Comparison

Psy High vs Paradigm City

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

Head to head
About

Psy High

Unravel a teenage supernatural mystery where psychic powers emerge at your high school. Make choices that shape your destiny, navigate social hierarchies, and decide whether to save the world or seize power. Your imagination drives this text-based adventure.

Highlights
  • Teenage supernatural mystery
  • Interactive text-based story
  • Player choice impacts narrative
  • Character customization (gender, orientation, social role)
  • Develop and use psychic powers
  • High school social simulation
  • Multiple endings and plot paths
Features
Read full description

When the kids at your high school start developing psychic powers, you and your friends must team up to stop the principal from taking over the world! "Psy High" is an interactive teen supernatural mystery novel by Rebecca Slitt, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Play as male or female; gay, straight, or bi. Will you be a jock or a brain? Popular or ignored? Use your psychic powers to help others, or to take what you want. Win a coveted scholarship, star in the Drama Club play - or lose it all and spend your senior year in juvenile detention. How much are you willing to sacrifice to get ahead in the world? Can you solve the case? Can you save the school? And most importantly, can you find a date to the prom? • Solve mysteries in the classic teen-detective genre with a supernatural twist • Find your place in the cutthroat high-school social scene: be an athlete, an actor, a brain, or a rebel • Uncover the truth about your small town and its secrets • Instead of stopping the principal, why not steal his powers for yourself, or even join him in his plan for world domination? • Find your one true love, or more than one! (They never talked about love triangles in trigonometry!)

About

Paradigm City

Step into a near-future world altered by superhumans. As a new graduate from a powered individual academy, you must find your place in Paradigm City. Your choices will shape your destiny, determining whether you become a hero or a villain in this text-based interactive fantasy novel.

Highlights
  • Choose your gender and orientation
  • Experience a full life arc
  • Multiple branching endings
  • Utilize brawn, bravado, and brains
  • Develop electrokinetic superpowers
  • Team up with elite heroes
  • Uncover conspiracies
Features
Read full description

The Golden Age of heroes is over, but you're just beginning. Will you use your powers to help the world or help yourself? Set on a near-future Earth that has been irrevocably altered by the arrival of superhumans, the world has been dealing with a radical shift in the nature of humanity. For thirty years, those with world-altering powers - referred to as capes - have been at the forefront of the world's media. There has been heroes, there has been villains, and there has been world-shattering confrontations when those two groups came into contact. For a time, those individuals walked the world like modern deities. For a time, it was good. But things change. Given time, all things resolve to entropy. The Golden Age is over. The player, a member of the newest graduating class of an international academy for powered individuals, needs to find their place in this new world, and whether that place will be determined by their own hand - or by the machinations of others. Assigned to the troubled Paradigm City, it'll be up to the player to determine whether their name becomes a byword for fame or infamy, idealism or pragmatism, and loyalty or ambition. "Paradigm City" is a 110,000 word interactive fantasy novel by James Rhoden, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. • Play as male, female or non-binary, straight, gay or bi! • Experience your life from youth to the end of your first big mission! • Multiple endings, with differences both big and small! How will your actions affect the future of the world? • Utilise the three precepts of epic heroism - brawn, bravado and brains - to solve challenges! • Increase the potency of your electrokinetic superpower to overcome dangerous threats! • Work with a team of elite heroes to solve a mystery - your relationships with them will determine their fates, and whether you'll learn their stories. • Uncover and unveil a conspiracy, or work to use it for your own ends! • Embrace the traditional values of the classical crusader, or embody the cutting-edge pragmatics of modern powered heroes! • Sixty achievements! • Three romance options to choose from - or don't, and keep things strictly professional!

Screenshots

Psy High4 screens
Paradigm City4 screens

Verdict

The call

Psy High and Paradigm City both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 93% of Psy High's written reviews are positive against 27% of Paradigm City's. Psy High also leads on ratings volume (35 vs 7). Paradigm City's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $5.99). On rating, update cadence, 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

Psy High costs $5.99 and Paradigm City $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Psy High against 4.6 for Paradigm City. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Psy High has 35 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 93% of Psy High's written reviews are positive against 27% of Paradigm City's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Psy High ships an update every 12 months, Paradigm City every 15 months. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Psy High versus Paradigm City: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPsy HighParadigm City
Price$5.99$4.99 — better
Rating4.6 (35 ratings) — better4.6 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews93.4% of reviews — better27.3% of reviews
Number of ratings35 — better7
Update frequencyEvery 12 months — betterEvery 15 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.012.0
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB28 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperChoice of Games LLCHosted Games LLC

Customer experience

Psy High

All ratings35 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews61 reviews
Positive93.4%
Neutral1.6%
Negative4.9%

Paradigm City

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive27.3%
Neutral27.3%
Negative45.5%

Bugs and requests

Psy High

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Same text appearing after choices
  • Relationship with crush impossible to maintain

Requested features

8 requests
  • Sequel with college/detective themes
  • More epic magical showdowns
  • More romance options
  • Ability to save progress
  • Continue into senior year
Show 3 more
  • More choice in psychic abilities
  • Longer game length
  • More content/stories in the app

Paradigm City

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Psy High

No in-app purchases

None

Paradigm City

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Psy High free?
Psy High costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Paradigm City free?
Paradigm City costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Psy High or Paradigm City?
Psy High is rated higher. Psy High averages 4.6 out of 5 from 35 ratings, while Paradigm City averages 4.6 from 7 ratings.
Do Psy High or Paradigm City have ads?
Both Psy High and Paradigm City show ads.
Which is updated more often, Psy High or Paradigm City?
Psy High ships an update every 12 months, and Paradigm City every 15 months. Most recently, Psy High was updated on October 22, 2026 and Paradigm City on October 24, 2026.

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