Comparison

Whispering Willows vs The Frostrune

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

Head to head
About

Whispering Willows

Embark on a harrowing journey as Elena Elkhorn to find her missing father and uncover the secrets of Willows Mansion. Utilize a unique amulet for astral projection to communicate with the dead, solve puzzles, and help lingering souls in a beautifully hand-drawn 2D world.

Highlights
  • Astral projection to communicate with the dead
  • Solve mansion tricks and puzzles
  • Help lingering souls
  • Explore a hand-drawn 2D world
  • Immersive haunting music and sound effects
  • Unlock puzzling secrets
Features
Read full description

Young Elena Elkhorn embarks on a harrowing journey to find her missing father and discover the secrets of the Willows Mansion. Aiding her journey is a unique amulet, she received from her father, which allows her to astral project her spirit into a ghostly-realm and communicate with the dead. Play as Elena to find her missing father, use your astral projection to solves the mansion’s tricks and puzzles, help the lingering souls and discover so much more in Whispering Willows. Game Features: • Immerse yourself in a beautifully hand-drawn 2-D world as you traverse the Mansion grounds • Allow the haunting music and chilling sound effects to send goosebumps across your neck. • Let the history of the Willows Mansion draw you into a plot full of twists and betrayal. • Explore the vast Mansion and unlock its puzzling secrets as you search for your missing Father. Awards: • First Place- Seattle Indie Game Competition • Best Story- Casual Connect Indie Prize • Most Immersive- OUYA CREATE Game Jam • Successfully Funded Kickstarter • Winner- Cerebral Indie Developer Grant Supports: • Most wireless bluetooth controllers • 20 achievements • 720 and 1080p resolutions If your device crashes or has issues while running the game, please contact "support [at] nightlightint [dot] com" and we'll do our best to help you!

About

The Frostrune

Explore a mysterious island inspired by Viking myth and legend. Solve challenging puzzles, uncover hidden relics, and unravel the secrets of a deserted settlement in this immersive point-and-click adventure.

Highlights
  • Viking myth and legend inspired story
  • Classic point-and-click gameplay
  • Hand-painted art and soundtrack
  • Challenging environmental puzzles
  • Culturally and historically accurate Norse setting
  • Old Norse speech with subtitles
Features
Read full description

"The Frostrune is everything a classic point-and-click puzzler should be, and there's really not much else to be said. It's an utter joy to play through, and a genuine must-have for lovers of the genre." - 9/10, Pocket Gamer Unravel a mystery inspired by Viking myth and legend in The Frostrune, a classic point-and-click adventure based on ancient Norse culture and environments. Find yourself shipwrecked on an island after a summer storm. Nearby, a recently abandoned settlement shows signs that its inhabitants left in a panic. Surrounding the village is a dark, dense forest filled with ancient rune stones and burial mounds. Among them are hidden relics and other well-kept secrets that will bring you closer to solving the mysteries of the island. " The Frostrune speaks for itself and stands out amongst its competitors as a crowning achievement in the point & click genre. For those who enjoy playing Point-and-Clicks or those interested in Vikings or Norse lore, this is an experience well worth getting." - Matthew White, Opnoobs. 9/10 The Frostrune is made by game developers who are passionate about Norse culture and history. We have taken extra care to make The Frostrune as authentic and historically accurate as possible. KEY FEATURES Rich Story The Frostrune embraces the Nordic tradition of storytelling: One filled with magic, myth and wonder common in Viking lore. 2 - 5 hours of immersive gameplay. Hand-Painted Art Beautiful, hand-painted art and an original Viking age themed soundtrack bring the The Frostrune’s desolate Norse landscape to life. Challenging Puzzles Through exploring the rich environment, you will unravel the mystery of the deserted island. Use the objects that you collect to solve puzzles on your journey of discovery. Two to five hours of gameplay. Culturally & Historically Accurate An authentic Norse environment where elements from myths and folklore come alive. Old Norse speech with subtitles. All objects faithfully recreated from archaeological sources.

Screenshots

Whispering Willows4 screens
The Frostrune4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Whispering Willows at every 6 weeks against The Frostrune's every 12 months. Whispering Willows also leads on iOS requirement (6.0 vs 12.0). The Frostrune's advantage is review sentiment (70% vs 51%) and ratings volume (215 vs 20). 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

Whispering Willows costs $4.99 and The Frostrune $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 Whispering Willows against 4.5 for The Frostrune. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: The Frostrune has 215 ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 51% of Whispering Willows's written reviews are positive against 70% of The Frostrune's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Whispering Willows ships an update every 6 weeks, The Frostrune every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Whispering Willows versus The Frostrune: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWhispering WillowsThe Frostrune
Price$4.99$4.99
Rating4.6 (20 ratings) — better4.5 (215 ratings)
Positive reviews50.6% of reviews70.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings20215 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 12 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS6.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size1.5 GB663 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperAkupara Games, LLCSnow Cannon Games

Customer experience

Whispering Willows

All ratings20 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive50.6%
Neutral19.5%
Negative29.9%

The Frostrune

All ratings215 ratings
Positive86.0%
Neutral6.5%
Negative7.4%
Written reviews145 reviews
Positive70.3%
Neutral16.6%
Negative13.1%

User reviews

Whispering Willows

From 20 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Beautiful graphics and art
  • 📖 Engaging and interesting story
  • 💡 Innovative ghost form mechanic
  • 🎧 Great sound and music
  • 👍 Well-done puzzles

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes
  • 🕹️ Clunky and unresponsive controls
  • ⏳ Short game duration
  • 🤔 Puzzles too easy
  • 😵 Confusing navigation

The Frostrune

From 215 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Stunning and beautiful art design
  • 🎵 Exceptional music and soundtrack by Wardruna
  • 🧠 Creative and engaging puzzles
  • 📖 Immersive Norse mythology storytelling
  • 🎭 High-quality voice acting and sound design

Room to improve

  • ⏱️ Too short for the price point
  • 🐛 Visibility issues with spirit vision mode
  • 🔊 No sound toggle option
  • 🎯 Puzzles lack variety and complexity
  • 📱 Graphics don't scale well on smaller screens

Bugs and requests

Whispering Willows

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • Game crashes frequently
  • Black screen on loading
  • Status bar not disappearing
  • Long loading times
  • Trophies not registering without manual login
Show 15 more
  • No screen size support for iPhone X
  • Game won't load on iPad
  • Game crashes when entering mansion
  • Game closes after starting credits
  • Game crashes when changing screens
  • Controls are poorly rendered and cumbersome
  • Joystick control scheme is bad
  • Game crashes when walking down a new passage
  • UI is bugged and ugly
  • Game closes on second chapter
  • Text in bubbles exceeds screen
  • Character movement is slow and clunky
  • Ghost movement is sluggish
  • Buttons are too large and insensitive
  • Game crashes on older iPads

Requested features

8 requests
  • Update the game
  • Make controls more responsive
  • Add more chapters/content
  • Improve UI
  • Add a task list or map
Show 3 more
  • Make puzzles more challenging
  • Full screen support for newer devices
  • Make cinematics illustrations more professional

The Frostrune

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • White bloom effect obscuring puzzles in spirit vision
  • Ice rune tablet visibility completely whited out
  • Hint scroll bar glitchy and non-functional
  • Game freezes or crashes during horse rune puzzle
  • Navigation controls unresponsive in certain areas
Show 3 more
  • Hotspots not always registering clicks
  • Game crashes after 2 minutes on some devices
  • Graphics rendering issues on different platforms

Requested features

10 requests
  • Longer gameplay or additional chapters
  • Sequel or expansion content
  • Sound/music toggle option
  • Larger game environment
  • More puzzle variety and complexity
Show 5 more
  • Multi-step puzzle challenges
  • Soundtrack standalone option
  • Expanded backstory and lore
  • Full-screen scaling option
  • Skippable cutscenes

In-app purchases

None

Whispering Willows

No in-app purchases

None

The Frostrune

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Whispering Willows free?
Whispering Willows costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is The Frostrune free?
The Frostrune costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Whispering Willows or The Frostrune?
Whispering Willows is rated higher. Whispering Willows averages 4.6 out of 5 from 20 ratings, while The Frostrune averages 4.5 from 215 ratings.
Do Whispering Willows or The Frostrune have ads?
Neither Whispering Willows nor The Frostrune shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Whispering Willows or The Frostrune?
Whispering Willows ships an update every 6 weeks, and The Frostrune every 12 months. Most recently, Whispering Willows was updated on November 1, 2026 and The Frostrune on November 2, 2026.

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