Comparison

Broken Age ™ vs Boxville

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

Head to head
About

Broken Age ™

This is a hand-animated adventure game with a focus on puzzles and a coming-of-age story. Players can switch between two distinct characters navigating different worlds and unexpected adventures. Features an all-star voice cast.

Highlights
  • Hand-animated graphics
  • Puzzle-filled adventure
  • Dual-protagonist story
  • All-star voice cast
  • Family-friendly content
Features
Read full description

**Apple Editors' Choice Winner** *Now available as a Universal App with support for both iOS and tvOS.* Broken Age is a family friendly, hand-animated, puzzle-filled adventure game with an all-star cast, including Elijah Wood, Jack Black and Masasa Moyo. Funded by a record breaking crowdfunding campaign and designed by industry legend Tim Schafer, Broken Age is a timeless coming-of-age story of barfing trees and talking spoons. Vella Tartine and Shay Volta are two teenagers in strangely similar situations, but radically different worlds. The player can freely switch between their stories, helping them take control of their own lives, and dealing with the unexpected adventures that follow. Starring: Elijah Wood as Shay Masasa Moyo as Vella Jack Black as Harm'ny Lightbeard Jennifer Hale as Mom Wil Wheaton as Curtis Pendleton Ward as Gus Important: This game will only play properly on iPad 2, iPhone 5, and beyond.

About

Boxville

This animated adventure puzzle game features speechless cans navigating a city of boxes. Solve logic puzzles and riddles, explore a charming world, and uncover the mystery behind earthquakes. Enjoy a unique audio-visual experience, playable solo or with a friend.

Highlights
  • Animated film and puzzle game hybrid
  • Hand-drawn graphics and custom animations
  • Environmental quests and logical puzzles
  • Unique music for each scene
  • Wordless communication via speech bubbles
  • Playable solo or co-op
Features
Read full description

Boxville is 2-in-1: an animated film and a puzzle game. Boxville is an adventure puzzle game about speechless cans living in the city of boxes and drawing doodles on cardboards to tell the stories. Boxville is good for playing alone to dive into the atmosphere and challenge your brain with sophisticated logic puzzles and riddles, or playing with a friend or family to share unique audio-visual experiences and solve the puzzles together. Design The core idea of the game is that it’s not just a game - but also an animated film that you can watch and play at the same time. We designed Boxville’s gameplay with the purpose of taking away your anxiety and stress. You can explore and observe the world without rushing and pressure. The game is full of environmental quests and logical puzzles that we have carefully picked from among hundreds of options. Story Boxville is a city of boxes populated with old cans. They live quiet and happy lives with their everyday routines and habits. But one day, unexplained earthquakes disturbed their idyll... Blue Can (our hero) lost his best friend because of that. He started his search but it is not so easy to move through the city after earthquakes. He has to find a way to move forward, return the friend back home and discover the real reason for all those earthquakes. There are many adventures, new friends and it’s not only friends that are waiting for him on the way. He has to be curious, inventive, careful, and to help others, to reach his goal. What you can expect to see and hear in Boxville: - Hand-drawn graphics — all backgrounds and characters are carefully drawn by our artists. - Every animation and sound is created especially for each interaction. - Unique music track was created for every scene to accomplish the atmosphere of the game. - Tens of logical puzzles and mini-games are tightly incorporated into the story of the game. - There are no words in the game — all characters communicate via cartoony speechbubbles.

Screenshots

Broken Age ™4 screens
Boxville4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Boxville at $3.99 against Broken Age ™'s $4.99. Broken Age ™'s advantage is iOS requirement (6.0 vs 13.0). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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

Broken Age ™ costs $4.99 and Boxville $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Boxville holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.7K and 772 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Broken Age ™'s written reviews are positive against 78% of Boxville's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Broken Age ™ ships an update fortnightly, Boxville every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Broken Age ™ versus Boxville: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBroken Age ™Boxville
Price$4.99$3.99 — better
Rating4.5 (1.7K ratings)4.7 (772 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.9% of reviews78.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.7K — better772
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS6.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size2.7 GB1.2 GB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperDouble Fine Productions, Inc.Triomatica Games

Customer experience

Broken Age ™

All ratings1,719 ratings
Positive87.8%
Neutral3.5%
Negative8.6%
Written reviews354 reviews
Positive70.9%
Neutral5.9%
Negative23.2%

Boxville

All ratings755 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews226 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral8.0%
Negative13.7%

User reviews

Broken Age ™

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent graphics and animations
  • 👍 Engaging and unique storyline
  • 🎨 Beautiful art style
  • 🎙️ Fantastic voice acting
  • 🧩 Challenging but fair puzzles

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and glitches
  • 🕰️ Slow download/loading times
  • 🧠 Some puzzles too obscure/illogical
  • 🔁 Repetitive backtracking in Act 2
  • 🔊 Sound issues for some users

Boxville

From 772 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Enjoyable puzzles
  • 🎨 Beautiful art and animation
  • 🎶 Lovely music
  • 🧠 Challenging but logical puzzles
  • 🤗 Charming characters and story

Room to improve

  • 🕰️ Short game length
  • 🔍 Tiny inventory items hard to see
  • 🤯 Some puzzles too obscure
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🤖 Lack of hint system or ability to skip puzzles

Bugs and requests

Broken Age ™

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes on startup for some devices
  • Freezing/lagging issues on certain hardware
  • Save file corruption or loss
  • Dialogue/audio glitches

Requested features

5 requests
  • Sequel or additional content
  • Hint system or in-game tips
  • Faster travel options
  • iCloud/cloud save support
  • Achievements/trophies

Boxville

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Progress reset after updates
  • Inventory items disappearing
  • Puzzle mechanics not working as expected

Requested features

4 requests
  • Longer game with more content
  • Ability to use stylus/Apple Pencil
  • Improved save/load system
  • In-game hints or ability to skip puzzles

In-app purchases

None

Broken Age ™

No in-app purchases

None

Boxville

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Broken Age ™ free?
Broken Age ™ costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Boxville free?
Boxville costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Broken Age ™ or Boxville?
Boxville is rated higher. Broken Age ™ averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Boxville averages 4.7 from 772 ratings.
Do Broken Age ™ or Boxville have ads?
Neither Broken Age ™ nor Boxville shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Broken Age ™ or Boxville?
Broken Age ™ ships an update fortnightly, and Boxville every 9 days. Most recently, Broken Age ™ was updated on October 26, 2026 and Boxville on October 25, 2026.

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