XenoShyft vs Draconis 8
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
XenoShyft
Defend your base from relentless alien waves in this cooperative deck-building strategy game. Coordinate with up to three other players to outfit your troops, plan your defenses, and survive nine rounds of intense combat.
- 1-4 player cooperative gameplay
- Deck-building mechanics
- Base defense strategy
- Strategic planning and coordination
- Inventive armor and weapon upgrades
- Beautifully illustrated universe
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The hit Kickstarter boardgame, now available on mobile! IMPORTANT: This app requires iPhone 5 or newer, iPad 3 or newer, iPad Mini or iPod Touch 5th generation or newer! Defend against waves of horrific aliens in this beautifully illustrated, base defense, deck-building game for 1 to 4 players! "One of the most fun co-op games I have played in a long time!" - Tom Vasel (The Dice Tower) "The enemies are just monstrous and difficult!" - Rodney Smith (Watch it Played) In XenoShyft Onslaught players take on the role of a commander in the NorTec Corporation. You're tasked with defending your division of the NorTec base as wave after wave of horrific aliens attempt to destroy the base and end NorTec's strip mining operation. Gameplay Features 1 - 4 players - Single player compatible, fully cooperative gameplay. Strong focus on coordination and strategic planning - to overcome the game's intense difficulty players will need to work together. Base-Defense with deck-building elements Incredible art - Illustrated by three amazing artists, XenoShyft features beautiful and consistent art. All of which creates one cohesive and frightening universe. Inventive and exciting armor and weapon upgrade cards - You'll need to outfit your troops with the best equipment if you hope to survive. Xenoshyft is a game for 1-4 players, with each player controlling one of the divisions of the Nortec military: The Science Labs, Med Bay, Armory, Weapon's Research, Barracks and Command Center. Each of these divisions represents one part of the overall Nortec base, and it is your job as Commander of these divisions to protect the base while its field operations are completed. You and your teammates will have to work together to survive the continuous onslaught of powerful alien threats and horrors – the goal of the mission is not to wipe out these threats, it is merely to outlast them! Survive through nine rounds of combat with these horrors and the base will have succeeded in its mission, and you and your allies will have survived to fight another day!
Draconis 8
Engage in tactical duels combining trading card game strategy with tile-layout board game mechanics. Build your collection with unique, individually created cards featuring dragons and champions. Experience fair, balanced gameplay where every card is playable.
- Unique decks with dragons and champions
- Tactical tile-layout gameplay
- Collectible digital card packs
- Individually created cards with varied stats
- Balanced and playable cards for all styles
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Unique Decks • Tactical Duels • Compact Strategy Experience Draconis 8, where the dynamic world of trading card games meets the tactics and strategy of tile-layout board games. * Each pack contains a terrain card and a complete eight-card deck for one player, with one mighty dragon and seven champions. * Play with Ethereal packs that only exist for one game, or build your own collection of digital packs. * Every card is indviduall created with millions of possible stat combinations. * Cards are fair. Some may be better for your play style, but all cards are balanced and playable in any deck.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Draconis 8 at Free against XenoShyft's $4.99. Draconis 8 also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.5). XenoShyft's advantage is ratings volume (28 vs 5) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 16.0). On review sentiment, 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
Draconis 8 is free to download; XenoShyft costs $4.99 up front. XenoShyft sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Draconis 8 sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Draconis 8 holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: XenoShyft has 28 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of XenoShyft's written reviews are positive against 50% of Draconis 8's.
XenoShyft ships an update monthly, Draconis 8 every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | XenoShyft | Draconis 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.5 (28 ratings) | 4.6 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 45.8% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 28 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 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 — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 7.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 504 MB | 431 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Twin Sails Interactive | White Wizard Games |
Customer experience
XenoShyft
Draconis 8
In-app purchases
XenoShyft
- Grafting Lab$0.99
- Psychogenics Lab$0.99
- The Hive Expansion$0.99
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- NorTec Elite$1.99
- Forbidden Sciences$2.99
- Dreadmire$3.99
Draconis 8
- Draconis 8 Single Pack$2.99
- Draconis 8 Starter Set (Four packs)$4.99
- Draconis 8 Magic Month$9.99
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- Draconis 8 Display Box (24 packs)$47.99
- Draconis 8 Magic Year$99.99









