iNethack2 vs Occidental Heroes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iNethack2
Embark on a single-player dungeon crawl to collect treasure, find the Amulet of Yendor, and survive perilous mazes. This port offers graphical tilesets, touch controls, and customizable shortcuts for an enhanced roguelike experience.
- Single-player dungeon exploration
- Treasure collection and escape
- Multiple graphical tilesets
- Touchscreen gesture controls
- Customizable keyboard shortcuts
- Bones file sharing integration
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"NetHack is a single player dungeon exploration game. Your goal is to grab as much treasure as you can, retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, and escape the Mazes of Menace alive." -- iNethack2 is an iOS port of Nethack 3.6.7. Original port in 2009 by Dirk Zimmermann which was called iNethack. Updated by Jeff King to work on modern devices, and renamed iNethack2. Initial 3.6 update by Joe Doucette. Various other contributions from the open source community. iNethack2 features: · 9 graphical tilesets (plus IBMGraphics mode, and regular ASCII mode in color and monochrome) · 1 animated tileset: DawnHack Animated · Touchscreen gesture controls: swipe to pan, pinch to zoom · Customizable keyboard shortcut controls · Hearse (bones file sharing) integration · Works on iOS12+ Some facts about NetHack: · The first version of NetHack was released in 1987 · NetHack was a roguelike before people used the term roguelike · You can play NetHack for years and still make new discoveries · NetHack is one of the greatest games of all time
Occidental Heroes
Assemble an adventuring company to explore a new frontier. Engage in challenging skirmishes and strive for survival and eventual retirement. This game offers a no-holds-barred experience with no assistance.
- Form adventuring companies
- Explore the Occident
- Engage in brutal skirmishes
- Survival focus
- Retirement goal
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Form an adventuring company and explore the recently colonized Occident. Engage in brutal skirmishes and try to survive long enough to retire. No reloads, no hand-holding, no mercy.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: iNethack2 at none against Occidental Heroes's 1. iNethack2 also leads on ads (none vs shown). Occidental Heroes's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 12.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Occidental Heroes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. iNethack2 asks for nothing beyond the download.
Occidental Heroes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 137 and 358 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of iNethack2's written reviews are positive against 87% of Occidental Heroes's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 3, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iNethack2 | Occidental Heroes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (137 ratings) | 4.7 (358 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.1% of reviews | 87.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 137 | 358 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 69 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Future Shock Software LTD | Vladimir Jovanovic |
Customer experience
iNethack2
Occidental Heroes
User reviews
iNethack2
From 137 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎮 Faithful port of classic NetHack game
- 📱 Well-designed touch interface for mobile
- 🎨 Multiple tileset options available
- ♾️ Infinite replayability and depth
- 🆓 Free to play with no paywalls
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 💾 Game files corrupted or lost unexpectedly
- ⌨️ Limited external keyboard support
- 🎮 Clunky movement controls
- 🖱️ Double-tap sensitivity issues
Occidental Heroes
From 358 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent gameplay
- 🎨 Charming pixel art style
- 📚 Engaging story and character quests
- 🔁 High replayability
- 🤖 Challenging but rewarding combat
Room to improve
- 🔍 Unclear objectives and progression
- 🤯 Punishing permadeath system
- 🛒 Limited weapon and equipment variety
- 🤖 Unbalanced enemy difficulty scaling
- 💸 Ads can be intrusive
Bugs and requests
iNethack2
Reported bugs
14 issues- Game crashes when using inventory (I command)
- Crashes on Plane of Water during save restore
- File corruption errors when switching apps
- Game freezes with Chinese pinyin keyboard input
- Crashes when equipping rings
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- Crashes when dropping items
- Crashes when accessing discoveries list
- Cannot open level files error (501mobile.50)
- Game unrecoverable after certain actions
- Double-tap causes unintended character movement
- Floor tiles not rendering in corridors
- Crashes on iOS 11+ when dropping items
- Waiting for logfile access message loops
- Game crashes immediately on startup for some users
Requested features
17 requests- Separate button labels from command values
- External Bluetooth keyboard support
- Directional pad for movement
- Swipe-based movement controls
- Character name customization
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- Pet naming functionality
- Partial item stack management
- Cloud save synchronization across devices
- iPad Magic Keyboard support
- Japanese language localization
- Toggle for sparkle effects
- Multiple simultaneous game saves
- NetHack version 3.6+ support
- Slash'Em port for iOS
- Voice over support for accessibility
- Options file editing capability
- Discoveries list access without crashes
Occidental Heroes
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional crashes or freezes
- UI elements not scaling properly on some devices
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to save progress and load games
- More character class options
- Expanded map and content
- Companion pets or animals
- Difficulty settings or options
In-app purchases
iNethack2
No in-app purchases
Occidental Heroes
- Expanded edition$5.99
Questions
Is iNethack2 free?
Is Occidental Heroes free?
Which has better reviews, iNethack2 or Occidental Heroes?
Do iNethack2 or Occidental Heroes have ads?
Which is updated more often, iNethack2 or Occidental Heroes?
Other comparisons
