No Proper Thief vs Diabolical
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
No Proper Thief
Embark on a thrilling bank heist where your decisions shape your survival and fortune. Navigate complex relationships with your crew and a captivating bank manager, facing consequences for every choice. Can you escape the chaos and get rich?
- Branching narrative choices
- Team management
- Relationship building
- Consequence-driven gameplay
- Multiple endings
- Interactive fiction
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Attempt to survive your first bank heist! Befriend or betray your team of bank robbers, make difficult choices, survive, go insane, fall in love, and get rich if you can in No Proper Thief, where every choice you make has a consequence. You never wanted a life of crime, but it's all you know. That doesn't mean transitioning from a life as a cocky con artist to a greenhorn bank robber doesn't scare you. In No Proper Thief you are Clyde Lamm, the Rooster, and you have a choice to make. In fact, you have dozens of choices to make throughout your upcoming adventure. Everything has consequences, too. You and your team, consisting of the leader Zebra, the muscle Stag, and the heart Marlin, have many obstacles to overcome. Still, in the midst of all the dark chaos of the initial robbery, there is a flame of positivity: an attractive young bank manager. Sure you stole her gold heirloom ring a while back, but it's a fair trade because that fox is stealing your heart. Can you make the hard choices and survive your first bank heist?
Diabolical
Become the ultimate criminal mastermind in this text-based interactive novel. Make choices to build an evil empire, hire minions, and achieve world domination, or destruction. Explore different villain archetypes and romance options.
- Choose your villainous path
- Hire and manage minions
- Make impactful story choices
- Develop your evil empire
- Explore romance options
- Achieve world domination or destruction
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Start practicing your evil laugh! As the world's greatest criminal mastermind, choose a lair, hire a minion, and steal the world's largest ball of aluminum foil! (Or, destroy the world. FINE.) "Diabolical" is a 130,000-word interactive novel by Nick Aires, 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. Famous, feared, or filthy rich—why not all three? You've got the money and the motives to build an evil empire worthy of the most ruthless villain the world has ever seen. Crush the good guys and terrorize the populace! Stamp a big red "FAIL" on your enemies' foreheads! Plunder your way to world domination – or sit back and pet your kitty while your henchmen do it for you. Will you be a high-tech daredevil, a ruthless military soldier, or an apparition terrifying to behold? What calling card will you leave at the scene of your crimes? Whatever your choices, the results will be diabolical. • Play a villainous story of scheming, grandstanding, and laughing evilly. • Interview and hire the best possible (or best available) minion. • Decide when to use trickery, when to use force, and when to hide behind henchmen. • Choose the ultimate, guaranteed-to-be-infamous nickname. • Play as male or female, with straight, gay, and bisexual romance options. • Destroy the world!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Diabolical at 4.1 against No Proper Thief's 3.8. Diabolical also leads on review sentiment (77% vs 57%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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. No Proper Thief sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Diabolical sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Diabolical holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 26 and 45 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of No Proper Thief's written reviews are positive against 77% of Diabolical's.
No Proper Thief ships an update every 22 months, Diabolical every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | No Proper Thief | Diabolical |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (26 ratings) | 4.1 (45 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.1% of reviews | 77.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 26 | 45 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 22 months | Every 13 months — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Hosted Games LLC | Choice of Games LLC |
Customer experience
No Proper Thief
Diabolical
Bugs and requests
No Proper Thief
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Diabolical
Reported bugs
1 issue- Bug fix???
Requested features
14 requests- Sequel needed
- More like this game
- Werewolf story
- More choices that affect story
- Choice of alien game
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- More vs hero interaction
- Longer battles
- More villain POV things
- Improved sequel
- More customization (lairs, sidekicks, stats)
- More interactive than other gamebooks
- More improvements to character development
- More content like this
- More interactive releases
In-app purchases
No Proper Thief
- Rest of the Game$3.99
Diabolical
- Chapters 3 through 12$4.99
Questions
Is No Proper Thief free?
Is Diabolical free?
Which has better reviews, No Proper Thief or Diabolical?
Do No Proper Thief or Diabolical have ads?
Which is updated more often, No Proper Thief or Diabolical?
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