment to create unique strategies. UNLEASH CREATIVE COMBOS Combine your units and spells to create game-breaking synergies: Hurl a squirrel at your opponent and command your critter to bite them in the butt. Cast Animal Growth to mutate it into a super hulk squirrel. Then use Breed to multiply it into an army of hulk squirrels and decimate your opponent in the most satisfying way! Discover something new each time you play. EXPLORE. ROLL DICE. MAKE FRIENDS. Explore an ever-changing fantasy world filled with colorful woodlands, frozen peaks, barren deserts, and perilous dungeons. Abalon is rich in lore, both gritty and humorous, and each biome offers its own characters to find and mysteries to unravel. Collect and roll D20 dice to determine the outcome of fate encounters and make friends with charming bears and birthday goblins. EXPAND YOUR COLLECTION Play for free and grow your collection with paid expansions. Abalon is a premium CCG and RPG that respects your time and money. There are no ads, randomized booster packs, cards to dust, or grinding to level up. Each expansion contains a curated set of content so you know what you are paying for upfront. Like a board game hobby, Abalon’s expansions enhance your existing content. We aim to support the game’s development for the next 10 years and beyond with additional cards, challenge modifiers, game modes and more for infinite replayability. PLAY ON ANY DEVICE ANYTIME ANYWHERE Abalon offers a true cross-platform experience with support for phones, tablets, computers, TVs, portrait and landscape orientations and offline play. ABOUT D20STUDIOS We’re a passionate indie game team who aim to inspire creativity, critical thinking and positive community in people around the world. We value player-driven development, quality products and excellent customer service, and we’d love to hear how we can make your Abalon experience exceptional. Discord: https://discord.gg/d20studios Email: contact@d20studios.com

Screenshots

Trouble With Robots4 screens
Abalon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Abalon at every 2 days against Trouble With Robots's every 3 months. Abalon also leads on ratings volume (1K vs 63). Trouble With Robots's advantage is review sentiment (94% vs 84%) and iOS requirement (6.0 vs 13.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Trouble With Robots sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Abalon sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Trouble With Robots against 4.8 for Abalon. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Abalon has 1K ratings behind it against 63, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 94% of Trouble With Robots's written reviews are positive against 84% of Abalon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Trouble With Robots ships an update every 3 months, Abalon every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Trouble With Robots versus Abalon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTrouble With RobotsAbalon
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (63 ratings)4.8 (1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews94.3% of reviews — better84.1% of reviews
Number of ratings631K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS6.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB117 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperPlay-Asia.comD20Studios, LLC

Customer experience

Trouble With Robots

All ratings62 ratings
Positive95.2%
Neutral3.2%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews140 reviews
Positive94.3%
Neutral1.4%
Negative4.3%

Abalon

All ratings1,010 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral1.2%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews290 reviews
Positive84.1%
Neutral3.1%
Negative12.8%

User reviews

Trouble With Robots

From 63 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great strategy and tactics
  • 💰 Free to play, no ads
  • 😂 Humorous storyline and dialogue
  • 💎 Deep and challenging gameplay
  • 💡 Unique CCG/RTS hybrid

Room to improve

  • 🙄 Annoying review prompts
  • 🐛 App crashes
  • 📉 Limited content/levels
  • 🤔 AI logic issues
  • ⏳ Game can be short

Abalon

From 1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fantastic strategy game
  • 👍 Fun game
  • 👍 Highly recommended
  • 👍 Great for busy RPG parents
  • 👍 Way better than expected

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Not recommended at the moment
  • 🐛 Very unbalanced and costs $30
  • 🐛 Game crashes after loading
  • 🐛 Koumpounophobia (fear of buttons)
  • 🐛 Controlling units is frustrating

Bugs and requests

Trouble With Robots

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App closes on phone call
  • Crashes in the middle of a battle
  • App crashes about every 3rd game

Requested features

10 requests
  • More levels/enemies
  • Card enhancement system
  • Sequel to the game
  • More content
  • Multiplayer mode
Show 5 more
  • Option to buy cards
  • More achievements
  • Multiplayer
  • More cards and levels
  • Option to save to iCloud

Abalon

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Bugs in second chapter dungeon
  • Unable to use satchel items

Requested features

3 requests
  • Controller support for Backbone and other third party controllers
  • More variation in encounter types
  • Dark mode option

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Trouble With Robots

One-time3
  • Chapter 3$0.99
  • Chapter 2$0.99
  • Chapter 2 & 3 Bundle$0.99
5 purchases

Abalon

One-time5
  • Animal Gear$3.99
  • Angels & Demons$7.99
  • Dark Legion$7.99
Show 2 more
  • Mean & Green$7.99
  • Space & Time$7.99

Questions

Is Trouble With Robots free?
Trouble With Robots is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Abalon free?
Abalon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Trouble With Robots or Abalon?
Abalon is rated higher. Trouble With Robots averages 4.8 out of 5 from 63 ratings, while Abalon averages 4.8 from 1K ratings.
Do Trouble With Robots or Abalon have ads?
Neither Trouble With Robots nor Abalon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Trouble With Robots or Abalon?
Trouble With Robots ships an update every 3 months, and Abalon every 2 days. Most recently, Trouble With Robots was updated on October 24, 2026 and Abalon on October 24, 2026.

Other comparisons