Drancia vs Buff Knight!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Drancia
Embark on an arcade-style action RPG adventure with a charming cast and retro pixel art. Chain combos to earn coins, level up your skills, and battle diverse monsters. Unravel the game's mysteries with a killer chiptune soundtrack.
- Arcade-style action RPG
- Retro pixel art graphics
- Combo chaining for coins
- Skill tree progression
- Diverse characters
- Unique boss battles
- Vintage chiptune soundtrack
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This action RPG features an amusing cast of characters and has an arcade-like feel! Chain combos to rack up coins and level up through the skill tree! Defeat hordes of monsters and unravel the mystery of Drancia! ・Retro-style, cute pixel art graphics! ・Smooth controls and loads of extras to enjoy! ・Unique bosses in every stage! ・Over fifty different types of characters to play as! ・A killer soundtrack of over 20 vintage, Famicom-style chiptunes! *Drancia was originally released in 2008 by Skipmore as a web-based game entitled Drancia Survival. Now it’s been powered-up for smartphones!
Buff Knight!
Embark on an epic retro RPG adventure as a valiant knight. Battle monsters, collect artifacts, and upgrade your character to save the princess from a fearsome dragon. Features include two distinct gameplay modes and two playable characters.
- Retro pixel graphics and 8-bit sound
- Story mode and endless mode
- Two playable characters
- Sword and spell combat
- Artifact collection and upgrades
- Attribute and skill buffs
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◆◆ 2014 Korea Game Awards Indie Game Award ◆◆ ◆ #1 Paid Game in Korea ◆ ◆ #1 Paid RPG in Japan ◆ * This Lite version includes ads and limits the running speed of Buff Knight. * If you'd like to play the game at its fastest speed, please buy the premium version of Buff Knight. * Data will not transfer from the free version over to the paid version. Please keep that in mind when playing Buff Knight. For your (our) convenience, we recommend you buy the paid version! *** Play the EPIC retro RPG runner – Buff Knight! Developed by a 1 man studio, this pixel graphic game has stormed the top charts in Korea. Now it’s your turn! Slay the Dragon! Save the Princess! Buff Knight! [Reviews] 5/5 “Buff Knight is RPG Madness” - iPhoneAppsReview.com 5/5 ”A definite must have on your device” - User review 5/5 ”This game has completely taken over my life. I am utterly and hopelessly addicted” - User review [Story] You are Buff Knight, and you stop for nothing! The Red Vile Dragon & his minions has returned to the Kingdom of Buff to raid the Kingdom for artifacts… AND has captured the beautiful Princess. Your quest: buff up your character, slice enemies into bits with your sword, blast your spells and save the Princess! [Game Description] Buff Knight is a 2D Pixel RPG Runner where you’re constantly on the move. Kill the invading monsters with your sword or by timing your use of spells carefully! As you progress the game becomes more intense with stronger and uglier monsters! Collect artifacts and upgrade your items & attributes to become the most buff Knight the world has ever seen! Buff Knight is highly addictive so do give it a try and trust the hundreds of thousands of Koreans who helped Buff Knight claim the #1 spot! [Features] - AWESOME & EPIC 8 bit retro sound and pixel graphics! - 2 Different gameplay modes – story mode & endless mode! - 2 unique characters! Play as Buff Knight OR Buffy the Sorceress! - Simple and easy controls! BUFF! - Use your sword or spells to fight the evil! - Unique 2D Pixel RPG runner game concept – pick up from where you died! - Develop new strategies & builds – Want to be a Buff Knight or a Buff Mage? - BUFF up your attributes! - Collect over 20 ancient artifacts and BUFF your skills! - Plenty of Items with multiple levels of upgrades! - Awesome high score system – Are you the most buff Knight? Can you beat your friends? - And of course a pretty Princess who needs to be saved by YOU from The Red Vile Dragon! [Hall Of Fame – Buff Knight Legends] Story Mode Clearing Time Champion: Adam Davis, USA, 20 min & 53 seconds! Story Mode Fewest Death Champion: Alberto Cerrone ,Italy, 2 deaths! Story Mode Highest Kill Combo Champion: Leon Le Thanh, Germany, 80 kills! Highest Critical Hit Champion: Jonathan Vautrin, France, 8521 damage! Like us on Facebook to enter our Hall of Fame contests to become a Buff Knight Legend or to simply get the best tips & news about Buff Knight! www.facebook.com/buffknight BGM : SKIPMORE (http://www.skipmore.com/)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Buff Knight! at every 2 weeks against Drancia's every 6 months. Buff Knight! also leads on ratings volume (376 vs 117) and iOS requirement (4.3 vs 13.0). On price, rating, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. Drancia sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Buff Knight! sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Drancia against 4.7 for Buff Knight!. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 117 and 376 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Drancia's written reviews are positive against 94% of Buff Knight!'s.
Drancia ships an update every 6 months, Buff Knight! every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Drancia | Buff Knight! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (117 ratings) | 4.7 (376 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.1% of reviews | 93.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 117 | 376 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 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 | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 4.3 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 53 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Masakazu Yonehara | Buff Studio Co.Ltd. |
Customer experience
Drancia
Buff Knight!
User reviews
Drancia
From 117 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Addicting gameplay
- 👍 Fun hack and slash
- 👍 Great art and music
- 👍 Retro pixel art style
- 👍 Free to play
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes
- 🐛 Game resets when closed
- 🐛 Non-widescreen support
- 🐛 Difficulty spikes
- 🐛 Controls too far left/right
Buff Knight!
From 376 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and fun gameplay
- 🚀 Addictive and engaging
- 💎 Generous with in-game currency
- 🎨 Retro 8-bit aesthetic
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
- 🔄 Repetitive gameplay
- 🔋 Can drain battery quickly
Bugs and requests
Drancia
Reported bugs
7 issues- Crashes after dying
- Crashes when buying sold out items
- Game crashes in bad spots
- Game exits unexpectedly
- Game resets when phone is closed
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- Black screen after ads
- Can't get out of skills menu
Requested features
20 requests- Boss rush mode
- Adjustable controls
- Co-op mode
- Difficulty settings
- Continue system with gems
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- More story line
- Full screen on iPhone X
- More stuff to add
- Make classes hit differently
- Create own hero
- Male/female gender option
- Ninja/Kunoichi character class
- Fancy control pad/buttons
- Intro/opening sequence
- Release on 3DS eShop
- Mini games
- Upward attack
- Remove ads for a fee
- Save progress during/at end of stage
- Swap apps without restarting
Buff Knight!
Reported bugs
2 issues- Armor not visually displayed on character
- Difficulty spikes after certain progress points
Requested features
3 requests- Additional character classes or abilities
- More varied enemy types and environments
- Option to disable ads
In-app purchases
Drancia
- Treat us to coffee$0.99
- Treat us to a beer$0.99
- Treat us to dinner$2.99
Buff Knight!
- Remove Ads+Move Speed 3x$0.99
- Candy Donation$0.99
- Donation Coffee$4.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Meal Donation$9.99









